Thursday's golf: Ryder leads Texas Open; Trump again lobbies for merger
San Antonio – Sam Ryder wasn't sure his neck would feel good enough for him to play Thursday in the Valero Texas Open. He found a swing and hardly missed a putt on his way to a 9-under 63 and a one-shot lead over Keith Mitchell in the final tournament before the Masters.
Mitchell played bogey-free in the morning for a 64, highlighted by a 3-wood from 286 yards that stopped rolling about 3 feet from the pin for a tap-in eagle on the par-5 eighth.
Former British Open champion Brian Harman had a 66.
Jordan Spieth, entertaining as ever, was in the group at 67. His round included a drive well right on the 17th on hard pan with a rock embedded about 4 inches behind his golf ball. He made clean contact and hit it to 12 feet and made the birdie putt.
Ryder, who has made the cut in all nine of his tournaments this year, had to withdraw from the pro-am Wednesday when he felt a twinge at the base of his neck. He stayed in his room and rested all day, then showed up at the course about three hours before his tee time to see if he could swing.
He could. And he could putt.
Ryder one-putted 11 of his last 12 holes, seven of them for birdie, including the final three. He holed a 25-foot putt on the 16th, a 12-footer on the 17th and then hit a wedge to a foot on the par-5 closing hole at the TPC San Antonio.
“I was just trying to get a feel for how I could swing,” Ryder said. “I think it helped me stay within myself today. I was just happy to be playing.”
Ryder would be among those who could go straight to the Masters next week if he were to win, something he has yet to do on the PGA Tour.
He was mildly surprised to see Mitchell at 64 from the morning.
“I figured anything under par is always usually pretty good out here,” he said. “Didn’t go in with any intentions of trying to be more aggressive or anything like that, was just trying to put one foot in front of the next and have a solid round, hit fairways and as many greens as possible.”
Mitchell isn't in the Masters, either, and it has been six years since his lone PGA Tour victory. This was the third time this year Mitchell has opened with 65 or lower. It's finishing it out that has been the problem.
“My game’s been trending,” he said. “I’d like to put some solid rounds together. Hopefully, it's this week. I feel like my scores have been showing at least in the first couple rounds lately that my game’s where it needs to be and just going to try to stack ’em all up this week.”
Harman has gone 15 straight tournaments without a top 10 dating to June, and he has only two other top 10s since his British Open victory at Hoylake in 2023. He's on the verge of falling out of the top 50 in the world.
“My good days have been good enough to win and my bad days have been not great,” Harman said. “You’ve got to find a way on those days, and that’s usually a strong part of my game is gritting it out, figuring out a way to get it done.”
Trump wants PGA Tour, LIV Golf merged
President Donald Trump arrived at his Doral Resort Thursday for a LIV Golf event, shortly after reiterating to reporters aboard Air Force One that he wants to see the two men's professional tours united.
The president has spoken out on the subject before, and Trump has been involved in some of the talks that may eventually unify the PGA Tour and Saudi-funded LIV. Those talks have gone on for at least a year and how – or if – a deal can be struck is unclear.
“Ultimately, hopefully, the two tours are going to merge. That’ll be good. I’m involved in that too,” Trump told reporters on the flight to Miami. “But hopefully we’re going to get the two tours to merge. You have the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour. And I think having them merge would be a great thing.”
Trump called the LIV golfers – a roster that includes Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and others – “some of the best players in the world.”
Trump was driven to the edge of the hotel property late Thursday afternoon, shortly after he arrived, in a golf cart by his son Eric Trump, who played in the LIV Miami pro-am at Doral earlier Thursday alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others. Trump waved to a few dozen supporters who were nearby and briskly walked into a nearby building.
Trump was scheduled to deliver a speech at a dinner with LIV players and others Thursday night and was expected to be on-site for a few hours before departing for his primary Florida residence in West Palm Beach.
LPGA Tour
Brooke Henderson needed only 27 holes to win two matches. The Canadian needs to win one more to be assured of reaching the weekend at the T-Mobile LPGA Match Play.
One day after a 6-and-5 win in the opening round, Henderson pulled away late by winning five of the last seven holes Thursday in a 5-and-4 win over Peiyun Chien of Taiwan.
One more day of round-robins matches remain at Shadow Creek in North Las Vegas before the winner of each of the 16 groups advance to the knockout stage on the weekend. While no one clinched her group, at least 18 players were eliminated on another day of this fickle format.
Nelly Korda, the defending champion and No. 1 player, will have to beat Ariya Jutanugarn to win her group. Korda halved her opening match and she had a few shaky moments in a 1-up win over Jennifer Kupcho.
Korda had a 4-foot putt to go 3 up with three holes to play, missed the putt, and then gave away the the par-5 16th with a bogey. It came down to the 18th, and Kupcho pulled her drive to the left side of the hazard. Her next shot clipped a tree and she stopped watching, only to discover the ball was on the green.
Korda's approach was 40 feet long, and she did well to lag it to a foot. Kupcho missed her 30-foot birdie attempt and Korda moved on to a decisive match against Jutanugarn. The Thai is 2-0 and would only need a halve against Korda.
“Very questionable by me,” Korda said of her play. “Definitely don’t have my best stuff right now. That’s the greatest thing about match play, is even if you don’t have your best stuff you have to grind it out."