Akshay Bhatia cards opening 63 to lead Valero Texas Open

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is tied for eighth on three under par.

Akshay Bhatia shot an opening nine-under-par 63 to take a three-shot lead at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

“Just played solid. I think also experience out here. I played — this is my third time here. Not many golf courses on the Tour have been my third time, so I think understanding the golf course a lot more. Yeah, I just played really solid, I got a couple really good breaks. Yeah, it was just a good day.”

The American did not drop a shot as he followed four birdies on the front nine with five on the second, including four in his final five holes.

“I figured after 14, so on 15 I knew that was a tough hole, I knew I had two tough tee shots coming in, 15 and 18. If I could just get out of there with a par, maybe birdie 18, just play it how we planned to, it would all work out. I thankfully birdied 15 and then 18 got a very good break and happened to kind of hit in the right spots at the right time and made birdie there.

“I’m just trying to do the things that my mental coach and I have been talking about and I’m not trying to win the golf tournament today, but it’s just nice having a nice day today.”

Bhatia sits ahead of Brendon Todd and Justin Lower with Max Homa among a group of four players two shots further back.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is tied for eighth on three under par after going bogey free with three birdies.

The world number two, who recently had a lesson with Tiger Woods’ former coach Butch Harmon, told PGATour.com after his round: “What I’ve been trying to do the last couple weeks is no different than what I’ve been trying to do previously; he just sort of gave me a different way to do it.

“You could tell someone five different things and like for the same feel – like to a piece of a swing, but sometimes none of them resonated, sometimes all of them, sometimes one thing.

“It’s just one of those things over the past few months that nothing was resonating with me.

“He gave me a tiny little something that I went with and, as I said, it’s felt a little better over the last two weeks and felt pretty good out there.

A win at next week’s Masters will see McIlroy join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods as the only players to have won all four major championships.

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth had a dour round of 73 salvaged by a hole-in-one on the par three 16th.

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1
1Akshay Bhatia-963
T2Brendon Todd-666
T2Justin Lower-666
T4Austin Eckroat-468
T4Max Homa-468
T4Denny McCarthy-468
T4Tyson Alexander-468
T8Ben Griffin-369
T8Matti Schmid-369
T8Rory McIlroy-369
T8Adam Svensson-369
T8Russell Henley-369
T8Bronson Burgoon-369
T8Kevin Chappell-369
T8Peter Kuest-369
T8Hayden Springer-369
T17Lucas Glover-270
T17Alexander Björk-270
T17Jorge Campillo-270
T17Chan Kim-270
T17Ryan Moore-270
T17Collin Morikawa-270
T17Corey Conners-270
T17Erik van Rooyen-270
T17J.B. Holmes-270
T17Zach Johnson-270
T17Davis Thompson-270
T17Ryan Fox-270
T17Harrison Endycott-270
T30Martin Laird-171
T30Ben Martin-171
T30Tyler Duncan-171
T30Robby Shelton-171
T30Nick Hardy-171
T30Tommy Fleetwood-171
T30Camilo Villegas-171
T30Adam Schenk-171
T30Kevin Streelman-171
T30C.T. Pan-171
T30Rico Hoey-171
T30Pierceson Coody-171
T30Taylor Pendrith-171
T30Maverick McNealy-171
T30Brian Harman-171
T30Matt Fitzpatrick-171
T30Troy Merritt-171
T30Doug Ghim-171
T30David Lipsky-171
T30Chandler Phillips-171
T30Ryo Hisatsune-171
T30Ben Silverman-171
T52Aaron BaddeleyPar72
T52Nate LashleyPar72
T52Joseph BramlettPar72
T52Garrick HiggoPar72
T52Grayson MurrayPar72
T52Josh TeaterPar72
T52Sam StevensPar72
T52Callum TarrenPar72
T52Kevin YuPar72
T52Tom WhitneyPar72
T52Victor PerezPar72
T52Norman XiongPar72
T52Mac MeissnerPar72
T52Thorbjørn OlesenPar72
T52Ryan McCormickPar72
T52Andrew PutnamPar72
T52Aaron RaiPar72
T52Charley HoffmanPar72
T52Nicolai HøjgaardPar72
T52Chad RameyPar72
T52Ludvig ÅbergPar72
T52Harris EnglishPar72
T52Vincent NorrmanPar72
T52Ben TaylorPar72
T52Dylan WuPar72
T52Parker CoodyPar72
T52Wilson FurrPar72
T52Kevin DoughertyPar72
T80Hayden Buckley+173
T80Lee Hodges+173
T80Webb Simpson+173
T80Hideki Matsuyama+173
T80Jordan Spieth+173
T80Stewart Cink+173
T80Tom Kim+173
T80Chesson Hadley+173
T80Harry Hall+173
T80Christiaan Bezuidenhout+173
T80Alex Noren+173
T80S.H. Kim+173
T80Jhonattan Vegas+173
T80Vince Whaley+173
T80Michael Kim+173
T80Andrew Novak+173
T80Mark Hubbard+173
T80Matt Kuchar+173
T80Adam Scott+173
T80J.J. Spaun+173
T80Seamus Power+173
T80Greyson Sigg+173
T80Erik Barnes+173
T80Joe Highsmith+173
T80Nicholas Lindheim+173
T80Paul Barjon+173
T106Alex Smalley+274
T106Bud Cauley+274
T106Kevin Kisner+274
T106Ben Kohles+274
T106Byeong Hun An+274
T106Jacob Bridgeman+274
T106Raul Pereda+274
T106Roger Sloan+274
T106Joel Dahmen+274
T106Eric Cole+274
T106Jimmy Walker+274
T106Beau Hossler+274
T106Patrick Fishburn+274
T106Jimmy Stanger+274
T120Keith Mitchell+375
T120Lanto Griffin+375
T120Chez Reavie+375
T120Adrien Dumont de Chassart+375
T120David Skinns+375
T120Joe Sullivan(a)+375
T120Ryan Palmer+375
T120Carl Yuan+375
T120Ryan Brehm+375
T120Davis Riley+375
T120Billy Horschel+375
T120Padraig Harrington+375
T120Alejandro Tosti+375
T133Brandon Wu+476
T133Rickie Fowler+476
T133Brandt Snedeker+476
T133Rafael Campos+476
T133Chris Gotterup+476
T138Luke Donald+577
T138Carson Young+577
T138Max Greyserman+577
T138Cameron Champ+577
T138K.H. Lee+577
T138Andrew Landry+577
T138Scott Gutschewski+577
T138Adam Long+577
T146Zac Blair+678
T146Alex Welch+678
T148Matt NeSmith+779
T148Ben Willman+779
150Sam Ryder+880
151Nico Echavarria+1082
152Blaine Hale, Jr.+1183
153Tom Adrounie+1587
W/DPatrick Rodgers-78
W/DTrace Crowe-79
W/DTaylor Montgomery-81
Updated: April 6, 2024