SAN ANTONIO — Sam Ryder wasn’t sure his neck would feel good enough for him to play Thursday in the Valero Texas Open. He found a swing and hardly missed a putt on his way to a 9-under 63 and a one-shot lead over Keith Mitchell in the final tournament before the Masters.
Mitchell played bogey-free in the morning for a 64, highlighted by a 3-wood from 286 yards that stopped rolling about 3 feet from the pin for a tap-in eagle on the par-5 eighth.
Former Open champion Brian Harman had a 66.
Jordan Spieth, entertaining as ever, was in the group at 67. His round including a drive well right on the 17th on hard pan with a rock embedded about 4 inches behind his golf ball. He made clean contact and hit it to 12 feet and made the birdie putt.
Ryder, who has made the cut in all nine of his tournaments this year, had to withdraw from the pro-am Wednesday when he felt a twinge at the base of his neck. He stayed in his room and rested all day, then showed up at the course about three hours before his tee time to see if he could swing.
He could. And he could putt.
Ryder one-putted 11 of his last 12 holes, seven of them for birdie, including the final three. He holed a 25-foot putt on the 16th, a 12-footer on the 17th and then hit a wedge to a foot on the par-5 closing hole at the TPC San Antonio.
“I was just trying to get a feel for how I could swing,” Ryder said. “I think it helped me stay within myself today. I was just happy to be playing.”
Ryder would be among those who could go straight to the Masters next week if he were to win, something he has yet to do on the PGA Tour.
He was mildly surprised to see Mitchell at 64 from the morning.
“I figured anything under par is always usually pretty good out here,” he said. “Didn’t go in with any intentions of trying to be more aggressive or anything like that, was just trying to put one foot in front of the next and have a solid round, hit fairways and as many greens as possible.”
Mitchell isn’t in the Masters, either, and it has been six years since his lone PGA Tour victory. This was the third time this year Mitchell has opened with 65 or lower. It’s finishing it out that has been the problem.
“My game’s been trending,” he said. “I’d like to put some solid rounds together. Hopefully, it’s this week. I feel like my scores have been showing at least in the first couple rounds lately that my game’s where it needs to be and just going to try to stack ’em all up this week.”
As for that eagle, Mitchell says it was a combination of a good swing and good fortune.
“I figured if I hit it good it could at least cover the front and then kind of roll out to the base of the slope,” Mitchell said. “That pin is tough even with a wedge, it’s tough from around the green, so the fact that I got the ball to stop up there, I wouldn’t call it on accident — it was where I was aiming — but the fact that it just ended up being there is very fortunate.”
Harman has gone 15 straight tournaments without a top 10 dating to June, and he has only two other top-10s since his Open victory at Hoylake in 2023. He’s on the verge of falling out of the top 50 in the world.
“My good days have been good enough to win and my bad days have been not great,” Harman said. “You’ve got to find a way on those days, and that’s usually a strong part of my game is gritting it out, figuring out a way to get it done.”
Max Homa, meanwhile, was in danger of missing another cut to extend his slump. He announced he has parted with caddie Joe Greiner, after leaving his swing coach last fall.
