After Thursday’s first round of the Valero Texas Open, one golfer sat atop the leaderboard: Sam Ryder ($7,200; 65.5 FPTS). He finished Thursday with 67.5 FPTS, but he lost two FPTS after Friday’s round.
The day began ominously with a bogey on the first hole. Things did not get better as he closed out the front nine with another bogey and a birdie. After bogeying the first hole of the back nine, Ryder replicated the bogey/birdie feat from the front nine. Ryder finished +2 on Friday and is -7 for the tournament, sitting T3.
The current leader is Brian Harman ($7,500; 85.5 FPTS). Harman shot a -6 on Thursday with seven birdies and a bogey. On Friday, he racked up eight birdies and two bogeys to finish -6 again. At -12 for the tournament, he leads the field by four strokes heading into the weekend.
Harman is rostered on 4.82% of teams in the $700K Sand Trap tournament.
DK Sportsbook has Harman as the clear favorite to win it all at +190.
Here are the golfers rostered on at least 10% of teams that didn’t make the -2 cutline:
Tom Kim ($8,400; 24.5 FPTS) is rostered on 11.31% of teams. His tournament was essentially over after the +5 he shot on Thursday. Friday’s round of -1 was much better with three birdies and two bogeys, but the hole was too deep. Kim missed the cut by six strokes.
Jake Knapp ($7,900; 22.5 FPTS) is rostered on 10.49% of teams. Knapp shot a +2 on Thursday and followed that up with a +2 on Friday. At least he was consistent. Knapp also missed the cut by six strokes.
Victor Perez ($7,100; 27.5 FPTS) is rostered on 11.72% of teams. Perez shot par on Thursday and +2 on Friday. The day got off to a good start with three birdies on the front nine. It all fell apart on the back nine. Perez double-bogeyed the first hole then followed that up with two more bogeys before draining a birdie. He racked up another double-bogey on Hole 17. Perez missed the cut by four strokes.
Sam Stevens ($8,000; 21.5 FPTS) is rostered on 12.45% of teams. Stevens went par on Thursday. He went par for the first 12 holes on Friday before notching two straight bogeys. He finished the day with a birdie on the final hole but missed the cut by three strokes.
Hideki Matsuyama ($9,900; 23 FPTS) is rostered on 17.32% of teams, the eighth-highest number. After Thursday’s +1, Matsuyama finished even on Friday, missing the cut by three strokes. He had a bogey and three birdies on the front nine. On the back nine, he gave it all back with two bogeys.
Lee Hodges ($7,500; 24.5 FPTS) is rostered on 18.24% of teams. He went -1 on Thursday. On Friday, he had two bogeys on the front nine, bogeyed the first hole of the back nine before getting a stroke back with a birdie four holes later. He finished the day +2 and missed the cut by three strokes.
Akshay Bhatia ($9,300; 27 FPTS) is rostered on 24.73% of teams, the second-most. Bhatia put himself in a bad position with the +2 on Thursday. Friday didn’t start well with two bogeys in the first four holes. He did bounce back, though, with three birdies to close out the front nine, then two more on the back nine. Unfortunately, he had a bogey on the 16th hole of the round and couldn’t push forward anymore. He ended the day -2 and missed the cut by two strokes.
Ludvig Aberg ($10,800; 28.5 FPTS) is rostered on 16.03% of teams. Aberg went -1 on Thursday. Friday’s round was uneventful with a birdie on the front nine then two bogeys on the back nine. He finished the day +1 and missed the cut by two strokes.
Alex Smalley ($7,300; 32 FPTS) is rostered on 10.59% of teams. Smalley went -2 on Thursday, but wasn’t able to maintain the momentum with a +1 on Friday, missing the cut by one stroke. On the front nine, he double-bogeyed the second hole, then finished with two birdies and a bogey. On the back nine, Smalley racked up two birdies and a double-bogey.
