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BILLY HORSCHEL watches his tee shot on No. 1 during the first round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament at TPC San Antonio on Thursday.
BILLY HORSCHEL watches his tee shot on No. 1 during the first round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament at TPC San Antonio on Thursday.
SAN ANTONIO

Grayson Murray fixed a flaw in his swing and hit the ball well enough that blustery conditions weren’t an issue for him Thursday in the Valero Texas Open.

Coming off a missed cut at Hilton Head last week, Murray made seven birdies for a 5-under 67 and a one-shot lead. His only mistake was a double bogey from a greenside bunker on the par- 3 seventh hole.

Of the five players at 68, only Chesson Hadley played in the morning side of the draw, and he called it among his best rounds of the year because of gusts. The wind died in the afternoon and scoring improved slightly on the AT&T Oaks Course at the TPC San Antonio. Keegan Bradley, Ryan Moore, Billy Horschel and Matt Atkins each posted 68. Horschel and Moore played bogey-free.

Sergio Garcia, who consulted Greg Norman on the design of the course, played the Texas Open for the first time since 2010 and shot a 74. Adam Scott failed to make a birdie in his round of 75. Scott is at No. 59 in the world and needs to stay in the top 60 by May 21 to be exempt for the U.S. Open.

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Harris English was in the group at 69, while two-time Texas Open champion Zach Johnson, Nick Watney and Brandt Snedeker were among those at 70. Johnson saved his round by going 5 under over his final five holes, starting with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par- 5 14th hole. He birdied the last three.

Murray was coming off a pair of top 15s at Bay Hill and the Houston Open when his game got away from his last week in the RBC Heritage, and he shots 74-70 to miss the cut. He got that sorted out in the five days between teeing it up in San Antonio.

He said he was coming down too steep, which meant he would flip his hands and hit a sharp draw or pull out of it and hit it short and right.

Only 34 players in the 156-man field managed to break par.


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