Séamus Power and Pádraig Harrington find themselves in need of improvement on day two of the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open after respective rounds of 72 and 73 leave them straddling opposite sides of the cutline at the conclusion of day one.
Each came into San Antonio on the back of missed cuts at last week’s Houston Open and both featured in the early wave on Thursday at the narrow TPC course that demands accuracy off the tee.
Starting on the back nine, Power bogeyed the 11th and Harrington bogeyed the 13th, but birdies at 14 and 18 – both par-5s – saw the Waterford man reach the turn at one-under.
Harrington went one better, also birdieing the two par-5s and adding another at the par-4 15th, and an errant drive on the opening hole aside, had found every other fairway. His troubles began on the first – his 10th – where a wild pull off the tee led to a bogey and he dropped another shot on the fourth.
He replied with a birdie on the fifth after finding the short grass – his only fairway in regulation on the way home – but further bogeys on six and eight saw him slip back the wrong side of par and he ended the day sharing 90th place at +1.
“Played nicely for 14 holes and then finished poorly,” was his simple summation on X. “I’ve been really struggling to finish out my rounds this year.”
Power’s only deviation from par on his second loop was at the par-5 second where, unfortunately, a missed fairway and an overshot approach cost him a bogey and his ultimate level-par tally leaves him tied for 65th.
At the top of the leaderboard, Sam Ryder stormed home late, birdieing six of his final seven holes in a bogey-free 63 to post -9 and move one stroke ahead of Keith Mitchell who looked poised to have sole possession of the first round lead after a bogey-free 64 of his own in the morning.
2023 Open Champion Brian Harman lies solo third on -6, while Jordan Spieth, a former winner at TPC San Antonio, shares fourth with Carson Young at -5.
While both Ryder and Mitchell need a victory to play their way into the Masters, Harman and Spieth are among those using the week as a final tune up for the year’s first major and it’s Augusta National specialist Spieth in particular whose form will be under heavy scrutiny amongst the gambling community this week.
“This is a hard golf course, and we’ve got good conditions, so it was nice to take advantage of that,” Spieth, who bogeyed the first but played the back nine in three-under having turned at -1, said. “I think this was maybe the easiest that we see it for the week.”
The 2021 Valero champion has won just one since – the 2022 RBC Heritage – but is happy with the way his form is progressing as Augusta National’s shadow looms large.
“I improved a lot, week to week, in what I needed to do in some of my scoring clubs and approach play, which is important going into next week obviously,” he added.
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