As we preview the Houston Open, it pays to reflect whether this is now confirmed as the year of the longshot. Peter Malnati’s emotional victory at the Valspar Championship was the 8th winner at triple figure odds in 2024. That is now a remarkable 75% of all PGA Tour tournaments.
With a very short-priced Scottie Scheffler again heading the market this week, that opens the door for some more potential value to find success this week. Can another outsider win in Houston?
It was a week of close calls for us. Particularly on the DP World Tour, where all our tips made the cut and 5/7 picks were ranked 13th or better entering the final round.
At the Valspar Championship, Christiaan Bezuidenhout cruelly missed a full place payout at +1250 by just a single stroke. With the weather and a difficult golf course, the Copperhead Course again proved to be a volatile event.
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Firstly, it pays to note the change in month for this tournament. It has actually been over 500 days since the PGA Tour visited Memorial Park Golf Course. That is a factor of the PGA Tour moving back to a calendar year schedule. Therefore, the Houston Open is elevated to a regular season event from it’s previous slot in the Fall season. As a result, we do see a stronger field than in prior renditions.
Additionally, this has seen changes to the course setup. The greens are now poa annua overseed with a Bermuda turf base. There has also been a reduction in rough, at a very benign 1.5 inches posing little penalty for straying off what are already rather wide fairways.
The course superintendent said the following about the changes: “The overseed now will provide a much tighter playing surface than the bermudagrass did in 2022. This will highlight the penal green surrounds, while shorter rough gives opportunity for aggressive approach shots to the green.”
What remains true is that this is a very long golf course. It measures 7,412 yards and is a par 70. That consists of an unusual 5 par 3s, which average some of the shortest on Tour. Therefore, much of the distance resides in the par 4 and 5s. There are 5 par 4s that play over 490 yards. The par 5s rank in the top 5 of regular PGA Tour stops for distance.
Although lies surrounding green may be tighter, the green complexes are still a large 7,000 sq ft on average. This really is a home for the power hitters, and driving distance should be key this week.
Given the change to season and the relatively small sample size of tournaments here, course history is a nice to have but certainly not a prerequisite for my Houston Open preview. It remains to be seen how the course will play exactly. Further, those who have previously found success on the greens may struggle with new breaks and speed on the poa overseeded putting surfaces.
I suspect the course will now play a bit like Quail Hollow. It is another tree-lined, traditional style, and long golf course. The course shares similar metrics in the length of par 4/5 yardages and has poa overseeded greens with a bermudagrass base.
Likewise, Mexico Open host Vidanta Vallarta holds similar long par 4/5s. It also correlates with a low penalty for finding fairway rough. Tony Finau links the two courses nicely, having won on both in 2023. Jaegar has finished 35th and 9th in his two starts at Memorial Park and finishes of 15-18-3 at Vidanta Vallarta.
No other sport is more subject to the elements than golf. We like to aggresively target any weather edge we identify. The same is true in our preview of the Houston Open this week. Last week at the Valspar Championship, we identified such a weather edge, which proved pivotal especially in PGA DFS.
The weather again presents an opportunity this week. Thursday looks to provide calm conditions all day irrespective of what tee-time golfers have. It should be the key scoring round this week, on what can be a tough golf course.
However, Friday afternoon will see the winds arrive. This should start in earnest from midday, with afternoon tee-times experience winds gusting above 20mph. The winds should then remain for the rest of the tournament based on current forecasting.
As such, I like those going out Thursday PM/Friday AM for the first two rounds. The earlier the golfers get out on the course Friday, the better.
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