After 'traumatic' experiences at Texas Open, Daniel Berger is back and better than ever

USA Today

04-04-2025

After 'traumatic' experiences at Texas Open, Daniel Berger is back and better than ever
SAN ANTONIO — The second act of Daniel Berger's PGA Tour career has incorporated several evolutionary twists from the first. After recovering from a back injury that forced him to the sidelines for more than a year, Berger admits he's better about his fitness now, better about appreciating each day as it comes.
And better about keeping an open mind about the golf courses on which he plies his trade.
For example, Berger had made just two appearances at the Valero Texas Open prior to this week, missing the cut in both 2015 and 2019.
But on Friday, Berger posted his first sub-70 round at TPC San Antonio's Oaks Course, finishing with an even 68 to move near the top of the leaderboard. Through 36 holes, Berger is 6 under, and in solid position to post his first victory since the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
And when asked why he'd been away from the Alamo City for so long, he said some unsavory weather conditions might have soured his memories of the area.
"I think it just was traumatic the first couple times I played this," he said after making his sixth straight cut this season. "The first year I played it, it blew like 40 miles an hour, and it was really, really tough. But actually I play better on tougher golf courses, so when I was trying to decide between Houston and here, it was pretty easy to circle this one on the schedule, knowing that it's the test that it is."
Weather might be an issue this weekend in San Antonio
Things might get nasty again, as the forecast is calling for significant rain on Saturday and wind chills in the high 20s on Sunday morning, a massive drop from the high-80s-and-sunshine the players basked in on Friday.
But you won't find Berger complaining much.
"I think I don't take anything for granted. Earlier in my career, I maybe would have skipped a few of the essentials that I would never skip now, whether that be in the gym or the recovery component of it," he said. "I think I'm much more of a professional now than I was early on in my career. And I think that I'm still young in the golf world, I'm 32. I feel like I have a lot of golf left in me and a lot of good golf left in me.
"I think missing that year and a half was actually a huge benefit to me because I learned things that I would have had to learn the hard way ... if I hadn't gone through that experience."
Berger has had success in Texas before, winning the Charles Schwab Challenge in the first golf tournament after the COVID break.
But he said recent work on his putting has helped his game become more adaptable to any surface.
"One of the things that I always struggled with was a little bit slower greens, I think I was always better on faster greens," he said. "I spent a lot of time on my stroke in the last three, four months and I think it's starting to pay off. The reason I say that, because I think I'm able to adjust to the different speeds of the greens, so I feel comfortable out here, and then next week at Augusta, I feel comfortable going to a place where they will be much faster.
"It's just nice to see some putts go in."