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.
Mickelson to miss Masters
LIV Golf’s Phil Mickelson will not compete in next week’s Masters and will be out indefinitely as his family deals with a personal health matter, the three-times champion said on Thursday.
Mickelson missed the first four events of LIV’s 2026 season due to the same family health matter and had just returned to action on the Saudi-backed circuit two weeks ago in South Africa where he finished in a share of 48th.
“Unfortunately, I will not play in the Masters Tournament next week and will be out for an extended period of time as my family continues to navigate a personal health matter,” the six-times major champion said in a statement posted on X.
“I have great respect for Augusta National Golf Club and it is definitely the most special week of the year. I wish everyone the best of luck and will be watching.”
This marks the first time Mickelson will not compete in the year’s first major since 2022 when he sat out the tournament while taking a self-imposed break after excerpts from an unauthorised biography revealed he had called the Saudis “scary” but was willing to look past their human rights record.
Mickelson missed the cut at last year’s Masters.
The Masters is scheduled for April 9-12 at Augusta National Golf Club. (Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
Woods called Donald Trump after crash
Tiger Woods was surprised that he was being handcuffed after crashing his SUV last week in Florida, per body camera footage released Thursday.
“I’m being arrested?” Woods asked of Martin County Sheriff’s deputy Tatiana Levenar, who conducted a sobriety test on him.
“I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI,” Levenar told the 15-time major champion.
The footage also shows deputies removing two pills from Woods’ pocket.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer removed the pills, which are a painkiller. Authorities later confirmed that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
Woods contends that he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on Jupiter Island, Fla.
The bodycam footage also shows Woods informing a police officer that he was on the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump shortly after his crash.
“Thank you so much. All right. You got it. Bye,” Woods said as he walked over to an officer who had beckoned him back to the crash scene, informing them that “I was just talking to the president.”
Woods is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of the President’s oldest child, Donald Trump Jr.
On Thursday night, President Trump announced during a Fox News interview that Woods would not be playing in this year’s Masters, something that Woods had not yet announced publicly.
When asked about Woods’ crash, Trump said Woods was a “very close friend, saying, “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. There was an accident, and that’s all I know. He’s an amazing person, amazing man, but some difficulty.”
Trump previously told Reuters that Woods seeking treatment was “a good thing” and he believed the golfer was “going to be terrific.”
The release of the bodycam footage comes one day after Woods was granted a request by a Florida judge to leave the United States to enter a comprehensive inpatient treatment facility as he faces misdemeanor driving under the influence charges.
Martin County Court Judge Darren Steele granted the motion to travel submitted by Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, who cited the 50-year-old golf superstar’s need for an “intensive, highly individualized and medically integrated program” away from media and public scrutiny.
Woods released a public statement on Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty in a Florida court to charges of misdemeanor driving under the influence with property damage.
The arrest affidavit stated a breathalyzer test showed no signs of alcohol, but that Woods refused a urinalysis test for other drugs.
The affidavit stated Woods was “sweating profusely,” his movements were “lethargic and slow,” his eyes were “bloodshot and glassy,” his pupils were “extremely dilated” and that during the field sobriety exercises, Woods was “limping and stumbling to the right.”
Coughlin tied for Aramco lead
Lauren Coughlin and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka and Miyu Yamashita formed a three-way tie atop the leaderboard after one round of the inaugural Aramco Championship on Thursday in Las Vegas.
The leaders posted rounds of 5-under-par 67 at Shadow Creek Golf Course. Three more are on their tails at 4-under 68: World No. 2 Nelly Korda, Jing Yan and South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, who has won two straight LPGA Tour events entering the week.
The Aramco Championship, co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Ladies European Tour, features a purse of $4 million and replaces the T-Mobile Match Play on the schedule.
Coughlin, 33, is trying to get back in contention for an LPGA victory after winning her first two titles in 2024 and being shut out in 2025.
She could have been the outright first-round leader after collecting six birdies through 17 holes, but she made her only misstep of the day with a bogey at her final hole, the par-4 ninth.
“I feel like I know this place really well,” said Coughlin, who lost in the final of the Match Play last year. “Been in a lot of the places (on the course) that you don’t want to be, so I feel like I’ve been able to … I just know the spots that I need to land it to a lot of the pins, where to miss if you have to.”
Hataoka’s round was the inverse of Coughlin’s. She bogeyed the first hole, immediately bounced back at the second and went on to total six birdies.
“Before tournament get (started) we talk about my goal is 5-under total for four days,” Hataoka said. “It was (not a) windier condition. That’s why I made so many good birdies today.”
Yamashita stood at 1 over through her first eight holes but turned it around thanks to an eagle 3 at the 18th hole and four birdies on her second nine, the front side.
“The course is tough, but it’s fun to figure it out,” Yamashita said through a translator. “So there is always a chance of making bogey, but I want to play patience in golf.”
Korda played her first round with her sister Jessica Korda, who recently returned to competition after giving birth to her first child.
“I’m super rusty obviously but I had such a fun time,” said Jessica Korda, who posted 3-over 75. “Her and Charley (Hull) are just such great players. I’ve been on the commentating side and the spectating side, and being inside (the ropes) is so much fun.”
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