Valero Texas Open 2018: Grayson Murray Holds 1-Stroke Lead After 1st Round

Grayson Murray is sitting in the driver's seat after firing a 67 in the first round at the 2018 Valero Texas Open on Thursday. 

On the strength of his five-under-par total, Murray holds a one-shot advantage over a group of five players. Low scores were hard to come by, with only 34 participants in the 156-man field finishing under par. 

Here is a look at the top of the leaderboard from TPC San Antonio, via PGATour.com:

1. Grayson Murray -5 (67)

T2. Chesson Hadley -4 (68)

T2. Billy Horschel -4 (68)

T2. Ryan Moore -4 (68)

T2. Keegan Bradley -4 (68)

T2. Matt Atkins -4 (68)

T7. Andrew Landry -3 (69)

T7. Jon Curran -3 (69)

T7. Roberto Diaz -3 (69)

T7. Harris English -3 (69)

T7. Joshua Creel -3 (69)

Murray was on the course early, setting the table for the rest of the field when he went into the clubhouse in the afternoon. The 24-year-old has struggled since the end of February, missing three cuts in his past five tournaments. 

The only significant blemish in Murray's otherwise stellar round was a double bogey on the par-three seventh hole. He offset that mistake with seven birdies, putting himself in a great spot heading into Friday. 

Fighting heavy winds, Murray explained after his round how he was able to overcome the elements, per Will Gray of the Golf Channel:

"The wind bothers me when I'm hitting it like I did last week, when I'm not compressing the ball. That's just the bottom line. But once you start swinging it well, like hitting it into the wind really shows you how you are hitting the golf ball because it's only going to maximize your dispersion. So if you hit a 5-yard cut, it's going to be probably a 10-yard cut into the wind. That tells you when you're hitting it good."

Things didn't work out as well for Kevin Chappell, who won his first PGA Tour event at this tournament last year. The California native was forced to settle for an even-par 72. 

Chappell caused some of his own problems, like on the 16th hole when his first shot hit the grandstand:

He salvaged a bogey out of that, but it came five holes after taking a double-bogey six on No. 11. 

Chappell has had mixed results this season, missing the cut at the Masters and RBC Heritage over the past two weeks after finishing seventh at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Thursday's first round was in keeping with what he's done to this point in 2018. 

While Chappell was battling his way to an even-par round, Sergio Garcia's struggles continued. After missing the cut at the Masters two weeks ago, the 38-year-old posted his third straight tournament round over par with a 74 to finish tied for 87th Thursday. 

At No. 10, Garcia is the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Rankings playing this weekend. Augusta was his only significant hiccup this season after making the cut in each of his first three PGA Tour events, including two top-10 finishes. 

Despite the sluggish start, Garcia is still in a position to make a move before the weekend. His biggest issue was on the greens where he cost himself 1.3 strokes, so fixing the short game will go a long way toward getting him into contention. 

Stats via PGATour.com