Texas Children’s Houston Open Tournament Preview: Betting Tips For Memorial Park Golf Course

Another week of PGA Tour action brings us to Memorial Park Golf Course with the 2025 Texas Children’s Houston Open. Compare Houston Open odds at the best sports betting sites to increase your potential PGA Tour golf betting payouts. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Tony Finau project as the top favorites for this upcoming tournament.

Cast your brackets aside! While this week has long been known to kick off the Texas Swing in Austin, there’s a new sheriff in town after the PGA Tour decided to sunset the fan-favorite WGC Dell Match Play. Instead, the 2025 Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course is set to fill the void in this new slot on the schedule.

Change has been the only constant regarding this event. Texas Children’s is the sponsor of this revolving event for the second straight year, replacing Cadence Bank, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Vivint, and Shell prior to that.

Despite the change in the name, Houston remains a mainstay for this event, and Memorial Park will host now for the fifth consecutive year. Memorial Park is unquestionably the most challenging of the other venues we see each year across the Texas Swing. In the last four years of hosting, even par, through four rounds, has been good enough for a T40 finish, so bogey avoidance and scrambling will be at a premium. Overall, players with a proven track record in difficult or major-like conditions should be best equipped to navigate Memorial Park.

Let’s get into the key facts and info about Memorial Park Golf Course before betting on Texas Children’s Houston Open odds.

2025 TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOUSTON OPEN ODDS: THE FAVORITES

To compare PGA Tour odds in legal sports betting states and other Texas Children’s Houston Open offerings, scroll to the bottom of this post. Find Houston Open odds on favorites shorter than 35-1 below.

Texas Children’s HOUSTON OPEN ODDS: FIELD AT A GLANCE

Since relocating to Memorial Park, the Houston Open has attracted some solid fields over the last four years. This field will especially turn some heads, as this marks the first non-signature Event of the season in which World No. 1 and No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy will both be teeing it up.

There is a steep drop-off after the top two in this field, but the Texas Children’s Houston Open will still welcome 11 OWGR top-30 players. Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala, Maverick McNealy, Jason Day, and Aaron Rai expect to be highlighted as the betting favorites for this event.

Stephan Jaeger returns to defend his maiden PGA Tour victory at this event. He was the only player on the PGA Tour last season to make Scottie Scheffler look mortal, withstanding his late charge in an impressive victory in 2024. Tony Finau also returns as the only past Texas Children’s Houston Open winner at Memorial Park in the field.

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INTRODUCTION TO MEMORIAL PARK GOLF COURSE

This will mark the fifth consecutive year of play at Memorial Park for the Houston Open after a sustained 16-year stretch from 2003 to 2019 at the Golf Club of Houston. In 2019, Tom Doak completed a significant overhaul of Memorial Park, which was funded with $34M from the Houston Astros Foundation with input from Brooks Koepka. Before Doak’s renovation, Memorial Park had hosted the PGA Tour’s Houston Open 14 times between 1947 and 1963, with Arnold Palmer notably winning here in ’57.

Whenever a player is brought on in an advisory role, it’s usually more cosmetic for marketing purposes, with the architect’s vision prevailing. In the case of Brooks Koepka at Memorial Park, however, you can’t help but feel his influence. This renovated golf course does not possess the historical significance or stakes of a Major. Still, it’s been constructed to closely emulate Major conditions with a combination of length and difficult green-side runoffs that reward all-around skillsets in distance, ball-striking, and short game. It’s no coincidence that Rory McIlroy chose Memorial Park as his final tune-up before The Masters.

How It Breaks Down

Memorial Park is a long par-71, playing to 7,412 yards on the scorecard with three par-5s, five par-3s, and 10 par-4s. Half of the par-4s will play over 490 yards, imposing a stern ball-striking test on the field.

There are only five holes with a scoring average under par, which contrasts the birdie fest conditions we’ve become used to over the last month. Unsurprisingly, the five 490+ yard par-4s and 237-yard par-3 are the most complex scoring holes on the course.

What I found most interesting about Memorial Park is that through the first two years of play post-renovation, the shortest par-3 (155 yards), par-4 (382 yards), and par-5 (576 yards) each have a scoring average over par. This shows that the firm conditions, tight runouts around the green, and susceptibility to gusting Texas winds all make this golf course play even more complicated than the stock scorecard yardage would suggest.

Traits And Recent Notable Facts

Fast, oversized Bermuda greens with tight surrounding runoff areas highlight Memorial Park’s identity. Unlike Southern Hills or other recent links-style courses, Memorial Park will call for creative shot-making around the greens, with many options to scramble when approaches inevitably miss their target.

The wind has been fairly calm in the first two iterations of this event, but we should always anticipate gusting winds whenever golfing in Texas, which will further emphasize short game. Over its first two years, Memorial Park has ranked inside the top 10 of most demanding courses to score from around the greens, both from the rough and tight fairway runoff areas.

Despite standing over 7,400 yards, the par-3s offer somewhat of a respite at this course, ranking bottom-5 in average Par-3 length in each of the last two years. The par-3s are still not birdie opportunities by any means, so players will be content to finish the week at Even par across them.

In short, the course has been designed to reward skilled all-around players with distance, strong ball striking, and reliable short games in their arsenal.

For Memorial Park course specs, hole-by-hole breakdown with yardages, and past Houston Open winners with their pre-tournament odds, visit our Houston Open odds page.

Editor’s Note

COURSE HISTORY AND COURSE COMPS

Over the first four years of play at Memorial Park, Tony Finau stands out at the top of the field in terms of Course History. Finau has played in the first four iterations of the Houston Open at Memorial Park, posting finishes of T2, 1st, MC, and T24 over that stretch.

After Finau, the rest of the top 10 in Course History at Memorial Park include Thomas Detry, Scottie Scheffler, Alejandro Tosti, Aaron Rai, Mackenzie Hughes, Stephan Jaeger, David Skinn, Max Greyserman, and Joel Dahmen. It isn’t easy to draw overarching conclusions after just four years. Still, considering the additional top results from players like Jason Kokrak, Carlos Ortiz, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka, who are all absent this week, a trend of Driving Distance, top-tier ball striking, and Bermuda putting begins to prevail.

The list of players who’ve avoided missing the cut at this event since its move to Memorial Park in 2020 (with a minimum of three appearances) includes Scottie Scheffler, Mackenzie Hughes, Maverick McNealy, Aaron Rai, Stephan Jaeger, Jhonattan Vegas, Zach Johnson, Lanto Griffin, Sahith Theegala, and Davis Riley.

Seven players have posted multiple top-15 finishes at this event since 2020: Scottie Scheffler, Aaron Rai, Alex Smalley, Stephan Jaeger, Joel Dahmen, Tony Finau, and Mackenzie Hughes.

Course Comps

As a baseline for course comps this week, I’m looking at recent courses that have produced similar median scoring averages around Even Par to closely simulate the importance of Bogey Avoidance under challenging conditions, particularly with tight runoff areas around the green. Bay Hill, The Renaissance Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Pinehurst No. 2, and Southern Hills are at the top of the list for those reasons, with a special nod to The Renaissance Club for sharing the Tom Doak connection.

St. George’s Golf & Country Club, the host of the 2022 RBC Canadian Open, is another Tom Doak design that featured challenging scoring conditions and produced a highly top-heavy leaderboard of complete all-around players like we’ve seen in Memorial Park’s first three years.

PGA National and Quail Hollow have rewarded a similar skillset of strong long-iron players on firm Bermuda greens and difficult scoring conditions. Colonial CC, TPC San Antonio, and GC of Houston have proven to simulate these intermittent Texas winds for the regional element. Colonial CC, in particular, has produced wins from Jason Kokrak and Sam Burns over the last two years, who each have a pristine track record at Memorial Park.

Combine performance across this list, and the top-10 players in Comp Course History here are Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, Wyndham Clark, Aaron Rai, Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala, Harris English, Thomas Detry, and Si Woo Kim.

KEY STATS TO CONSIDER BEFORE BETTING PGA TOUR ODDS

• SG: APP / SG: Ball Striking
• Driving Distance
• Bogey Avoidance
• Par-5 Scoring
• Prox: 200+
• SG: ARG / Scrambling Gained
• SG: P (Bermuda) / SG: P (L36)
• SG: TOT (Difficult Scoring Conditions)
• Course + Comp Course History

Looking at the best approach players heading into this week, the top 10 in terms of SG: APP includes J.J. Spaun, Henrik Norlander, Nick Taylor, Joel Dahmen, Jackson Suber, Kurt Kitayama, Scottie Scheffler, Jhonattan Vegas, Doug Ghim, and Gary Woodland. Over one-third of the approach shots are expected to come from over 200 yards between the three par-5s, two long par-3s, and five par-4s over 490 yards. The top 10 long iron players in this week’s field are Kevin Roy, Nick Hardy, Mark Hubbard, Kurt Kitayama, Jackson Suber, Matt Schmid, Michael Thorbjornsen, Nicolai Hojgaard, Matt Wallace, and Alejandro Tosti.

Birdie opportunities are few and far between at Memorial Park, so taking advantage of those elusive chances is crucial. The par-5s ranked inside the top-3 most difficult in scoring average each of the last two years, but even so, this is still where players can gain separation. The top 10 players in Par-5 Scoring are Niklas Norgaard, Lee Hodges, Steven Fisk, Si Woo Kim, Taylor Pendrith, Matt Wallace, Joe Highsmith, Jeremy Paul, Matti Schmid, and Jake Knapp.

With scoring conditions continuing to remain challenging in this stretch of the schedule, it’s a crucial week to reference a combination of Bogey Avoidance and SG: TOT (Difficult Scoring Conditions). There are just 10 players who rank in the top-25 in both categories: Scottie Scheffler, Alex Smalley, Kurt Kitayama, Andrew Putnam, Nick Taylor, Harry Hall, Keith Mitchell, Chan Kim, Harris English, and Mac Meissner.

The ideal player for this week should rank above-average in Driving Distance, Recent T2G Form, SG: ARG + Scrambling, Comp Course History, and SG: TOT (Difficult Scoring Conditions) + Bogey Avoidance). There are just 10 players who fit that criteria: Scottie Scheffler, Alex Smalley, Kurt Kitayama, Davis Thompson, Ryan Fox, Min Woo Lee, Harry Hall, Rory McIlroy, Keith Mitchell, and Wyndham Clark.

Correlations

This week, although there are only 12 rounds of sample size, it’s still worth examining how players have gained their strokes at Memorial Park compared to the tour average.

So far, the data shows a significant advantage for players who have been able to capitalize on Par-5 Scoring, particularly from longer ranges. Conversely, Par-4: 400-450 and Par-4: 450-500 are severely deprioritized at Memorial Park, with sparse birdie opportunities to separate from the field.

Only six players in the field rank above average in each of the above 10 key stat categories: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Alex Smalley, Nick Taylor, Si Woo Kim, and Thorbjorn Olesen.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Min Woo lee

It’s very easy to conclude that either Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy will win the Texas Children’s Houston Open this week as they are head and shoulders above the rest of this field in terms of both current form and course fit. I’m not ready to hand the trophy over before the week begins, though. I think there are a few players in this field with elite strengths that will help them go toe-to-toe with these giants. Min Woo Lee is one of them.

Min Woo caught the attention of golf fans worldwide, playing into the final pairing to open the weekend at The Players at his latest start. Unfortunately, those same golf fans had to watch him slowly unravel over the rest of the tournament, as TPC Sawgrass offered no place to hide from his erratic ball striking. But with a T20 finish at THE PLAYERS, Min Woo now carries eight top-25 finishes over his last 10 starts.

Lee has sustained that high floor by consistently gaining with his driving distance and short game, two key skills needed to score at Memorial Park. He is the only player in this week’s field to rank in the top 25 in driving distance, SG: ARG, and SG: Putting. Though making his Texas Children’s Houston Open debut this week, he’s quickly built up an impressive resume, scoring under challenging conditions. Since 2023, Min Woo has posted eight top-25 finishes across the four Majors and THE PLAYERS. His best finish (T5 at the 2023 U.S. Open) came at LACC, one of Memorial Park’s top overall comp courses.

Considering his strengths of scrambling under challenging conditions and consistent history of high finishes on comp courses, Min Woo is a player to watch as he searches for his first PGA Tour win at the Texas Children’s Open this week.

2025 TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOUSTON OPEN ODDS: DFS PLAYER POOL

With all the course-fit profiles in mind, I’m leaning early toward the below player pool. Naturally, I’m also looking their way in the 2025 Texas Children’s Houston Open odds. I’ve broken the list by actualized pricing/odds tier for DraftKings and rankings projections for Underdog Fantasy, with odds and pricing released earlier this week.

UNDERDOG GOLF DRAFT RANKINGS TIERS

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Tier 1

Scottie Scheffler
Rory McIlroy

Tier 2

Tony Finau
Jason Day
Maverick McNealy
Aaron Rai
Thomas Detry
Taylor Pendrith

Tier 3

Nick Taylor
Min Woo Lee
Si Woo Kim
Stephan Jaeger
Alex Smalley
Harris English

Tier 4

Kurt Kitayama
Joel Dahmen
Davis Riley
Joe Highsmith
Harry Hall
Ryan Fox

Tier 5

Gary Woodland
Thorbjorn Olesen
Niklas Norgaard

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TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOUSTON OPEN MODEL RESULTS & BREAKDOWN

For my model this week, I’m emphasizing SG: APP, Comp Course History, Bogey Avoidance, and SG: TOT (Difficult Scoring Conditions), followed by a more balanced mix of Scrambling Gained + SG: ARG, Prox: 200+, Par-5 Scoring, Driving Distance, and SG: P (L36 + Bermuda).

Model Favorites

To little surprise, it’s world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler who sits atop my model in this Texas homecoming. Scheffler’s game travels to any PGA Tour course, but Memorial Park should accentuate his most excellent skills of elite ball striking and Scrambling on tight lies around the green.

After Scheffler, the rest of my model’s top 10 features Rory McIlroy, Alex Smalley, Kurt Kitayama, Si Woo Kim, Jacob Bridgeman, Michael Kim, Niklas Norgaard, Aaron Rai, and Lee Hodges.

When Houston Open Odds odds release on Monday, I will likely take my chances against the two prohibitive favorites of Scheffler and McIlory and capitalize on the inflated odds that produce for the rest of this field. Depending on where the odds ultimately fall, I have my eyes on Tony Finau, Aaron Rai, Min Woo Lee, and Si Woo Kim. Check back in later this week for more updates.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your 2025 Houston Open bets!

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