Golf Tips: Best bets for Houston Open and Hero Indian Open

Houston Open tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Steve Rawlings on what it will take to win

Distance off the tee had been more important than accuracy in four of the five editions here but Tony Finau ranked first for Driving Accuracy when he won in 2022. 

The last two winners, Min Woo Lee and Stephan Jaeger, only ranked 27^th and 24^th for Greens In Regulation but the first three course winners all ranked highly for GIR. Carlos Ortiz ranked eighth in 2020, Jason Kokrak ranked third a year later and Finau topped the GIR Stats three years ago. 

Holing putts is almost always the key to victory and that's certainly been the case here. Ortiz ranked fifth for Strokes Gained: Putting, Kokrak ranked third, Finau second, Jaeger third and Lee second. 

Dave Tindall's Each-Way Picks: Back Jaeger at 60/161.00

Dave Tindall: Stephan Jaeger knows exactly what to do on this course. After 35th on debut at Memorial Park GC and ninth the following year, the German shot 69-66-66-67 to win by a shot in 2024. When defending last year, he again made his mark by firing a Friday 64 and two 67s on the weekend for 11th.

In his 2024 victory, Jaeger held off a bang-in-form Scottie Scheffler and then came out with this memorable quote: "He's been on a tear, so to kind of slay the dragon a little bit this week was amazing."  

Ahead of that win, Jaeger had posted top threes at the Farmers Insurance Open and Mexcio Open but gone through the Florida Swing with MC-44-MC. This year he again has two strong performances so far - a fifth and a seventh - while once more struggling to begin with in Florida with a missed cut at the Cognizant and 62nd at The Players Championship.

But that seventh place came last week at the Valspar where Jaeger burst through the field on the weekend with rounds of 68-66.  That was two shots lower for the final 36 holes than winner Matt Fitzpatrick. Bearing in mind what we're looking for this week, Jaeger ranked ninth for Driving Distance at the Valspar while in the last two events he's been 10th and 28th for SG: Putting. He's 46th for SGP on the season.

Dave Tindall's First Rould Leader Picks: Back Fowler at 35/136.00

It may come as a surprise that Rickie Fowler isn't yet in the Masters field.

He can put that right by winning here or forcing his way into the world's top 50 (he's currently 61st).

Talking of the majors, Fowler has twice been FRL in the US Open. And in the 2023 edition at LA Country Club, he shot the joint-lowest round in the history of the majors: a 62.

The Californian has been in fine form this season with a ninth and three other top 20s and he's been third and sixth pre-cut in two of those.

He's a former first-round leader in this event although admittedly on another course and, with that Masters incentive in mind, it's easy to see him getting his head down and making birdies early.

Fowler begins from the 10th at 07:42.

Houston Open 2026: Course and current form stats

Current Form Pick:

The English player was fourth at the Valspar last week and, the other side of a missed cut at the Players Championship, made the top 20 at the Genesis. In a field that's short on current form this week, those numbers are worth noting.

Hero Indian Open tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Campillo chanced on tricky track at 45/1

Steve Rawlings: Matt Fitzpatrick won last week's Valspar Championship a week after trading at long odds-on to win the Players Championship and that was the second time this year that we've seen someone gain redemption just seven days after a near miss.

Jacob Bridgeman won his first PGA Tour title at Riviera last month, just a week after trading at as short as 3.25 to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, so maybe we're due a bounce-back winner on the DP World Tour?

As detailed above, previous course form has been a big plus in this event, so I was more than happy to chance the Hainan Classic runner-up, Jorge Campillo, at 45/1 in the Sportsbook's Win Only market given he has course form figures reading MC-3-4-31.

Campillo, who hit a low of 1.55 during Sunday's fourth round in China on Sunday, ranked ninth for Driving Accuracy and first for Greens In Regulation, and his Strokes Gained numbers were excellent. He only ranked 32^nd for Strokes Gained: Around the Green but he ranked seventh for SG: Off the tee, eighth for SG: Putting, fifth for SG: Approach and fourth for SG Tee to Green.

Find Me a 100 Winners: Steve Rawlings is backing a 470.0469/1 shot

Spaniards have a decent record at the quirky Gary Player Course at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Delhi, the venue for this week's Indian Open and I backed Nacho Elvira on Monday at 110.0109/1 but he's shortened up too much to be a column pick unfortunately.

We've already seen Jayden Schaper, Patrick Reed and Casey Jarvis win twice this season and the Dubai Invitational winner looked a fair price at triple-figures to become the fourth man to double up.

Elvira missed the cut here 12 months ago but he finished sixth on his previous visit, back in 2019, so he has some course form in the book and although he missed the cut at the Hainan Classic last week, he's been in fair form since his victory in Dubai in January.

The 39-year-old finished seventh in Bahrain and 14^th in Qatar before last week's blip but now that he's trading at around 80.079/1, I've picked out another Spaniard at a much bigger price - Pablo Larrazabal.

Although badly out of form, having missed his last three cuts, the 42-year-old is in search of his 10^th DP World Tour victory and given he has course form figures here reading 4-39-10-10, if he is going to secure that 10^th victory, it may well be here.

Larrazabal had current form figures reading MC-MC-57 when he lost in a playoff in Bahrain last year so he's capable of finding form out of the blue and he's a big enough price to chance with a modest stake. 

Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 and 12 Us @ 2.01/1

Hero Indian Open 2026: Course and current form stats

Course Form Pick:

The price could be a gift for anyone who wants to back a man who's finished third, 11th and third in his last three visits to this course. He's yet to hit those heights this season - his best was 20th at the Dubai Invitiational - but the Dutchman clearly has an affinity with this week's venue. 

Now start your Augusta countdown with US Masters 2026 betting update