With the Florida swing in the rear view mirror, the PGA tour moves to Texas for the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

It’s a rather strong field with 19 of the top 50 in the official world golf rankings teeing it up. The world’s number one and two ranked golfers headline the event with Scottie Scheffler and Rory Mcllroy in the field.

Last year Stephen Jaeger edged out Scottie Scheffler by a stroke shooting 12 under. Scheffler barely missed a putt to force a playoff and Jaeger went on to win after shooting a 67 in the closing round.

The Houston Open was not played in 2023.
The tournament was bumped from the schedule but with Match Play getting the boot, the Houston Open has jumped back into it’s spot.

From 2020-2022 the tournament was played in November. The move to the Spring obviously provides some different conditions.

Tony Finau won the tournament in 2022 with a score of 16 under par. He went wire to wire winning by four strokes. The field was relatively weak outside of Scheffler and Wyndham Clark but neither were in their current form at the time.

In 2021 Jason Kokrak rallied on Sunday shooting a 65 and winning by two strokes. Scottie Scheffler had a two shot lead making the turn on Sunday but made three bogeys on the back nine and finished two strokes off the lead at eight under.

The Houston Open will be played at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston Texas. It has been the host of the Houston Open since 2020.

Memorial Park Golf Course is a 7,475 yard Par 70 with Bermuda Greens. It plays very long especially when adjusted for Par. There are only 19 bunkers but they are deep and penal. There are also two water hazards on the course. There are three par fives, five par threes and ten par fours on the course.

The 3rd and 16th holes are par fives slightly under 600 yards and play as some of the easier holes on the course. Especially number three which boasts a 35% birdie rate. Hole number eight is a 625 yard par five that will not be reachable in two by most but does still boast a 30% birdie rate.

The par threes range from 155-237 yards with two of them playing over 200 yards. There are three par fours that play over 500 yards and five of the six most difficult holes are par fours.

Length off the tee definitely helps here with many golfers choosing distance over accuracy. The average drive comes in at 292 yards which is above tour average. As a result driving accuracy comes in well below tour average coming in at only 55 percent. The fairways are tree lined but there is some room between the edge of fairways and the trees. However if golfers miss wildly off the tee the trees could come into play.

Even with longer drives golfers will find themselves with long approach shots. Shots from 200+ yards make up 27% of all approach shots with another 21% coming from 150-175 yards.

With longer approach shots, greens in regulation percentage is also lower than tour average with 62% of greens being hit. Proximity to the hole when hitting greens is also longer than average coming in at an average of 29.5 feet from the hole. The greens are elevated, fast and sloped with tightly mown runoff areas that could lean to missed greens.

As always in Texas we’ll want to keep an eye on the wind. Winds can cause carnage on what’s already a difficult course.

Overall this is a very long course that plays very difficult. There are generally more bogeys made than birdies. Golfers with some distance that can avoid bogeys and score on the par fives should fair well here.

There are 156 golfers in the field and the Top 65 and Ties make the cut after 36 Holes

2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open: Key Stats and Figures

• Strokes Gained Approach
• Par Five Scoring
• Approach from 200+ yards
• Driving Distance
• Bogey Avoidance

Historical Cut Line

• 2024: +2
• 2022: +1
• 2021: +2
• 2020: +4

PREVIOUS WINNERS

2024: Stephen Jaeger -12
2022: Tony Finau -16
2021: Jason Kokrak -10
2020: Carlos Ortiz -13

Golfers to Consider

*all statistical metrics are prior to the conclusion of the PLAYERS

Aaron Rai

Rai has played well at the Houston Open. In three appearances he’s finished 19th, 7th and came 7th last year as well. He gained strokes off the tee in all three tournaments and has gained a combined 8.2 strokes putting the last two times he’s played here.

Rai has also been playing well over the last month. He finished 4th in Mexico, 11th at the Arnold Palmer and 14th at the PLAYERS. He’s gained strokes on approach in four straight tournaments, gaining nine strokes in Mexico. Over the last 50 rounds, Rai is 7th on approach, 14th in par 5 scoring and 18th in bogey avoidance.

JJ Spaun

Obviously the PLAYERS was a huge disappointment for Spaun but coming in 2nd to Rory doesn’t diminish how well he played. JJ has been playing great golf this year. The 2nd place at the PLAYERS was his 2nd runner up finish this year. He came 2nd at the Cognizant and also finished 3rd at the Sony back in January. He’s made the cut in all eight of his tournaments this year.

Spaun hasn’t lost strokes on approach since the Valspar last year!!! He’s gained strokes off the tee in seven of his last eight tournaments. Over the last 24 rounds he’s 3rd on approach, 5th in bogey avoidance, 8th in par three scoring and 22nd in par five scoring. He’s also made the cut in all three of his appearances at the Houston Open.

Alex Smalley

Smalley missed the cut at the Houston Open last year but previously finished 4th in 2022 and 15th in 2021. He gained strokes in every strokes gained metrics both of those years.

Smalley has been very consistent this year. He missed the cut at the Farmers but otherwise has finished 21st or better in all six other tournaments. Most recently he came 14th at the PLAYERS, 18th at the Cognizant and 10th in Mexico. Over the last 24 rounds he’s 4th in bogey avoidance, 5th around the green and 19th off the tee.

Jake Knapp

Knapp missed the cut last year at the Houston Open. He wasn’t terrible tee to green but lost 5.7 strokes putting. He’s played well so far this year with four straight top-25 finishes coming in. He came 17th at the Genesis, 25th in Mexico, 6th at the Cognizant and 12th at the PLAYERS.

He’s gained on approach in seven straight tournaments and has been putting well gaining strokes on the greens in four of his last five tournaments. Over the last 24 rounds he’s 7th on approach, 9th in bogey avoidance and 19th in par five scoring.