The Florida Swing is over, and the PGA Tour moves to Texas for a two-step over the next couple of weeks starting with the Texas Children’s Houston Open, which moves back to a spring date for the first time since 2018.

Scheffler (3-1) is, of course, the favorite in his adopted home state of Texas. The former Texas Longhorn finished runner-up here in 2021 and set the course record that year with a round of 62.

Wyndham Clark (14-1) is 0-for-2 in his last two starts trying to topple the World No. 1 as he finished runner-up at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship to Scheffler.

Tony Finau (20-1) is the defending champion of the event from 2022 (there was no event in 2023). Will Zalatoris also shares a 20-1 tag with Finau.

Sahith Theegala (22-1) comes into this week with consecutive top-10 finishes at the Arnold Palmer and The Players and is playing an ex-officio home game this week as he is a Houston resident.

The mid-range of the market includes Jason Day (28-1), Si Woo Kim (35-1), Alex Noren (40-1) and Keith Mitchell (40-1), who was the 54-hole leader last weekend at the Valspar before shooting 8 over in his first 13 holes Sunday and ending up with a 6-over round of 77 to finish T-17.

Malnati, last week’s winner, is 125-1 this week in Houston.

The Houston Open’s history on the PGA Tour dates to 1946. After years at a variety of venues in the greater Houston area, the tournament returned to Memorial Park Golf Course last year for the first time since 1963. Golf legends and Hall of Famers, including Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Curtis Strange, Raymond Floyd, Payne Stewart, Fred Couples, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson, have won here.

Houston has long been a mainstay on the PGA Tour and Jim Crane, the owner of the Houston Astros who was once named the best CEO Golfer in America by Golf Digest, saved this tournament from extinction several years ago. Crane was the lead fundraiser for the major makeover of the city-owned Memorial Park course. Shell Oil Company sponsored the event from 1992 to 2017. Crane’s Astros Foundation operates the tournament and Texas Children’s Hospital takes over as the tournament’s title sponsor.

Field notes:

Kevin Yu withdrew on Saturday.

Maverick McNealy withdrew on Sunday.

Adam Long and Dawie van der Walt IN, both on sponsor exemptions.

Austin Cook and Richy Werenski IN the field with the latest reorder (done for all players without fully exempt status).

Monday Open qualifiers: Callum McNeill, Rhein Gibson, Emiliano Gonzalez, Sung Kang all IN the field.

C.T. Pan withdrew on Tuesday; James Hahn IN as alternate.

In 2020, Memorial Park Golf Course served as the Houston Open venue for the first time in 57 years. It is a municipal course owned by the city of Houston and is rated the top muni track in the state of Texas. The Astros Foundation, which operates the tournament, committed $34 million to the renovation and redesign. The greens fee for a weekend round is $38. John Bredemus designed the track in 1935, but Tom Doak, whose main influences include Alister MacKenzie and Pete Dye, finished the renovation in 2019, with an assist from Brooks Koepka.

Memorial Park plays as a par-70 (five par-3s, three par-5s, 10 par-4s) of 7,435 yards. Doak removed many trees, bunkers (only 21 on the course, the fewest of any course on the PGA Tour) and water (only in play on four holes) to make it more playable to the public as there are around 55,000 rounds played at Memorial Park in a calendar year.

Due to the tournament moving from its fall slot (where it had been held since 2020) to the spring for this year’s event, the agronomy is completely different. The all-Bermudagrass course is now overseeded with Poa trivialis on the greens. But the biggest change is switching from penal 2.5-inch Bermuda rough to the much easier and shorter 1.25-inch ryegrass rough.

The course played at an average round of +0.80 strokes over par the last three events (sixth most difficult on tour) but likely plays easier due to the change to ryegrass rough, which gives the players more confidence to be more aggressive off the tee.

Other changes to the Memorial Park layout since the pros last competed here in November 2022 include the green on the 17th hole being moved 30 yards farther back along the water, creating a landing pad to where the old green was, in an effort for the players to attempt to carry the ball over the water. Two bunkers were also added to the left of the green. This could create a more exciting finish down the stretch on Sunday.

The greens will still be firm and rolling fast at around 12.5 on the stimpmeter.

Three of the five par-3s are 200 yards or longer and eight par-4s are in the mid-400s in terms of yardage range with five of them being close to 500 yards or longer.

Memorial Park is one of the longer courses on the tour and the rough is now not all that penal. Plus, there are very few hazards off the tee. Unlike last week at Innisbrook where players club down, here players can use the driver frequently.

Sahith Theegala (20-1, Circa Sports)

Theegala has three top-10 finishes in his last four events and kicked off 2024 with a runner-up at The Sentry.

He can be a bit loose off the tee but has actually gained for that category in seven of eight starts this season.

Theegala is now based in Houston and regularly plays this course. Plus, he ranks third in the field for Strokes Gained: Putting over the last 24 and 36 rounds, so he should thrive on these faster greens.

Alex Noren (40-1, Circa Sports)

This seems like a low price on a player who, while having 10 DP World Tour victories, has yet to win on the PGA Tour and has not won anywhere in nearly six years.

However, Noren always has an outstanding short game, and the ball striking, both with the driver and the irons, has been on an uptick of late.

Over the last eight rounds, Noren ranks fifth in Strokes Gained: Total and 13th for Strokes Gained: Approach.

Stephan Jaeger (50-1, Bet Rivers)

Jaeger finished top 10 here in 2022.

While he has missed two of the last three cuts in Florida, Jaeger has two top-3 finishes this season (Torrey Pines and Mexico).

Over the last 36 rounds, he ranks 10th for Strokes Gained: Total and 13th for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee.

Jake Knapp (60-1, Circa Sports)

Knapp is just six weeks removed from his maiden PGA Tour victory at the Mexico Open.

The following week he finished fourth at PGA National and then made cuts at Bay Hill and The Players.

He ranks sixth for Strokes Gained: Approach and 15th for Strokes Gained: Putting over the last 24 rounds.

Check out Doug Ghim 55-1 this week. He's 3rd in adjusted scoring average on tour and flying under the radar as you'd expect. He played college golf at Texas and he's finished top 20 in 5 of last 6 starts going back The Farmers.

Good luck!

Texas Children's Houston Open betting at BetMGM

Favorites
▪️ Scottie Scheffler +275
▪️ Wyndham Clark +1200
▪️ Sahith Theegala +1600

Highest Ticket%
▪️ Theegala 9.7%
▪️ Clark 9.5%
▪️ Scheffler 7.0%

Highest Handle%
▪️ Theegala 19.5%
▪️ Clark 18.0%
▪️ Scheffler 15.1%