With the US Masters on the horizon, all eyes are on the Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston for the Texas Children’s Houston Open taking place from the 27th to the 30th of March. We select four players to take on the bookmakers in this PGA Tour event.
THE COURSE
The Memorial Park Golf Course plays to a par 70 and this will be the 5th time in a row that it has hosted the Houston Open. It is a long parkland golf course with generous fairways and fast greens and while driving distance is an advantage, accuracy is also a big plus and to state the obvious so is a hot putter.
PAST WINNERS
2024 – Stephan Jäger -12
2023 – No Tournament
2022 – Tony Finau -16
BETTING – Click here to bet
As mentioned in the intro, the US Masters is only two weeks away and two of the big favourites tee up this week with Scottie Scheffler topping the betting boards at 4.50 ahead of Rory McIlroy trading at 7.50 at the time of writing. You can get 29.00 and better the balance.
SELECTIONS
Rory McIlroy win only at 7.50
Over recent years Rory has taken criticism for contending often, but failing to get over the line that, however, has changed and he won last week and he now has three top 5’s and 2 victories in his last 5 starts. Rory should be well suited by the course, but we are going to have to take that without any evidence as he makes his debut at Memorial Park.
Scheffler certainly looks a worthy favourite based on course form with two runner-up finishes in his last three starts, but while hardly “struggling” by normal Tour standards, his recent form has dipped a bit with a 20th place in his last start and an 11th the week before that and for that reason I am taking him on this week.
Mackenzie Hughes each way at 81.00
Hughes’s recent form doesn’t jump off the page and he hasn’t contended for some time but he was a decent 36th last week. He has very solid course form though with a Top 20, a Top 15 and a Top 10 in 4 starts here and he hasn’t finished worse than 29th. Hughes looks a worthy outsider this week.
Victor Perez each way at 126.00
Perez finished 17th here on debut so there is every reason to believe he takes to the course. He is also in decent recent form with a 22nd place finish last week and a Top 20 in his previous start. If I compare him to Mackenzie Hughes, I think he should be at least the same price, if not shorter so the triple figures we are getting looks good value.
Thomas Detry each way at 61.00
Detry is a golfer who blows hot and cold, but I would like him on side this week at a course where he finished runner-up last year on debut. He broke a run of two missed cuts with a 22nd place last week and it wasn’t that long ago that the Belgian ran away with the Phoenix Open winning by 7 shots. Here is hoping for a hot week from Detry.
There are plenty of other markets to bet on such as Top African where Aldrich Potgieter is a 1.66 favourite ahead of Thriston Lawrence 2.15, the pair being the only South Africans (Africans) in the field.
You can also get 72-hole match betting as well as first round Leader Betting.
Click here for all Houston Open Markets
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Important Details:
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Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
