Dark clouds and uncertainty hovered over one of the PGA Tour’s most important weeks. Coming right before the Masters Tournament, the $9.8 million Valero Texas Open is considered the last preparation for professionals heading to Augusta National. This is one of the reasons why many professionals, including Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood, and others who will play the Masters 2026, are in the field here. However, they had to wait a little longer before they could begin their final prep.

The PGA Tour Communications shared an update on the same with an X post. The post says that the initial schedule for the Valero Texas Open was at 7:30 am. However, there is a delay because of the rain.

Because of past incidents that threatened the lives of both golfers and fans, weather conditions are taken very seriously on the PGA Tour. With even a slight hint of lightning or heavy rain, the officials raise alarms and halt the play. And pre-tournament forecasts pointed to a difficult week at TPC San Antonio. Weather forecasts showed a 55% probability of rain at 8 am CT and a 35% probability at 10 am CT. Since 12 pm CT, the probability drops to 15% and remains at 15% until 6 pm.

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This Should Be an Easy One, Right?

01/10

On Which Hole Jordan Spieth’s Ball Got Stuck Under a Trashcan?

14th 15th16th 17th

Oops, bogey!

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Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama, and Tommy Fleetwood were supposed to start at 8:51 am CT. Their group includes some of the most followed professionals in the strong field at the event. Based on the delay caused by the event, their tee time could be later in the day.

After the halt, the PGA Tour updated that the first round will now begin at 8:15 am local time. Thus, all first-round tee times of Round 1 will be delayed by 45 minutes. However, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported that it was just a false alarm. The first round finally started at 9:00 am CT. This means that every group’s tee time will be delayed by 1 hour and 30 minutes. Rickie Fowler’s group will tee at 9:36 am CT.

There’s a chance that Round 1 doesn’t end on Thursday, April 2, 2026. If the weather continues like this even tomorrow, the effect could be worse than in 2023.

Weather delay at the Valero Texas Open 2023

The 2023 edition of the Valero Texas Open also faced similar issues ahead of Round 1. However, it was fog that delayed the play that time. Players took the opening tee shot 48 minutes after the scheduled 7:30 a.m. CT start. But that was not all. Officials halted play again at 8:42 a.m. CT after just 24 minutes, before resuming at 11:20 a.m. CT.

Because of the delay, Round 1 could not end on Thursday. Officials halted play at 7:23 p.m. CT due to darkness. The entire afternoon wave remained unfinished. Officials did not complete Round 1 until Friday at 11:29 a.m. CT.

Even in 2021, there was a fog delay in Round 3. It took up 2.5 hours of overall time.

Weather delays have disrupted this event before, and the 2026 edition now risks following a similar path. That uncertainty only heightens the stakes for players already navigating a shortened window to fine-tune their games ahead of the 2026 Masters.