Mark Hubbard birdied the 18th hole to complete a 6-under-par 30 on the back nine and grab a one-shot lead at the Valero Texas Open when play was suspended Thursday at TPC San Antonio.
Hubbard emerged from a six-way tie for the lead and signed for a 7-under 65 late in the day. The 36-year-old has never won on the PGA Tour.
After the start of the tournament was delayed by 90 minutes due to inclement weather, 24 players were unable to finish their rounds before darkness fell Thursday evening.
The highlight of Hubbard’s round was a four-birdie stretch from Nos. 11-14, featuring a 24-foot birdie putt at No. 12. Then he stuck his tee shot at the par-3 16th to about 6 feet of the cup to set up another birdie, and he cleaned up a 3-footer for birdie at the par-5 last.
“I always thought the back nine’s a little gettable out here,” Hubbard said. “That front nine there’s a couple tough par 4s, you’re just hanging on, but the back you can get it going, especially with the wind direction. … I just hit it really well with my irons, and if you’re in the fairways, just kind of frees me up.”
World No. 11 Robert MacIntyre of Scotland and Tony Finau stand out from the group tied at 6-under 66, also featuring Davis Thompson, Andrew Putnam and Steven Fisk.
MacIntyre posted a bogey-free round with five of his six birdies occurring on the back nine, including back-to-back at Nos. 17 and 18.
MacIntyre said the conditions were “a lot trickier” in the afternoon.
“The wind got up pretty much as we were going to tee off, I knew it was going to be tough, but you have to take your chances,” he said. “Almost on the back nine, a finishing stretch, some big opportunities and thankfully today I’d done that.”
Finau started his round on the back nine and followed a 9-foot birdie putt at the par-3 13th with an eagle at the par-5 14th. He rolled in a downhill, right-to-left putt from 41 1/2 feet.
The six-time PGA Tour winner has fallen out of the top 100 in the world rankings and is currently not on the list for the Masters next week. The only way for him to qualify now is by winning in Texas.
“I feel like I’m really close to putting together a string of good golf tournaments,” Finau said. “I’ve had some good days during tournaments, whether that’s in the first round, the final round, but I haven’t been able to put together I feel like really strong finishes and four days of good golf.
“So I’m off to a good start this week. I’ll just be looking to capitalize on three more days of good golf.”
Will Zalatoris, Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg are part of an eight-way knot at 5-under 67.
Like Finau, Zalatoris has not secured his place at Augusta National yet. That’s because his world ranking has also fallen off in recent years as a chronic back injury cost him time. This week is just his fourth start of the season.
If he wins this week to make the Masters field, there’s reason to believe he can do damage. He has three top-10 finishes in four starts, most notably placing second in his debut in 2021.
“After everything that I’ve kind of gone through, I’m just glad that I’m able to do this,” said Zalatoris, who holed a 31-foot putt for birdie at No. 18 Thursday.
“I think there were probably a few moments that I thought I was done just considering the pain that I was in day to day, but the fact that I’m able to come out and do this again and stripe it the way I did and still have 178 (mph) ball speed, you know, after everything I’ve been through, it’s still really encouraging. If anything, it’s kind of been a blessing too having this time off and not be able to hit balls because I think everybody knows I needed to work on my putting, and that’s all I’ve done for basically the last two years and how to learn to use the broomstick and it’s paid off.”
Defending champion Brian Harman opened with an even-par 72.
