American Matt Every lit up TPC San Antonio in the first round of the Valero Texas Open on Thursday afternoon. Every, who is best known for a bizarre interview with Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman at this year’s Sony Open, had a bogey-free round and carded nine birdies for a 63. At 9-under, Every leads Hunter Haas by three shots.
Valero Texas Open 2012: Matt Every Goes Low, Leads By 3 Shots
It’s remarkable to shoot such a low round without having an eagle on your card, but the wind at TPC San Antonio was down and it yielded the 63 to the streaky Every. He kept the ball in the fairway, posting the second-best driving accuracy of the day, and converted once he was on the green.
Haas is a native Texan and always seems to find success in the Lone Star State in the spring. He’s currently playing on the Nationwide Tour, but he got hot on Thursday and shot a 66. He went off on the 10th tee and eagled No. 18 as he made the turn. He birdied two of the final three holes coming in to move to 6-under and take sole possession of second place. Ben Curtis is still out on the course at 5-under, and is capable of going on a run to move ahead of Haas.
Both Every and Haas are ahead of a large group of players at 4-under, which include last year’s Travelers winner Fredrik Jacobson. Perhaps the most popular player on the leaderboard is American Matt Kuchar, who shot a 2-under round of 70.
Kevin Na, who infamously carded a 16 at the 9th hole in San Antonio last year, got through the 9th unscathed with a par on Thursday. Unfortunately for Na, he went out in 41 with a double and a triple on the front side, and is currently tied for second-to-last place at 8-over
Check out Golf.com for a complete live leaderboard.
We’ll have more on the tournament in our 2012 Valero Texas Open StoryStream. You can find more on the entire world of golf at Waggle Room and SB Nation’s golf hub.
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