The PGA Tour travels to Texas this week for the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park. Previously played in November the past three years, the tournament will return to its pre-Masters spot on the schedule and feature some dramatically different course conditions given the Bermuda overseed. Even if it will not play as firm and fast as prior editions, Memorial Park remains one of strongest and most complete tests on the PGA Tour. Originally designed by John Bredemus, Memorial Park received a complete transformation by Tom Doak in 2019 in preparation for future PGA Tour events. Doak lengthened the course, removed dozens of bunkers and added a tremendous amount of movement and character to the green complexes. In the three prior Houston Opens at Memorial Park, the track has ranked top 12 in scoring difficulty.
Though many of the PGA Tour’s best players have already turned their attention to the Masters, golf fans will still get one final look at Scottie Scheffler before he tees it up at Augusta. Scheffler will be looking to notch his third consecutive PGA Tour victory and his second career victory in Texas. While the reigning Players champion will garner much of the attention, Wyndham Clark, Will Zalatoris, Jason Day, Sahith Theegala and defending Houston Open champion Tony Finau will all look to dethrone the World No. 1.
I’ll admit, I am not in the camp that Scottie Scheffler is in the midst of a Tiger Woods-esque run, and I do not believe that he should be deployed each week at any price and ownership. With that being said, that’s a golf course-dependent take for me. There will be opportunities to fade Scottie Scheffler, but I would not recommend it in Texas or on over-seeded Bermuda. Even before Scheffler switched to the mallet, over-seeded Bermuda was by far his putting surface, and he has already won five times on similar greens at TPC Scottsdale, TPC Sawgrass and Austin Country Club. Memorial Park also requires a delicate touch around the greens, and Scheffler’s short game remains the best in this field. Considering the exorbitant price tag, there will still be daily fantasy players that talk themselves into a fade, but given the wealth of options in the $5,000 and $6,000 range, there are still ways to get different.
With only four players in the $10,000 range this week, it’s hard to find a player to truly dislike. With that being said, Zalatoris would be my least favorite option given his lack of experience at this course and his questionable touch and putting ability. A staple of Memorial Park is its heavily undulating green complexes, and while lag putting and creativity around the green is a strength of Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark and Sahith Theegala, this is an area of the game that can come and go for Zalatoris.
Coming off a sixth-place finish at the Players Championship, Si Woo Kim has been quietly playing some incredible golf this season. The four-time PGA Tour winner gained over a stroke in all four major categories at TPC Sawgrass and currently has all aspects of his game working. I trust Kim’s ability to keep the ball in play off the tee, hit a ton of greens in regulation and scramble his way out of trouble. I’m expecting a strong performance this week in Houston from the former Players Championship winner.
I am just as enamored at Tom Hoge’s recent approach numbers as anyone, but Memorial Park is a golf course that tests all aspects of a player’s game, and the former TCU standout still possesses some major weakness. Hoge ranks outside of the top-100 in this field in both driving accuracy and driving distance, and his around-the-green metrics are even more troublesome. At a wedges and putting course, Hoge is always live, but I worry that Memorial Park may expose some of his weaknesses.
I have alluded to how Memorial Park tests all aspects of a player’s game, and Stephan Jaeger has quietly turned into one of the most complete golfers on tour. The German ranks in the top 25 in this field in carry distance, proximity from 200-plus yards, recent around-the-green play, lag putting and strokes gained/total on long golf courses. With a ninth at Memorial Park already under his belt, I expect Jaeger to play a major factor once again in Houston.
I rarely ever play Beau Hossler, and I will certainly not be deploying him at this price tag. Hossler is coming off a missed cut at the Valspar Championship where he lost 3.9 strokes on approach, and he has now lost over 3.5 on approach in back-to-back starts. It’s incredibly hard to justify paying this salary with so many questions surrounding such a crucial aspect of his game. Easy pass for me.
Luke List is always a threat on long golf courses due to his power off the tee and long iron play, and it should not come as a surprise that he has already recorded an 11th at Memorial Park where he gained 5.8 strokes around the green. Short game is not always a strength for List, so the fact that he has already proven he can excel on the tricky green complexes of Memorial Park is incredibly encouraging. If we can just get that putter to cooperate, I expect List to find himself on the first page of the leaderboard come Sunday in Houston.
While Thorbjorn Olesen has certainly had his fair share of success on the DP World Tour, I have still yet to see it on this side of the pond. Olesen has now missed back-to-back cuts at the Cognizant Classic and Valspar Championship, losing strokes ball-striking in both occurrences. Until Olesen proves himself against PGA Tour competition, I will continue to look in other directions.
Joel Dahmen is on a tremendous ball-striking run right now, and given the recent form and course history, I would argue that he is the most underpriced player in this field. Dahmen has now gained over 13 strokes on approach in his last two starts, and he is returning to a course in Memorial Park that he has recorded a fifth and a ninth at in both of his appearances. The Netflix star is a confidence player, and he’s striking the ball right now better than nearly any other player in this field.
I always have interest in Joseph Bramlett on longer courses due to his driving ability and long iron approach play. Bramlett is the only player in this field to rank top-five in carry distance and proximity from 200 yards plus out of the rough, and he is coming off a 17th place finish at the Valspar where he gained over 3.5 strokes on approach and around the green. Outside of his ball-striking ability, Bramlett possesses an incredibly underrated touch around the greens, and he also ranks top-15 in this field in scrambling out of the short grass, a crucial element of success at Memorial Park.
Andy Lack is a PGA Tour writer and podcaster from New York City who now resides in Los Angeles. He hosts Inside Golf, a twice weekly podcast focused on the PGA Tour, betting, daily fantasy, golf course architecture, and interviews, as part of the BlueWire podcast network. As well as contributing to Golf Digest, Andy is also a data analyst and writer for Run Pure Sports, where he covers PGA Tour betting and daily fantasy. He came to Golf Digest’s betting panel after previously writing for RickRunGood.com, the Score and GolfWRX. In his free time, Andy can likely be found on a golf course. Follow him on Twitter: @adplacksports
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