Houston Open: Hot putting pair chanced at Memorial Park

• Strong putting the key to success at Memorial Park

• Read my Indian Open preview here

• The Masters starts on April 10. Read Dave Tindall's guide to the 2025 Masters here!

---

Tournament History

George Bowden and Peter O'Hara tied a tournament called the Houston Professional Golf event way back in 1922 and there was a tournament of sorts sporadically held annually in the Houston area up until 1938.

Nothing happened during the war years but 1946 saw the first official staging of the Houston Open, and the tournament started with a bang, with Byron Nelson getting the better of Ben Hogan by two strokes.

There was no event in 1948 or 1969 and after a rejig to the PGA Schedule, the Houston Open dropped of the schedule in 2023, but it's been an ever-present on the PGA Tour otherwise.

Having been played in the autumn for four years, the Houston Open returns to it's traditional spring slot for the second year in-a-row.

With just a fortnight to go before the year's first major, the US Masters, the world number one, Scottie Scheffler, and the in-form world number two, Rory McIlroy, are both in the field for what should be an intriguing renewal.

---

Venue 

Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston, Texas

---

Course Details

Par 70, 7435
Stroke Average in 2024 - 70.25

Originally designed by John Bredemus, Memorial Park, a municipal parkland course, was completely reworked in 2019 by Tom Doak, who was assisted by Brooks Koepka.

On Koepka's advice, bunkers were reduced from 54 to 20 and many were replaced by steep slopes covered in short grass. Runoff or collection areas if you prefer. The idea behind the move was to allow handicap golfers to putt up on to the green, rather than play from the sand, and to test the pros a bit more. The majority of recreational golfers struggle playing out of bunkers but none of the pros do so it was a clever and logical move.

With a new green in play, the par four 17^th hole was lengthened by 23 yards last year.

The large overseeded MiniVerde Bermuda greens ran at 12 last year and the rough was trimmed to just a 1 and ¼ inches, half the height they'd been in 2022, but it didn't make much difference to the scoring.

This is the fifth time in-a-row that Memorial Park has hosted the event.

---

Weather Forecast

---

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, strating at 12:30 on Thursday

---

Last Eight Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2024 - Stephan Jaeger -12 70.069/1
2023 - No Tournament
2022 - Tony Finau -16 18.017/1
2021 - Jason Kokrak -10 55.054/1
2020 - Carlos Ortiz -13 200.0199/1
2019 - Lanto Griffin -14 65.064/1
2018 - Ian Poulter -19 150.0149/1
2017 - Russell Henley -20 60.059/1
2016 - Jim Herman -15 800.0799/1

---

What Will it Take to Win the Houston Open?

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

Last year's victor, Stephan Jaeger, only ranked 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 and Jaeger third.

Is There an Angle In?

Course form stands up nicely.

Scheffler has three top-ten finishes from four visits and two second place finishes, the 2022 winner, Tony Finau, finished tied for second last year and last year's winner, Jaeger, had finished 35^th and ninth on his two previous visits.

Jaeger has only ordinary form at Riviera reading MC-7-40 but form there looks worth considering.

Sam Burns led this event through rounds two and three before he imploded on Sunday in 2020 and he was five strokes clear at halfway in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 2021.

Dustin Johnson, who tied second in 2020, was a standing dish around Riviera before he switched to the Liv Golf circuit (won there twice), and the man that finished alongside him here, Hideki Matsuyama, won at Riviera last year.

The 2021 winner here, Jason Kokrak, traded at a low of 1.645/8 before he finished second at Riviera in 2016 and the 2022 champ, Finau, has twice finished second at Riviera. 

---

Is There an Identikit Winner?

Although Finau was well-fancied (backed down from 26.025/1 to 18.017/1) in 2022, this has been a decent tournament for outsiders over the years and Carlos Ortiz was a 200.0199/1 chance in 2020.

In the last 12 years, we've seen longshots, Ortiz, D.A Points, Matt Jones, Ian Poulter and Jim Herman all take the title so don't be afraid to back an outsider or two.

---

Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2024 - Stephan Jaeger - tied for the lead with four others 9.08/1
2023 - No Event
2022 - Tony Finau - led by four strokes 1.162/13
2021 - Jason Kokrak - tied seventh, trailing by two 14.013/1
2020 - Carlos Ortiz - tied second, trailing by one 7.413/2

---

In-Play Tactics

Finau won wire-to wire in 2022, but Memorial Park is somewhere where winning form off the pace is perfectly possible.

Jaeger was tied for the lead with 18 to play last year but he trailed by five after round one and he was still four adrift at halfway.

Ortiz sat second after rounds one, two and three in 2020 but DJ trailed by seven after round one and by five after 36 holes, and four of the eventual top ten trailed by at least seven strokes at halfway. Brooks Koepka, who finished tied fifth, and Mackenzie Hughes, who finished tied ninth, both trailed the halfway leader, Burns, by nine strokes!

The 2021 winner, Kokrak, failed to finish his second round on Friday thanks to a weather delay on Thursday morning. He returned to the course early on Saturday trailing by two with still seven holes of round two to play and he was at the head of the market at 5.95/1 but he must have got out of the wrong side of the bed as he played the seven holes in seven-over-par!

Kokrak drifted right out to 400.0399/1 after that but he bounced back brilliantly, shooting the second best third round of the day to claw his way back to within two of the lead through 54 holes. 

All four winners have been on the premises with a round to go but Kokrak's shown us that you can come from off the pace to win here.

The opening hole is a long and tough par four (second hardest on the course last year) but the back nine is around half a stroke harder than the front nine.

The par five 16^th averaged 4.81 last year and is a chance to score but 14 and 15 were the first and third hardest holes 12 months ago and 17 and 18 both averaged over-par and ranked as the seventh and eighth hardest.

---

Is the US Masters market ready for a reshuffle?

World Number one, Scottie Scheffler, has course form figures at Memorial Park reading 32-2-9-2 and he really should have won the event 12 months ago.

He was matched at odds-on as early as Friday and he hit a low of 1.584/7 during round four before eventually finishing in a five-way tie for second after missing a short putt on the 72^nd hole to make it into a playoff.

In his two previous starts last year, he'd won the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the second time in three years and he'd successfully defended his Players Championship title and he went on to win the US Masters and the Heritage in his next two starts so he's not even close to the level of form he was 12 months ago, given he's just finished 11^th in the Arnold Palmer and 20^th at the Players.

That's the first time he's finished outside the top ten places in two consecutive starts since the summer of 2023 and anyone that's backed him to successfully defend his US Masters title must be slightly concerned.

This week will tell us a lot about his wellbeing given he's played consistently well here previously and that he's playing in his home state but he's a watching brief for me.

As a matter of interest, after his second-place finish here last year, Scheffler drifted from 5.39/2 to 5.85/1 to win the Masters and he comes into the event this time around trading at 6.611/2 to win at Augusta.

It's impossible to know what to expect from Rory McIlroy this week with his eyes surely fixed on the prize at Augusta next month.

With two wins already chalked up at two iconic venues - Pebble Beach and Sawgrass - the 35-year-old is in the best shape he's been at this time of year for a very long time and playing here makes lots of sense.

He played in the Houston Open for the first time in 2009, finishing 19^th, a week before finishing tied for 20^th in his debut appearance at Augusta.

A year later, he missed the cut at both the Houston Open and the Masters and he didn't play anywhere for a month before he imploded at the US Masters in 2011, where he led by four after 54 holes before finishing tied for 15^th.

He employed the same tactics in 2012 before finishing third at Augusta and he played in both Texan events in 2013, finishing 45^th in this event and second in the Texas Open before finishing only 25^th in the US Masters.

This is his first appearance back at the Houston Open since he finished a fast finishing seventh, one week before finishing eighth at Augusta from off the pace.

He's tried different approaches before the year's first major and playing this week and not next looks like it's worth a try.

He finished third in last year's Texas Open the week before he finished only 22^nd in the Masters so playing two weeks prior and having the week before off is worth trying.

How hard he'll be pushing to win this title is debatable but it's going to be interesting to see how the US Masters market moves throughout the week.

---

Selections

Given how well he's playing this year, and that he's trading at the same price to win here as he is to win the US Masters, it's very tempting to play Rory but I've got two outsiders for the Find Me a 100 Winner column and I like two at less than 100.099/1 so I'm reluctantly leaving the world number two out from the start but I'll be keeping a close eye on him in-running.

As highlighted above, in four previous editions at Memorial Park, a hot putter has been essential so I'm chancing Jacob Bridgeman and Max Greyserman.

Having led through 18, 36 and 54 holes last week before eventually finishing third in the Valspar Championship, there's a risk that Bridgeman will suffer from a bit of mental fatigue this week, but he putted just too well to ignore at Copperhead.

Averaging an incredible 1.5 putts, he ranked first for both Putting Average and Strokes Gained: Putting and he's in far better shape than he was 12 months ago when he finished 21^st here on debut.

Bridgeman pitches up in Houston with recent form figures reading 2-15-50-3, compared to last year's MC-28-23-MC and he looks fairly priced at around 50/151.00.

Max Greyserman finished 2024 in style. There were back-to-back second place finishes in the 3M Open and the Wyndham Championship, then after a 33^rd and 28^th in the first two FedEx Cup Playoff events he was second at the ZOZO Championship and third at the World Wide Technology Championship.

There were no Strokes Gained figures at the WWTC, but he ranked first for Putting Average, and he ranked first for Strokes Gained: Putting and second for PA at the ZOZO.

Greyserman finished seventh in the American Express in January and he was 11^th at the Cognizant Classic and 22^nd in the Arnold Palmer before he missed the cut last time out at the Players but he's playing better than he was this time last year before finishing seventh here on debut and although he didn't make the weekend, he still averaged only 1.56 putts at Sawgrass so the flatstick was in good order.

All things considered, odds of around 80.079/1 look fair.

---

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

---

Read more golf tips, previews and analysis here

---