Houston Open First-Round Leader Tips: Vegas gets the vote

Each-way terms: 1/5 odds, 6 places

Weather forecast for Memorial Park Golf Course: Temperatures are a pleasant 70 degrees for the early starters and peak at around 85 at 3pm. But perhaps the main thing to note is the fairly modest wind. It'll be around 5-7mph in the morning and nothing more than around 5mph in the afternoon.

FRL history at Memorial Park Golf Course

None!

Strategy

There's no past course form and the weather suggests no real bias so let's pick away freely without too much attention to times. That said, I will split the bets up, with two in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Vote Vegas

Clues are fairly thin on the ground although Scottie Scheffler did say on Tuesday: "My caddie went around the front nine, he said the greens are real undulated and very firm. So I think it will be challenging hitting approach shots into these greens just the way they'll be bouncing."

That makes me think of hard, bouncy Texas/Florida tracks so I'm looking for a player who make fast starts in such conditions.

Step forward Jhonattan Vegas.

The Venezuelan was the first-round leader at hard, bouncy PGA National in 2019 and second after 18 holes of last year's Texas Open.

So far this year he's been third after day one of the Saudi International when greens were hard to hold and also third following the opening lap of another Texas event, the Charles Schwab Challenge.

His finishes have bene pretty poor in recent times to be honest but he started out with a 67 in last week's Bermuda Championship (T15 after R1) and putted well on the bermuda greens there.

A Texas resident, I'll roll the dice at 100/1. He heads out in the second group out from Tee No.10 at 06:55.

Westwood can make early mark

I originally had Harry Higgs pencilled in as my second pick until learning he'd withdrawn due to a positive coronavirus test.

He tweeted soon after: "Thanks for all the well wishes! I currently am experiencing no symptoms and I am honestly looking forward to two weeks on the couch!"

I had Higgs in for his strong driving as playing from the fairway to bouncy greens could be one of the keys to success here.

In which case, I'll put up Lee Westwood as an alternative.

Still one of the best off the tee, the Englishman has been in the top 10 after 18 holes four times in his Houston Open career.

He's also started fast plenty of times in firm conditions in Florida, sitting third after day one of this year's Honda Classic.

This marks his first start in America since the US Open but he had no trouble switching from Europe on that occasion, handing in a 67 on day one to lie fifth.

On his next start he was the first-round leader in the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club after a stunning 62 and that has double significance. First, it shows his appeal in this market and, second, that track was designed by Tom Doak, the man behind this week's course.

Two weeks ago he opened with 67 at the Scottish Championship to finish Thursday in T8 so he's been hitting the ground running quite regularly of late.

Westwood, who starts out at 08:25 from the 1st, is 66/1 for FRL.

Look to Landry

Andrew Landry is another Texan I like the look of.

He had his big breakthrough moment when capturing the Valero Texas Open in 2018.

He's had four first-round leads on the PGA Tour, including the 2016 US Open, and added a second victory earlier this year when winning The American Express.

Just three starts ago, he fired a R1 64 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open while he set out with a 66 in the Wyndham Championship three starts before that.

Landry isn't the most consistent of sorts to put it mildly but he can have his moments and that's why he's worth a look at a three-figure price - especially with a bit of home state advantage.

He also gives us a bit of tee-time balance. Landry is an afternoon starter as he pegs it up in the fourth last three-ball from the 10th at 12:35pm.