The PGA Tour travels to Houston, Texas this week for the Texas Children’s Houston Open. The PGA Tour replaced the WGC Dell Match Play with the Houston Open two years ago. The Match Play Tournament was the PGA Tour’s answer to March Madness. I really liked that tournament, but I understand why they got rid of it. The PGA Tour could not get 64 top golfers to show up to play. Now they will tee it up at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston. The top two golfers in the world will tee it up this week (Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy). Will this be a shoot-out beat Scheffler and McIlroy, or will another golfer step up their game this week? It should be a fun week to play a DFS Contest.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
Memorial Park Golf Club will be the host course for the Houston Open. It has been on the PGA Tour schedule for the past four seasons, so most of the field will be failure with the course layout.
Memorial Park Golf Club is a long par-71 course. It plays 7,475 yards in length and has three par-5’s and five par-3’s. Four of the par-4’s play over 490 yards and one of the par-3’s plays over 235 yards. The golfers will need to be long off the tee in order to score well in the Houston Open.
We have a small sample size for stats at the Houston Open, but the key to this tournament is the winds. We have had some rounds with winds over 20 MPH and others with winds 5-10 MPH. The wind really makes this course play more difficult. We will have to check the forecast this week to see which tee times have the lowest winds.
Click here to see the course: Memorial Park Golf Club
KEY STATS FOR HOUSTON OPEN
– Shots Gained Tee-to-Green
– Shots Gained Approach (200+ Yards)
– Driving Distance
– Strokes Gained Putting (Bermuda)
– Strokes Gained Par 5s
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
TOP 30 GOLFER RANKINGS
CORE GOLFERS FOR THE PLAYERS
HOUSTON OPEN STRATEGY
Sometimes the best strategy in DFS is to zig when everyone else zags. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are clearly the best players in the field. I expect the popular strategy this week will be to jam one of these two golfers into your lineup and fill the rest from the low-$7K and high $6K price range. We can get a lot of leverage over the field by building balanced lineups this week. There are some golfers in the $8K and high-$7K price ranges that are playing good golf, but they do not have the recognizable names. I will take a chance with these golfers, instead of a “stars and scrubs” approach. I also posted lineups with Scheffler and McIlroy if you do not feel comfortable fading the top two players.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
RORY MCILROY ($11,700): Do you trust Course History or do you trust recent form. Scottie Scheffler has the best course history in the field this week, while Rory McIlroy has the best recent form. These two golfers are both elite. I think you need one of them at the top of your Cash Contest lineup. I will take the discount and play McIlroy.
SAHITH THEEGALA ($8,000): This is a home game for Theegala. The Woodlands, Texas resident knows this course well. Theegala has been really good at making cuts. That makes him a better play for Cash Contest lineups this week. He is a golfer with the upside to climb the leaderboard. I will take a chance with Theegala in Texas.
JOE HIGHSMITH ($7,800): One of the courses that is similar to Memorial Park Golf Course is PGA National. Highsmith won the Cognizant Classic at PGA National and his stats suggests he should be good again this week. Highsmith ranks No. 25 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 17 in SG Approach, No. 3 in SG Putting, No. 2 in Scrambling and No. 6 overall in the key stats. He finished 21st in this tournament last year. Highsmith should have a good chance for a top-15 finish Sunday.
DAVIS RILEY ($7,600): Riley has been playing some good golf. He finished 6th three weeks ago in Puerto Rico and 7th last week at the Valspar. Riley has played the Houston Open the last three seasons and he never missed the cut. That includes a 14th-place finish last year. Riley has the form and course history to score well for our DFS lineups.
MACKENZIE HUGHES ($7,500): Hughes plays well in Texas. He played the Houston Open all four times and he never missed the cut. He finished 7th in 2021, 16th in 2023 and 14th last year. This is clearly the best course on the PGA Tour Schedule for the Canadian. I will trust the course history and take a chance with Hughes at the Houston Open.
MAX MCGREEVY ($7,400): I wrote in the DFS Strategies portion of this article that I like golfers who are in terrific form, but do not have the big name. McGreevy checks that box. He has made five cuts in a row, dating back to early February. Three of those finishes were in the top-25. McGreevy has played this tournament twice and made the cut both times. He ranks No. 14 in the key stats, so McGreevy should be a good golfer to have at the bottom of my Cash Contest lineup.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST
AARON RAI ($9,900): Rai checks all of the boxes this week. He finished 7th (2024), 7th (2023) and 19th (2022) in his three trips to the Houston Open, so his course history is second to Scottie Scheffler. He finished 14th (THE PLAYERS), 11th (Arnold Palmer) and 4th (Mexico Open) in his last three starts. He also ranks No. 2 in the Key Stats. Rai is the next best choice after we fade the two studs (Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy).
JACOB BRIDGEMAN ($8,400): Bridgeman finished 2nd at the Cognizant Classic and 3rd last week at the Valspar. Those are two tournaments played on tough courses, in windy conditions. That is what we will see again this week. Bridgeman played the Houston Open for the first time last year and he finished 21st. His form is a lot better this year. Bridgeman ranks No. 4 in the key stats, so he should be a good golfer for all lineups.
ALEX SMALLEY ($8,200): Smalley was a chalk pick last week and he burned a lot of people with a missed cut. He was on the wrong side of the weather draw last week, so I will give him a mulligan. Smalley finished his previous four tournaments in the top-21. Smalley finished 15th in the Houston Open in 2022 and 4th in 2023. He ranks No. 10 in the key stats, so all signs point to a top-10 finish for Smalley Sunday.
MAX GREYSERMAN ($8,100): Greyserman was playing good golf until his missed cut at THE PLAYERS. Greyserman made the cut in his previous four tournaments, with three top-25 finishes. TPC Sawgrass is a tough course for players who are seeing it for the first time. I will give Greyserman a mulligan on that tournament. He played the Houston Open last year and he finished 7th. I will take a chance with Greyserman and hope he can finish in the top-10 again this week.
TAYLOR MOORE ($7,900): Pretty much everything I wrote about Alex Smalley can be written about Moore. He was in terrific form until his missed cut last week. He was on the wrong side of the weather draw, so I will overlook it. Moore finished 2nd in the Houston Open last year so he has the course history to score well this week.
NICK TAYLOR ($7,500): I had a hard time choosing between Sam Ryder and Nick Taylor for this spot. I trust Taylor more, so he will be at the bottom of my Tournament Contest lineup this week. Taylor doesn’t have the best course history, but the stats love him this week. Taylor ranks No. 22 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 6 in SG Approach, No. 17 in Scrambling and No. 19 overall in the key stats. I will trust the numbers and take a chance with Taylor in Texas.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contests: (Multi Entry Lineups)
If you do not want to fade Scottie Scheffler and Roroy McIlroy, play these Multi-Entry Tournament Contests: (Alternate Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the third tournament in Segment 2. We have the Masters and the PGA Championship in this Segment. This is the toughest Segment to navigate, so use your golfers wisely.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: AARON RAI (HOUSTON OPEN)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Tommy Fleetwood (16TH), Scottie Scheffler (20th), Rory McIlroy (15th), Shane Lowry (11TH), Akshay Bhatia (9TH), Collin Morikawa (17th), Tom Kim (44th), Patrick Cantlay (33rd), Jason Day (32nd), Sungjae Im (MC), Corey Conners (MC)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: J.J. SPAUN (HOUSTON OPEN)
– One & Done picks used so far this season: Corey Conners (8TH), Scottie Scheffler (20th), Ludvig Aberg (22nd), Daniel Berger (25TH), Patrick Rodgers (25TH), Taylor Pendrith (50th), Nick Taylor (25th), Collin Morikawa (17th), Jason Day (32nd), Russell Henley (10th), (Sungjae Im (3rd), Ben Griffin (15th), Nico Echavarria (29TH), Harris English (14TH), Beau Hossler (56TH), Tom Kim (MC), Keith Mitchell (MC), Ben Griffin (37th)
BEST BETS FOR THE HOUSTON OPEN
AARON RAI (28-1)
TONY FINAU (30-1)
MIN WOO LEE (35-1)
JACOB BRIDGEMAN (45-1)
ALEX SMALLEY (55-1)
JOE HIGHSMITH (60-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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