Texas Children’s Houston Open
Memorial Park Golf Course
Houston, Texas
*Rob Bolton joins me LIVE every Wednesday at 4 pm at TheZoneBloomington.com
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NOW PLAYING:
| Host Course | Memorial Park |
| Yards (per official scorecard): | 7,475 |
| Par: | 70 (35-35). |
| Greens: | Overseeded Poa Trivialis; 7,000 square feet on average. |
| Stimpmeter: | 11-plus feet. |
| Rough: | Overseeded ryegrass at 1.25” |
| Bunkers/Water Hazards/In-Play | 24/2/4 |
| Architect(s): | John Bredemus (1936); Tom Doak (2019). |
| Defending Champion (event): | Min Woo Lee (-20). |
| Multiple Champion(s) Entered: | None. |
| Course Record: | 62 Gary Woodland Rd 4 2025 62 Sami Valimaki Rd 4 2025 62 Scottie Scheffler Rd 2 2025 62 Tony Finau Rd 2 2024 62 Tony Finau Rd 2 2022 62 Scottie Scheffler Rd 2 2021 63 Mackenzie Hughes 2020 |
| 72 Hole Tournament Record: | 260; Min Woo Lee. |
| Fact of the Week: | The event moved back to March for the 2024 event. |
| Fact of the Week II: | Torrey Pines and Rio Grande are the only two longer courses used on TOUR so far in 2026. |
Notes:
- Field of 135.
- No significant course changes for 2026.
- The top 65 and ties play the weekend.
- $9.9 million – $1.782 million – 500 FedExCup points.
- Must be in the top 50 OWGR after this week to qualify for the Masters.
- Must WIN this week or next at Valero to qualify for the Masters if the OWGR is out of reach.
Stat of the Week: SG: Putting
All five winners ranked in the top five on the Poa Trivialis overseeded greens.
Notables
- For the second week in a row, the host course features five Par-3 holes and overseeded Poa Trivialis putting surfaces.
- All five champions ranked T12 or better in Par-3 Scoring.
- The Par-70 also features three Par-5 holes, one of the toughest trios on TOUR.
- The historic Houston Open, established in 1946, has had many homes, but Memorial Park is the only data in use this week.
- The overseeded fairways average 30 to 40 yards in the landing area, accounting for the winds that constantly blow in this part of the world.
- Poa Trivialis overseeded greens average 7,000 square feet and will not run more than 11.5 feet on the Stimpmeter (wind). The nuanced greens are the defense of this Tom Doak (2019) restoration.
- Hole No. 16 is using a new tee box for 2025 and has added 40 yards to the scorecard. There are no significant changes for 2026.
- This is the third consecutive year with the overseeded rough cut to 1.25 inches.
- The range of winners is 26 to 36 years old.
- Lee became the third first-time winner in five events at Memorial Park.
- The Official World Golf Ranking is represented by 20 of the top 50 players, highlighted by No. 10 Chris Gotterup, the only two-time winner on TOUR this season.
Recent Winners
2026 Season Winners
| Event | Winner |
| The Sentry | No Event |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Chris Gotterup |
| The American Express | Scottie Scheffler |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Justin Rose |
| WM Phoenix Open | Chris Gotterup (2) |
| AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am | Collin Morikawa |
| Cognizant Classic | Nico Echavarría |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | Akshay Bhatia |
| THE PLAYERS Championship | Cameron Young |
| Valspar Championship | Matt Fitzpatrick |
2025 Season Winners
| Event | Winner |
| The Sentry | Hideki Matsuyama |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Nick Taylor |
| The American Express | Sepp Straka |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Harris English |
| AT&T Pebble Beach | Rory McIlroy |
| WM Phoenix Open | Thomas Detry (LIV) |
| The Genesis Invitational | Ludvig Aberg |
| Mexico Open at Vidanta | Brian Campbell (first time) |
| Cognizant Classic | Joe Highsmith (first time) |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | Russell Henley |
| Puerto Rico Open | Karl Vilips (first time) |
| THE PLAYERS Championship | Rory McIlroy |
| Valspar Championship | Viktor Hovland |
| Texas Children’s Houston Open | Min Woo Lee (first time) |
| Valero Texas Open | Brian Harman |
| 88th Masters Tournament | Rory McIlroy (career grand slam) |
| RBC Heritage | Justin Thomas |
| Zurich Classic | Ben Griffin & Andrew Novak (first-time winners) |
| THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson | Scottie Scheffler |
| Truist Championship | Sepp Straka (2) |
| Mrytle Beach One Flight | Ryan Fox |
| 106th PGA Championship | Scottie Scheffler (2) |
| Charles Schwab Challenge | Ben Griffin (2) |
| The 50th Memorial Tournament | Scottie Scheffler (3) |
| RBC Canadian Open | Ryan Fox (2) |
| 124th United States Open | J.J. Spaun |
| Travelers Championship | Keegan Bradley |
| Rocket Mortgage Classic | Aldrich Potgieter (first time) |
| John Deere Classic | Brian Campbell (2) |
| Genesis Scottish Open | Chris Gotterup |
| ISCO Championship | William Mouw (first time) |
| 152nd Open Championship | Scottie Scheffler (4) |
| Barracuda Championship | Ryan Gerard (first time) |
| 3M Open | Kurt Kitayama |
| Wyndham Championship | Cameron Young (first time) |
| FedEx St. Jude Championship | Justin Rose |
| BMW Championship | Scottie Scheffler (5) |
| The TOUR Championship | Tommy Fleetwood (first time) |
| FedEx Cup Fall | |
| Procore Championship | Scottie Scheffler (6) |
| Sanderson Farms Championship | Steven Fisk (first time) |
| Black Desert Championship | Michael Brennan (first time) |
| Baycurrent Championship | Xander Schauffele |
| World Wide Technology Champ | Ben Griffin (3) |
| Butterfield Bermuda Champ | Adam Schenk (first time) |
| The RSM Classic | Sami Valimaki (first time) |
Recent Winners – Texas Children’s Houston Open
Italics – not entered this week;
| Year | Winner | Notes |
| 2025 | Min Woo Lee (-20) | Held off Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland by one shot to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR. |
| 2024 | Stephan Jaeger (-12) | Held off five players, including Scheffler and Finau, to win by a shot for his first victory on TOUR. |
| 2022 | Tony Finau (-16) | Set the tournament scoring record and won by four shots, also a record. Final November event (2023 season). |
| 2021 | Jason Korkak (-10) | Won by two shots as Scheffler couldn’t close the 54-hole lead. |
| 2020 | Carlos Ortiz (-13) | Held off Hideki Matsuyama (not entered) and Dusitn Johnson (ineligible) to win for the first time on TOUR. |
One and Done – Spotter’s Game
Whatever.
| Event | Selection | Place | Earnings |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Robert MacIntyre | T4 | 409,500 |
| The American Express | Ben Griffin | T24 | 81,420 |
| Farmers Insurance | Jason Day | T38 | 41,760 |
| WM Phoenix Open | Sahith Theegala | T18 | 122,720 |
| AT&T Pebble Beach | Patrick Cantlay | T14 | 342,500 |
| The Genesis Invitational | Tommy Fleetwood | T7 | 603,200 |
| Cognizant Classic | Daniel Berger | T32 | 54,816 |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | Scottie Scheffler | T24 | 157,000 |
| THE PLAYERS | Collin Morikawa | WD | 0 |
| Valspar Championship | Jacob Bridgeman | T14 | 161,525 |
Last WEEK – Valspar Championship
MY CHOICE: Jacob Bridgeman – T14
Steady, yet unspectacular. Never raised to the level of contender. Congrats to Fitzy on his excellent bounce-back after a tough finish at THE PLAYERS. I didn’t see that coming.
THIS Week – Texas Children’s Houston Open
There’s no reason to save Chris Gotterup.
With two victories already, he won’t be playing many courses, if any, from this point forward where he can black out and just pump driver all day.
He can this week!
THE CHOICE: Chris Gotterup
Others to consider:
Any of the European ball-strikers who were in it last week at Valspar.
Nicolai Hojgaard, Jake Knapp, Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark
Course Horses at Memorial Park
| 2025 Birdies | 2024 Birdies |
| 26 Min Woo Lee | 22 Scottie Schefffler |
| 23 Taylor Pendrith | 22 Alejandro Tosti |
| 23 Alejandro Tosti | 21 Nick Dunlap |
| 23 Gary Woodland | 20 Matti Schmid |
| 22 Davis Thompson | 20 Gary Woodland |
| 22 Sami Valimaki | 19 Tony Fianu |
| 21 Jake Knapp | 19 Tom Hoge |
| 21 Scottie Scheffler | 19 Billy Horschel |
| 19 Stephan Jaeger |
| 2025 | 2024 |
| Min Woo Lee (-20) | Stephan Jaeger (-12) |
| wins by 1 (Scheffler, Woodland) | wins by 1 (Scheffler, 4 others) |
| Par 70 – 7,475 yds | Par 70 – 7,435 yds |
| 154 players | 144 players |
| T2 Gary Woodland | T2 Tony Finau |
| 04 Sami Valimaki -17 | T2 Taylor Moore |
| T5 Wyndham Clark –15 | T2 Alejandro Tosti |
| T5 Taylor Pendrith | T7 Billy Horschel -10 |
| T5 Alejandro Tosti | T7 Aaron Rai |
| 09 Ryan Gerard -14 | T7 Max Greyserman |
| 10 Mackenzie Hughes -13 | T11 Nick Dunlap -9 |
| T11 Lee Hodges -12 | T14 Mackenzie Hughes -8 |
| T11 Rico Hoey | T14 Tom Hoge |
| T11 Stephan Jaeger | T14 Davis Riley |
| T11 Isaiah Salinda | T17 Chad Ramey -7 |
| T15 Ryan Fox -11 | T21 Gary Woodland -6 |
| T15 Eric Cole | T21 Cam Davis |
| T18 Chris Gotterup -10 | T21 Davis Thompson |
| T18 Sam Stevens | T21 Matti Schmid |
| T18 Harry Hall | T21 Joe Highsmith |
| T18 Harris English | T28 Sahith Theegala -5 |
| T18 Keith Mitchell | T28 Harry Hall |
| T18 Kevin Yu | |
| T18 Ben Griffin |
Glass Houses 