Andrew Landry teed off Thursday at the Valero Texas Open on the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course as the tournament’s defending champion.

His fellow Port Neches-Groves alumnus Chris Stroud spent most of the first round playing like he wanted to return with that title next year.

Stroud, coming off a tie for second last week, was five under through 10 holes. He had a couple more good birdie looks on the back nine, but had to settle for a 68 after a penalty on the 18th led to his lone bogey. He dropped from T2 to T6, two shots off the 66 posted by Si Woo Kim.

Landry, meanwhile, started his title defense with birdies on two of his first three holes, but could not get another one to fall. A bogey at his 16th hole left him in a massive tie for 50th at 71. He will need a subpar round Friday to make the cut.

Stroud, after making birdies from 18 feet on his fourth hole and 16 on the sixth, roared up the leaderboard with three straight birdies around the turn.

He chipped in from 29 feet on eight, sank his putt from 7-11 on nine and dropped a 15-footer on 10.
His best chance to get to six under and tie the lead came from 8 feet on the par-3, 13th. He also missed birdie chances from 17-1 on 16 and 17-6 on 17.

But he also saved pars from 6 feet on 11 and 10-4 on 12.

On the 18th, it looked like he’d dodged a bullet when his tee shot was pulled far left and headed for trouble. He got a huge break when the ball hit a tree and nearly rolled back to the fairway. But his second shot trickled into the hazard than runs the length of the hole.

Stroud, who has struggled to score on the Oaks Course over the years, hit 8 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation. He tees off No. 10 Friday at 8:10 a.m.

Landry, who goes off No.1 at 12:40 p.m. will have to hope his putter heats up. On a day when he hit 12 of 14 fairways, he did not birdie a par 5 and missed six birdie attempts from inside 14 feet. On the par 5s, he missed from 9-8, 9-11, 13-11 and 11-0.

Making it a solid overall showing from Southeast Texans, Lamar ex Shawn Stefani shot 69 and is tied for 14th.