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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2022

First Round Notes

Weather: Sunny. High of 81. Variable wind 5-10 mph, with gusts to 15 mph.

First-Round Leaderboard

Russell Knox65(-7)
Rasmus Hojgaard66(-6)
Matt Kuchar67(-5)
Denny McCarthy67(-5)
J.J. Spaun67(-5)
Aaron Rai67(-5)

Things To Know

Following missed cuts in his last three Valero Texas Open starts, Russell Knox posts a bogey-free 7-under 65

Knox’s 7-under 65 marks his first score in the 60s in 19 rounds at the Valero Texas Open

Coming off a sixth-place showing at last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship, Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard opens his first Valero Texas Open with a 6-under 66, including a double-bogey-six at his last hole of the day (No. 9)

Making his 500th career start on the PGA TOUR, nine-time PGA TOUR winner Matt Kuchar turns in a 5-under 67

Making his second Valero Texas Open start (2nd/2013), Rory McIlroy offsets six bogeys with six birdies to open with an even-par 72

Defending champion Jordan Spieth makes one birdie, one bogey and 16 pars in his seventh Valero Texas Open

First-Round Lead Notes

0First-round leaders/co-leaders to win the Valero Texas Open since it moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010
4First-round leaders/co-leaders to win in 2021-22 season (most recent: Sam Burns, Valspar Championship)

Russell Knox (1st/-7)

CategoryEntering the week
Age36 (June 21, 1985)
CountryScotland
FedExCup58
OWGR169
Starts – wins – top-10s in TOUR career256-2-25
Starts – wins – top-10s in 2021-2215-0-2
Starts – wins – top-10s at Valero6-0-0

Highlighted by four consecutive birdies (Nos. 12-15), opened with a bogey-free 7-under 65, his lowest score of the season in relation to par

The 7-under 65 marks his first score in the 60s in 19 rounds at the Valero Texas Open

Claims 18-hole lead/co-lead for a fourth time on TOUR; best of the first three was 9/2020 Fortinet Championship Championship

Comes off three consecutive missed cuts in the event and, in six previous starts at TPC San Antonio, has never opened with a sub-par score

Needs a win this week to earn a spot into next week’s Masters Tournament field

Seeks a third top-10 finish of the season (T6/THE PLAYERS Championship, T7/Sony Open in Hawaii)

Seeks a third career PGA TOUR title: 2015 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, 2016 Travelers

Additional Player Notes

Making his first start in the Valero Texas Open, Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard (2nd/-6) was 8-under par through 17 holes, before ending his round at the par-4 ninth with a double bogey; sank 174’ 9” of putts, second-most of any player since the event moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010 (Nicholas Lindheim/2018/R2/179’ 2”); comes off a sixth- place finish at last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship, his best of nine starts on the PGA TOUR; most recent of three DP World Tour (former European Tour) wins came at the 2021 Omega European Masters, where he posted a final-round 63 to win by a stroke when Bernd Wiesberger double-bogeyed the 72nd hole

Making his 500th PGA TOUR start, Matt Kuchar sits T3 after opening his 17th Valero Texas Open with a 5-under 67; marks his lowest opening-round score since the event moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010; seeks a 10th career TOUR title and first since the 2019 Sony Open in Hawaii

Coming off a runner-up finish at THE PLAYERS Championship in his most recent start on the PGA TOUR, Anirban Lahiri birdied four of his last five holes to open with a 4-under 68; closed last year’s Valero Texas Open with back- to-back 3-under 69s to finish fifth at 10-under 278

Rory McIlroy mixed six birdies with six bogeys to open his second Valero Texas Open with an even-par 72; closed the 2013 event with a 6-under 66 to finish second

A week before defending his Masters Tournament title, Hideki Matsuyama opened his second Valero Texas Open with a 2-over 74 (2021/T30)

ABOUT VALERO

Valero Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries (collectively, Valero), is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products, and sells its products primarily in the United States (U.S.), Canada, the United Kingdom (U.K.), Ireland and Latin America. Valero owns 15 petroleum refineries located in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.2 million barrels per day. Valero is a joint venture member in Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC, which owns two renewable diesel plants located in the U.S. Gulf Coast region with a combined production capacity of approximately 1.2 billion gallons per year, and Valero owns 12 ethanol plants located in the U.S. Mid-Continent region with a combined production capacity of approximately 1.6 billion gallons per year. Valero manages its operations through its Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol segments. Please visit investorvalero.com for more information.

ABOUT VALERO IN THE COMMUNITY

Valero Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries (collectively, Valero), and the Valero Energy Foundation are committed to improving the quality of life in communities where Valero has major operations. In 2023, Valero, its employees and the foundation collectively generated more than $77 million in charitable support through direct/in-kind donations, fundraising and volunteerism. Valero employees logged more than 127,000 volunteer hours in 2023 for hundreds of projects in their communities. Valero provides funding to a variety of nonprofit agencies for programs and services supporting education, basic needs, health care and civic initiatives.  Through the overwhelming support of sponsors, the foundation’s signature programs, the Valero Texas Open and Benefit for Children, generated more than $23 million raised in 2023 for charities across the United States.

ABOUT THE VALERO TEXAS OPEN

The Valero Texas Open is the sixth-oldest professional tournament in golf worldwide, the third-oldest on the PGA TOUR and the longest held in the same city. In 2022, the tournament celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Its list of champions includes some of the greatest names in golf history: Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Lee Trevino, Nick Price, Justin Leonard, Zach Johnson, Adam Scott, Jimmy Walker, Jordan Spieth and 2019, 2023 champion Corey Conners to name a few.

Since Valero became title sponsor in 2002, the tournament has become a leader in charitable fundraising among PGA TOUR events. The Valero Texas Open, together with its Benefit for Children and Champions fore Charity initiatives, has contributed more than $232 million to hundreds of worthy charities since inception. Please visit www.ValeroTexasOpen.com for more information.

Media Contacts

Stephanie Sage
Valero Texas Open
Director, Marketing & Community Relations

210.345.3839 office

Lee Patterson
Valero Texas Open
Director, Media Relations

704.913.1088 mobile