Robert MacIntyre fired an eagle at the par-5 14th as well as seven birdies and one bogey for an 8-under 64 to take a four-shot lead at the Valero Texas Open.
He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (9.370), Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (6.914) and Sand Saves (3/3; T1).
“I’ve been driving the ball nice. Got a new Titleist driver in the bag. Iron play today was exceptional I would say. Hit a pure wedge shot on 17, I thought it was absolutely dynamite there. Approach play, hitting the number, hitting the targets. Got to finish off with good putting. Overall, just really solid,” said MacIntyre.
“I got off to a nice start, starting on that back nine was nice. If you play well, you can build momentum. Yeah, it was a good start and a good finish.”
At 14-under 130, the Scot set the lowest opening 36-hole score since the Valero Texas Open moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010. Si Woo Kim (2019) and Brian Harman (2025) held the previous low score of 12-under.
130 equals his second-lowest opening 36-hole score on the PGA Tour, set previously at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open (won) and the 2025 Tour Championship (T17). His lowest score of 126 led to a runner-up finish at the 2025 BMW Championship.
He is aiming to become the third straight lefthander to win the Valero Texas Open (Akshay Bhatia/2024, Brian Harman/2025).
MacIntyre holds his third 36-hole lead/co-lead and is 1-for-2 converting to victory (2024 RBC Canadian Open/won, 2025 BMW Championship/2nd).
In six starts this season, he has had two top-10 finishes (T4/Sony Open in Hawaii, 4th/The Players Championship).
Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, coming off of back-to-back top-5 finishes for the first time in his career (T3/Arnold Palmer Invitational, T5/The Players Championship), holed out for eagle with a sand wedge from 120 yards on the par-4 6th hole and made four birdies and one bogey for a 67 to move into second place at 10-under. This was his sixth eagle on a par-4 in 63 Tour starts.
Americans Kevin Roy (one bogey/68) and Bud Cauley (one bogey/66) are tied in third place at 9-under alongside Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen (bogey-free/66).
Also tied in third is American Tony Finau who eagled the par-5 18th and made four birdies and three bogeys for a 69. He leads the field with two eagles (R1/par-5 14th). The six-time Tour winner is in search of his first win since the 2023 VidantaWorld Mexico Open.
Play was suspended due to lightning in the area at 5:46 p.m. and resumed at 6:31 p.m. (delay of 45 minutes). Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:55 p.m., with Luke Clanton (T60/-2) the lone player yet to complete his round. He will be back in position at 7:30 a.m. Due to forecasted inclement weather, starting times for the third round will consist of threesomes off split tees from 8:10 – 10:10 a.m. local time.
Currently 70 players inside the cutline at 2-under 142 from a field of 132 professionals. Luke Clanton is currently on the cutline at 2-under and yet to tee off on his final hole (No. 9).
22 players in the field are in the Masters Tournament next week, with five missing the cut this week:
| Robert MacIntyre (1st/-14) |
Marco Penge (T33/-4) |
| Ludvig Åberg (2nd/-10) | Brian Harman (T43/-3) |
| Tommy Fleetwood (T13/-7) | Maverick McNealy (T43/-3) |
| Michael Kim (T13/-7) | Matt McCarty (T60/-2) |
| Andrew Novak (T15/-6) | Jordan Spieth (T60/-2) |
| Kristoffer Reitan (T15/-6) | Nick Taylor (T60/-2) |
| J.J. Spaun (T15/-6) | Russell Henley (MC/-1) |
| Hideki Matsuyama (T23/-5) | Max Homa (MC/-1) |
| Alex Noren (T23/-5) | Haotong Li (MC/Even) |
| Sami Välimäki (T23/-5) | Sepp Straka (MC/Even) |
| Si Woo Kim (T33/-4) | Johnny Keefer (MC/+3) |
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