Valero Texas Open 2014: Tee times, live stream, TV schedule for Thursday’s round

With the Florida swing now over, most of the golf world has turned to Augusta National and started preparing for the first major of the season. But there are two more stops in the first of two quick swings through Texas this year, beginning Thursday morning at TPC San Antonio and the Valero Texas Open.

There are two last ways a golfer can qualify for the Masters: either by winning one of the last two tournaments, or by inching into the top 50 in the world golf rankings that come out on Monday following the Texas Open. Chesson Hadley at No. 56 in the world and Ryan Palmer at No. 62 are the only two players who could move inside the top 50 without winning the tournament (which would trigger first auto invite option anyway). The field is already going to be at least 95 players, two more than last year in what has grown into one of the larger invitees lists for Augusta. Both Hadley and Palmer are playing well right now and should be near the first page of the leaderboard this weekend, adding a bit to the drama beyond the tournament play in San Antonio.

The Masters qualifying may give the event a boost, but it got a much larger and unexpected push when Phil Mickelson committed to play for the first time since 1992. The organizers of the tournament quickly capitalized on last week’s announcement, marketing the appearance of the game’s second-most popular player. Mickelson has been tinkering with his schedule all year, skipping Riviera but adding the Honda Classic, another event he hadn’t playing in several years. He said before the year he would mix things up, with his eye always on majors prep, particularly the U.S. Open. This begins a three-week jaunt that culminates with the Masters as the third leg. The three-time winner at Augusta almost always plays the week before a major, and has been playing the Shell Houston Open regularly in recent years. But this is a different approach, and a win in San Antonio would complete a career “Texas Slam” for Phil, who’s won at Houston, the Byron Nelson, and at Colonial.

Mickelson gets Texan Jordan Spieth and defending champion Martin Laird for his first and second round pairing. Spieth and Mickelson are clearly the top draws in San Antonio, and they’ll be out in the morning wave on Thursday before Golf Channel’s coverage window. While Golf Channel and NBC will continue their recent added spotlight coverage broadcast on the weekend, the first two rounds will be carried only on Golf Channel from 3 to 6 p.m. ET each day. Hadley, Matt Kuchar, and Billy Horschel is the marquee group out in the afternoon who will get most of the camera time. Here are your media options for the first round, with GC also running their usual simulcast online via their LiveExtra service:

3 to 6 p.m. -- Golf Channel

3 to 6 p.m. -- Golf Channel simulcast stream

Noon to 6 p.m. -- PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208)

And here’s the full tee sheet for the opening round:

UPDATE: Tee times have been pushed back due to a fog delay at TPC San Antonio. It was initially a half-hour delay, then a one-hour delay, and now they’re just making announcements every 15 minutes that things are continually getting pushed back.

Update No. 2: We’re finally under way at 11 a.m. ET -- here’s the updated tee sheet: