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Archives for April 1, 2026

PGA Tour: Valero Texas Open Preview

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor Digital Sports Desk

SAN ANTONIO – Welcome to PGA Tour Brunch coverage of the 2026 Valero Texas Open in this fantastic, but hot, Alamo City.

This week’s field includes 15 of the Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, headlined by two players inside the Top 10:

  • No. 4 Tommy Fleetwood
  • No. 10 Russell Henley
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The last spot in the Masters Tournament is available to the winner of the Valero Texas Open, if not otherwise qualified. There are currently 22 players in the field that are exempt for the Masters Tournament, with the majority of the field having a chance to earn that final spot in the Masters Tournament field.

Three of the last six winners of the Valero Texas Open qualified for the Masters Tournament with their victory (2019/Corey Conners, 2022/J.J. Spaun, 2024/AkshayBhatia). Only Connors is playing this week.

Players in the field already invited to the Masters: Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Max Homa, Johnny Keefer, Michael Kim, Si Woo Kim, Haotong Li, Robert MacIntyre, Hideki Matsuyama, Matt McCarty, Maverick McNealy, Alex Noren, Andrew Novak, Marco Penge, Kristoffer Reitan, J.J. Spaun, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka, Nick Taylor, and Sami Valimaki

Johnny Keefer, a PGA TOUR rookie and San Antonio resident, is making his tournament debut this week. He is coming off his best finish in 14 career PGA TOUR starts with a T3 at last week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open.

In his rookie season on TOUR, owns five made cuts in eight starts and sits at No. 60 in the FedEx Cup standings. He played five seasons collegiately at Baylor University where he broke the school record for career scoring average (71.45) previously established by six-time PGA TOUR winner Jimmy Walker (71.55 from 1997-2001).

Gary Woodland, Nicolai Højgaard, Daniel Berger, Ricky Castillo and David Lipsky were amongst the stampede of WDs from the tournament.

Collin Morikawa, who was in the field until Tuesday morning when he withdrew due to a lingering back injury her suffered at The Players.

Valero Texas Open | Tournament Facts

COURSE: TPC San Antonio

YARDS/PAR: 7,438 yards/Par 72

ARCHITECTS: Pete Dye/Greg Norman

PRIZE Money – Purse: $9,800,000/Winner: $1,764,000

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Brian Harmon

PAST RESULTS: (link)

FEDEx CUP: Points to Winner: 500

TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW: (link)

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @valerotxopen

Valero Texas Open | Field/Updates, Tee Times and Leaderboard

The Field: (link)

Updates:

Friday. March 27

Ryan Gerard WD / Matt Kuchar IN

Saturday, March 28

Isaiah Salinda WD / Justin Lower IN

Aaron Wise WD / Taylor Moore IN

Sunday, March 29

Bronson Burgoon IN (top 10 previous event)

Ryan Palmer IN (unrestricted sponsor exemption)

Monday, March 30

Pierceson Coody WD / Taylor Moore IN

Nicolai Højgaard WD / Joel Dahmen IN

Matti Schmid WD / Sam Ryder IN

Gary Woodland WD / Jackson Suber IN

Nick Hardy IN (open qualifier)

Charlie Crockett IN (open qualifier)

Tuesday, March 31

Daniel Berger WD / Lanto Griffin IN

Collin Morikawa WD / Frankie Capan III IN

David Lipsky WD / Carson Young IN

Ricky Castillo WD / Chan Kim IN

Tee Times: (link)

Tournament Leaderboard: (link)

Last Year’s Leaderboard: (PGATourCom)

Last Week’s Leaderboard: (PGATourCom)

Astros Beat Sox; 4th Straight Loss

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HOUSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Hunter Brown allowed one run and struck out eight in six innings to help the Houston Astros stretch their winning streak to four games by beating the visiting Boston Red Sox 9-2 Tuesday night in the second game of a three-game series. The only hit Brown (1-0) allowed was a Connor Wong double that drove in Marcelo Mayer in the fifth. Cody Bolton struck out five over the final three innings to earn his first save.

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Yordan Alvarez and Cam Smith each hit solo home runs for the Astros. Alvarez, Christian Walker and Carlos Correa each had two hits and two RBIs in the win. Smith also collected two hits.

Boston got a solo home run from Ceddanne Rafaela for its only other run. The Red Sox struck out 13 times in the loss.

Boston starter Brayan Bello (0-1) was pulled with two outs in the fifth and Houston leading 6-1. He gave up six runs (five earned), eight hits, walked three and struck out two.

The Astros struck first when Jeremy Pena singled and scored on an Alvarez double to give Houston a 1-0 lead in the first.

Houston extended its lead to 3-0 in the third. After Jose Altuve drew a two-out walk, Correa doubled to put runners on second and third and Walker followed with a two-run single.

After Wong’s RBI double in the top of the fifth, the Astros regained a three-run lead when Alvarez homered in the bottom half of the inning to increase Houston’s advantage to 4-1. Later in the fifth a Joey Loperfido single drove in Correa to make it 5-1, and then Walker scored from third on Wong’s throwing error to push the lead to 6-1.

Correa’s two-run single off Ryan Watson drove in Alvarez and Jake Meyers to make it 8-1 in the sixth.

Following Smith’s homer in the seventh, Rafaela hit one of his own in the eighth to cut Houston’s lead to 9-2.

It was Boston’s fourth straight loss.

–Field Level Media

LeBron Sets NBA All-Time Win Mark

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LOS ANGELES – (Wire Service Report) – Luka Doncic had 42 points and 12 assists, and LeBron James scored 14 points in his NBA-record 1,229th career win, powering the Los Angeles Lakers to a decisive 127-113 victory over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers. The Los Angeles Lakers (50-26) won for the 13th time in its last 14 games, clinching a playoff spot and the Pacific Division title earlier in the night when the Phoenix Suns lost. The Lakers sit third in the Western Conference, two games ahead of the Denver Nuggets.

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James surpassed Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most combined regular season and playoff wins. The all-time scoring leader added five rebounds and six assists against the Cavaliers, the team he spent 11 seasons with over two stints.

MVP candidate Doncic returned from an automatic one-game suspension for picking up his 16th technical foul. He became the third-youngest player with 15,000 career points at 27 years, 31 days (James holds the mark at 25, 79).

Jarrett Allen scored 18 points for Cleveland (47-29), which remained one game behind the third-place New York Knicks in the East. James Harden had 17 points and Donovan Mitchell chipped in 10 points and six assists.

The Cavaliers, whose magic number to make the playoffs is one, have won six of their last eight games and are 16-6 with Harden in the lineup.

Deandre Ayton had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Austin Reaves scored 19 for Los Angeles, which blew the game open by scoring 45 in the third to go up 110-83. It was the 100th victory for coach JJ Redick.

The Lakers carried a 65-53 advantage into the half, fueled by 20 points and seven assists from Doncic and 11 points and six rebounds from Ayton. Allen had 18 points on 9-of-11 field-goal attempts, but Mitchell only scored two for the Cavaliers.

Doncic wasted no time getting back in the flow, taking 10 shots and scoring 14 points while playing the entire first. Cleveland held a 34-32 lead behind nine points from Harden and eight points and three rebounds by Allen.

Los Angeles guard Marcus Smart (right ankle bruise) missed his fourth game in a row, while the Cavaliers were without swingman Sam Merrill (left hamstring soreness).

Cleveland forwards Jaylon Tyson (left great toe bruise) and Dean Wade (right ankle sprain) did not travel with the team on its three-game trip.

–Field Level Media