Carnage Galore at Valero Texas Open; Hoffman in Front


The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio turned out to be a beast Thursday, as high winds raked the already-difficult Greg Norman-designed layout and the scores soared in the opening round of the $6.2 million PGA Tour event.

With many of its holes lined by hazards on both sides, the course - combined with the blustery conditions and its status as one of the year's toughest non-major venues - wreaked havoc on many of the world's top players.

Among those who suffered greatly were defending champion Steven Bowditch, who carded an 8-over 80, and major champions Ben Curtis (81), Martin Kaymer and Geoff Ogilvy, who each shot 82s.

Tour winner D.A. Points played the front nine in 11-over 47 en route to an 86, and Amarillo native and three-time winner, Johnson Wagner, an 87.

The scoring average by the players who started in the morning was 78.6. Perhaps the players who made the best moves were the ones who withdrew before finishing their first rounds.

Citing a back injury, South Korean Sang-Moon Bae headed to the clubhouse after going 6-over through seven holes. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell was 5-over after nine before pulling out with leg issues, and Colt Knost cited a thumb problem after going 9-over in eight holes. Mike Weir (wrist) and Alex Cejka (back) withdrew before the round started.

Aaron Baddeley carded five birdies and a bogey for a 68. Fittingly, his final birdie came when he holed out his tee shot on the 336-yard par-4 17th. But it was with his second drive after the 34-year-old Aussie's first went out-of-bounds and he canned his third stroke for an amazing birdie.

The winner in last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, Matt Every, started with a not-so-hot 78.

Charley Hoffman took advantage of the balmier afternoon conditions to take the 18-hole lead with an outstanding five-birdie 67, with Baddeley trailing the San Diego native by a shot.

On the par-4 12th, the head on Phil Mickelson's 8-iron flew off the shaft after he hit out of a fairway bunker. Lefty ended up with a bogey on the hole, but posted an admirable 70.

It was that kind of a day in the Alamo City.

Mickelson was joined in third by Ryan Palmer. San Antonio native Jimmy Walker had a 71 to share fifth with fellow Texan Jordan Spieth, Chris Kirk, Chesson Hadley, Daniel Summerhays, Zach Johnson and Cameron Beckman.

An exhausted Matt Kuchar told PGATour.com after his even-par 72 in the morning, which experienced gusts in excess of 40 mph, "I'm glad to be done." The seven-time winner added, "It was really challenging, really difficult. I'm going to kind of enjoy sitting back and watching some guys try to manage today's afternoon forecast and the wind and the conditions. It was really hard."

Because of the skyrocketing scores and longer-than-normal rounds involving ball searches and excess strokes, it's unlikely not everyone in the field will finish because of darkness. Those who didn't will be out early Friday morning before the start of the second round. The winds Friday are forecast to top off at 10 mph, with temperatures in the high 70s.

For updated scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.