Mark Hubbard’s back nine at TPC San Antonio catapulted him over five other players who thought they’d be walking out Friday as co-first round leaders.
The 36-year-old Hubbard had other plans, finishing his last 14 holes bogey free after a slip up on the par-4 fourth hole early in his opening round.
He finished with six birdies on his last eight holes, completing a 7-under 65 at the Valero Texas Open. Looking up at Hubbard tied for second are Tony Finau, Davis Thompson, Andrew Putnam, Robert MacIntyre and Steven Fisk.
Mark Hubbard birdies six of his final eight holes and claims the outright lead with a 7-under 65 at the Valero Texas Open.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) April 3, 2026
With 24 players left to complete the first round, Hubbard is bidding for his sixth 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR in his 272nd career start.
Everyone but MacIntrye is playing for a spot in next week’s Masters — the last spot available in the competitive 2026 Augusta National field.
“The big thing for me is I drove it a lot better, I’ve been really struggling with the driver for the last like, I don’t know, seems like forever,” Hubbard told reporters after the round. “To get that going the right direction, I mean, this is not a friendly course off the tee if you’re not feeling good with the big club.
“So to get that going, and just even the ones that I missed, just knowing where they’re going, getting that like real feedback because for a while it’s been coming out of both barrels and it’s been ugly,” he added.
First round play was suspended right before 8 p.m. local time due to darkness. Play is set to resume at 7:45 a.m. Friday and the second round will begin as scheduled.
Crashing the first-round leader party could be Pontus Nyholm, John Parry and Jeffrey Kang who are all four under with three or four holes left to complete early Friday.
While a string of birdies could have them catch Hubbard, it’s likely they’ll fall T-2 with the aforementioned quintet at 66 or T-7 with eight other players. That list includes betting favorite Tommy Fleetwood, 2021 Masters runner-up Will Zalatoris and 2024 Masters runner-up Ludvig Åberg.
“Don’t know what it is out here, we always seem to push it 15 minutes longer than we should,” Hubbard said of the playing conditions late Thursday.
Hubbard said he had limited visibility on the 18th hole, which he birdied.
“Not everyone’s going to finish, I don’t understand. But that being said, I’m super happy to get an extra hour of sleep tomorrow.”