The Texas Open happened, but you probably didn’t notice

It's interesting to think that the week after the Masters used to be one of the best weeks of the year. The first major championship, and my favorite, had come and gone but a ton of big names on the PGA Tour would head over to Hilton Head to take on one of the prettiest, and toughest, golf courses of the year. It was always interesting to see some of the names in the field following Augusta National, but when you heard about the golf course and how the resort took care of the wives throughout the week, it made sense.

But that tradition is no more, and instead, we were handed the Valero Texas Open, an event that is perfectly fine, but not anything like Harbour Town, and it showed over the weekend.

Don't get me wrong, this week in San Antonio produced some great stories, with Brendan Steele winning in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, Rich Beem making his first cut in over a year, and Keegan Bradley carding his second top-10 of his rookie season, but most of you probably only heard about one thing; the 16 by Kevin Na.

That's because the Texas Open isn't going to bring the firepower that Hilton Head did. It isn't that type of event, and as much as us media types can talk it up, it really does a disservice to both that event and golf fans in general by tossing it the week behind the Masters. My uncle remarked to me on Sunday afternoon that he used to love the Texas Open when it was played as part of the Fall Series, and even liked it in May the last couple of years, but it's just too hard for a tournament to survive after a major when it doesn't have anything spectacular to give. The Heritage has a beautiful golf course that golf fans flock from around the country to play, and it's fun to see players on the tough 18th trying to survive, even when the feel of the event seems lax compared to the week before.

This wasn't like that, and you could feel it all week.