Matt Kuchar joins the 500 Club, but he looks as spry as ever in contention at Valero Texas Open

SAN ANTONIO — Matt Kuchar finds himself at the point in his career when reflection starts to take precedence.

It’s been more than three years since the four-time Ryder Cupper won an individual PGA Tour event. The last time he made the cut in a major was before the pandemic. And last season, Kuchar missed as many cuts (12) as he made (12).

But the 43-year-old can still get it rolling when things click, as he did during the opening round of the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course on Thursday. Using a string of six birdies in eight holes, Kuchar finished the day with an impressive 67, just two shots off the lead after the early wave.

And while that 67 is impressive, he achieved an even more impressive number — making his 500th career start on Tour. The Georgia Tech product still has a long way to climb into the top 10 in Tour starts (more than 200, in fact) but he admitted that’s the kind of eye-popping figure that can give cause for contemplation.

“Five hundred, it’s a number I don’t put a whole lot of stake into that being a huge feather in the cap or anything. It is a big number. It’s kind of caused me to just reflect a little bit going, holy cow, 500 is a big number.

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“I think I look back and I go, what a great ride, what a great run, how much I’ve enjoyed my years out on Tour. It’s been an incredible journey, for sure, and I’ve been fortunate to share most of the 500 with my family. They’ve been traveling most of the time, so it’s really been an enjoyable stretch.”

On Thursday, he made just a single bogey and played the Greg Norman design with few flaws, like he has numerous times before. Although he hasn’t played the Texas Open since 2017, Kuchar has enjoyed plenty of success in his nine previous trips to the Alamo City, finishing in the top 15 on five occasions and never missing the cut.

“This course is one of my favorites out on Tour. There’s a lot of good and bad that can happen here. I feel like this place really punishes the bad shots, but it’s a type of course that it rewards good quality shots,” he said. “I was kind of managing early on in the round and then found a little something on about the fifth or sixth hole where started having some birdie chances and converted on a few birdie chances late in my first round, first nine, and I was able to kind of maintain some good golf throughout my second nine today.”

Kuchar said his swing has started to feel better of late, and he believes he has what it takes to contend at this event, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this week — making it the sixth-oldest golf tournament in the world.

See? There’s nothing wrong with having plenty of birthdays under your belt. In fact, Kuchar said he never feels the need to press when he’s playing well, knowing opportunities will continue to surface, albeit at a different frequency than they once did.

“I think each shot presents its own scenario of the right shot for the moment,” he said. “Even if I’m on, I don’t know that being overly aggressive is always the key. Each one presents kind of a different opportunity. It depends so much on what hazards lie around each area you’re looking to hit towards.”