The first round of the 2022 Texas Open is in the books, and it might be more notable for the golfers who are nowhere near the leaderboard than the ones who are atop it. Russell Knox leads following a scintillating 65 in Round 1, and the three most notable players in the field (Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama and Rory McIlroy) combined to shoot just 2 over on a fairly benign day at TPC San Antonio.

Knox’s round was the cream of the crop on Thursday, but it wasn’t the only storyline. Players Championship Cinderella story Anirban Lahiri played well, DP World Tour stud Rasmus Hojgaard showed out in one of his first PGA Tour starts, and Ben Martin, tough-luck loser from last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship, is in the hunt again as well.

Let’s take a look at what went down in Round 1 and what to expect the rest of the week as the last PGA Tour event before the Masters unfolds over the next 54 holes.

The leader

Russell Knox (-7): Knox has been striking the ball at a high level for a while now, and his clean-card 65 on Thursday was the culmination of that. He’d made six consecutive cuts coming in with a T6 at The Players as the most sterling of those outings. He again hit it great on Thursday and only needed a neutral putting day for those seven birdies.

“It’s been more kind of the way I want to play golf. I’ve been a little more consistent tee to green [lately],” said Knox. “I’m back to kind of feeling like the way I should be playing, which has been nice. I’ve worked very hard on my game, practicing at home. It’s been nice to kind of see a little success with sometimes when you’re putting in work and you don’t get results, it’s very demoralizing. But it’s nice, I’ve practiced hard and I’m starting to see some benefits”

Other contenders

2. Rasmus Hojgaard (-6)
T3. Matt Kuchar, Denny McCarthy, J.J. Spaun, Aaron Rai (-5)
T7. Brendon Todd, Henrik Norlander, Scott Stallings, Matt Jones, Ryan Pal;mer, Austin Smotherman, Peter Uihlein, Luke List, David Skinns, Brendan Steele, Michael Gligic, Anirban Lahiri (-4)

The 21-year-old Hojgaard has already won three times on the DP World Tour over the course of his brief career, and after a top 10 last week at Corales, he looked like he was going to shoot the round of the day at TPC San Antonio. A late double bogey undid what could have been an 8-under 64, but it’s still an encouraging start for somebody in the middle of a transition to the best tour in the world.

Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter discuss Thursday’s first round action at the 2022 Valero Texas Open. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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Masters favorites

Rory McIlroy (E): McIlroy’s round was extremely frustrating. He made six birdies and drove it pretty well for most of the day, but his approach play was ghastly at times and he erased all six birdies with six bogeys for a 72 that does not inspire the week before the Masters. After discussing the importance of distance control earlier this week, he didn’t display a lot of it early on as two of his first four approaches went way long and resulted in bogey. He’ll likely make the cut on Friday, but this is something that needs to improve upon.

Jordan Spieth (E): Spieth’s swing has looked different all year, and the results just haven’t been there, especially compared to this time a year ago. Throw in the fact that he nearly finished last in the field in putting, and you get a cut watch at an event he won a year ago and needs to grab some momentum at for next week’s Masters.

Hideki Matsuyama (+2): Matsuyama gets a bit of a pass here because he’s been dealing with a back injury, but it doesn’t seem encouraging for his return to Augusta National next week where he’ll host the Champions Dinner and try to repeat as champion, which hasn’t happened in 20 years (Tiger Woods, 2001-02). It also could have been even worse. Matsuyama went out in 40 before pulling it together a bit on the back nine and getting it to the house under 80. Depending on how he feels, I wouldn’t be that surprised to see him withdraw at some point this week.

Story you should be rooting for

Ben Martin (-3 after Round 1) led for most of last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship before Chad Ramey closed out the tournament on Sunday. Martin’s reaction to that loss has me rooting for him to bounce back with a victory this week and his third trip to the Masters.

Craziest stat

Hojgaard made putts of 14, 18, 21, 36 and 38 feet and gained over four strokes on the field on the greens alone. Historically good effort, and something that almost certainly won’t be repeated by him the rest of the week (which is important as it relates to the odds below).

Such a normal sport

Rory McIlroy having to dig his approach out from under a Lexus qualifies, and it led to the tweet of the day in Round 1.

New odds and pick

Here’s a look at the new odds after 18 holes, courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook.

• Russell Knox: 10-1
• Rasmus Hojgaard: 14-1
• Denny McCarthy: 18-1
• Matt Kuchar: 18-1
• Tony Finau: 22-1
• Luke List: 22-1
• Corey Conners: 22-1
• Si Woo Kim: 25-1
• Brendan Steele: 25-1

Kim and Finau are probably the most intriguing names on this list at these odds. Kim is just four back, and Finau is five back, and both hit the ball tremendously in Round 1 but struggled a bit on and around the greens. With no clear-cut stars at the top of the board, I’m looking for value from golfers with win equity a bit further down.