Out of the late wave and beginning on 10 tee, first-round leader and World No. 169 Russell Knox ballooned to a 4-over-par 40-36=76 in R2 of the Valero Texas Open, tumbling 26 places to T27 on 3-under 141, seven adrift of leader Ryan Palmer (66).
After opening with bogey-free 65 (7 birdies), the Scot led by one, his fourth 18-hole lead/co-lead in 257 events, and for the fourth time, did not hold on to the lead. He went 11 worse on Day 2 at TPC San Antonio, outbalancing two birdie-4s with six bogeys, all bogey-5s, lowlighted by four squares in his last six. After gaining 6.517 strokes tee-to-green in R1 and eking out a 0.228 with the flat stick, the 36-year-old posted a -0.982 SG: Off-the-Tee and -3.025 SG: Putting in R2. His most recent of two TOUR titles came 147 starts ago at the 2016 Travelers as World No. 26. UPDATE: With the tournament complete, Knox finished T61 on even-par 288 (65-76-71-76) and drops to 0-for-4 as an 18-hole leader/co-leader.