DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: Texas Children's Houston Open Cash and GPP Strategy

TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOUSTON OPEN

Purse: $9.5M 
Winner's Share: $1.71M 
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner 
Location: Houston 
Course: Memorial Park Golf Course
Yardage: 7,435
Par: 70
2025 champion: Min Woo Lee

Tournament Preview

The run-up to the Masters is always tricky for the top golfers. Play the week before? Maybe play two weeks before and then rest up for the grueling tournament ahead? Perhaps even shut it down after THE PLAYERS for almost a full month to prepare? That last option is unlikely but not unheard of. Most importantly, there's no right or wrong answer.

Rory McIlroy had been trying all sorts of permutations in search of that elusive green jacket -- play more leading up to the Masters, play less -- and nothing worked. Last year, he opted to play two weeks before -- here at the Houston Open -- then skip the Valero Texas Open. If you don't recall, McIlroy tied for fifth at Houston. We don't need to tell you how his Masters turned out.

McIlroy is not on hand this week. Scottie Scheffler originally was. But not anymore. The world No. 1 had played in Houston six years running, to the point that it was a fait accompli for the Texas resident to partake. But this year, there was no advance word of will-he or won't-he. When the field was published late Friday afternoon, Scheffler was in it.

That sound you heard was a big sigh of relief from tournament organizers.

Until Scheffler suddenly and curiously pulled out on Tuesday morning.

With Scheffler, this tournament was afloat, barely. Without him, it's hurting. There are now only three top-25s in the field, and they aren't any of the big ones, the needle movers -- Chris Gotterup, Ben Griffin and Harris English.

The new No. 1 headliner is Brooks Koepka, who continues to do a good job helping to prop up lesser tournaments. Heck, he may be the best thing that's happened to the PGA Tour this year. And Rickie Fowler is also here, and he's still not yet qualified for the Masters.

Others of semi-notable-ness in the Houston field this week include defending champion Min Woo Lee, Shane Lowry, Tony Finau, Sam Burns, Jason Day, Jake Knapp and Adam Scott.

(Just to close the loop on playing this week or next week, the Valero is far stronger based on early commits, led by Collin Morikawa -- who has not played since exiting THE PLAYERS with a back injury -- Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberg and numerous other top-25s. Fowler is also entered right now.)
 

One of the oldest events in golf, in existence since the 1940s, the Houston Open was in disarray 8-9 years ago. The tournament had just parted ways with the PGA Tour's longest-standing title partner at the time, one that had become synonymous with the tournament over a quarter of a century of sponsorship: the Shell Houston Open. It was a huge blow to the Tour, and the tournament.

Enter Jim Crane, the owner of the Houston Astros. Crane also heads the non-profit Astros Golf Foundation, which came on board in 2018 to rescue the tournament. This week, he gets to see his baseball team and his golf tournament begin play on the same day.

Not only did Crane keep the tournament in the only city it has ever known, he moved it to a municipal course -- how cool is that?

Memorial Park became the latest muni to make its way to big-time golf, or in this case make its way back. Built in 1912 originally as a nine-hole course, it played host to the Houston Open 14 times from 1947 to 1963. Before the 2020 return, it underwent an 18-month, $34 million renovation under the direction of famed course designer Tom Doak, who got a consulting assist from Koepka, who once again can put his course knowledge to good use.

The course is VERY long for a par-70 -- over 7,400 yards. It's a bit quirky in that there are three par-5s and five par-3s. All the par-5s exceed 575 yards -- the 587-yard third, the 625-yard eighth and the 576-yard 16th. Still, they are all scoreable, especially in relation to the par-3s and 4s. Two of the par-3s are more than 215 and five par-4s are at least 490. The hardest holes last year were three longs par-4s at Nos. 1, 4 and 18, and three par-3s at Nos. 7, 11 and 15.

The fairways are tree-lined but generously wide, upwards of 40 yards in some spots. There are only 21 bunkers. In the renovation, many bunkers were replaced by strategic false fronts and run-offs around the greens, putting an emphasis on scrambling. The putting surfaces are large at about 7,000 square feet, with poa overseed. There's water on four holes.

If it sounds hard, it had been -- until Lee jumped to 20-under last year. Most years since the move to Memorial Park, the winning score was in the low double digits. So, for now, we have to treat last year as an aberration.

However, it's important to note that the first three go-rounds at Memorial Park came in November; 2024 was the first in March. Stephan Jaeger won at 12-under. There was no tournament in 2023.

Before Jaeger's win, every part of the course was overseeded and that "will provide a much tighter playing surface than the bermudagrass did in 2022," according to the 2024 official Golf Course Superintendents' tournament fact sheet. "This will highlight the penal green surrounds, while shorter rough gives opportunity for aggressive approach shots to the green."

This year's GCSAA sheet advised that "There was no measurable rainfall from Nov. 1 until January 21, which added some difficulty to the overseed process."

As for this week's weather, the most noteworthy thing is that it is forecast to be extremely hot the first two days -- upper 80s to 90ish -- before dropping into the 70s on the weekend. There'll be no rain to speak of and the wind will be moderate until it's not -- you know, Texas.

Houston Open history:  To illustrate the magnitude of this tournament, which dates to 1946, here are some of the champions through the years: Byron Nelson (inaugural 1946), Arnold Palmer (twice), Gary Player, Raymond Floyd, Lee Elder, Curtis Strange (twice), Payne Stewart, David Duval, Fred Couples, Vijay Singh (three times), Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim(!).

Key Stats to Winning at Memorial Park

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Proximity 200+ yards
• Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green/Scrambling 
• Strokes Gained: Putting 
• Par-5 Scoring 550-600 yards
• Bogey Avoidance

Past Champions

2025 – Min Woo Lee (Memorial Park)
2024 – Stephan Jaeger (Memorial Park)
2023 - No Tournament
2022 - Tony Finau (Memorial Park)
2021 – Jason Kokrak (Memorial Park)
2020 - Carlos Ortiz (Memorial Park)
2019 – Lanto Griffin (Golf Club of Houston)
2018 – Ian Poulter (Golf Club of Houston)
2017 – Russell Henley (Golf Club of Houston)
2016 - Jim Herman (Golf Club of Houston)

Champion's Profile

We have two years of the tournament being played in the spring. In 2024, Jaeger won at 12-under. Last year, Lee won at 20-under. That's quite a difference.

Lee ranked 42nd in SG: Off-the-Tee, 15th on Approach, 15th Around-the-Green, second in Putting, fifth in driving distance, 64th in driving accuracy and T25 in greens in regulation. To summarize, he hit it far and putted his butt off.

Scheffler and Gary Woodland were a stroke back. Both were top-15 on approach. Woodland led the field in putting and Scheffler ranked sixth. Neither was especially good around the greens.

Two years ago, the longest hitters did not dominate the top of the leaderboard. Rather, wedge play and putting did.

Jaeger won by one shot over five others, including Scheffler and Finau. He ranked 11th in driving distance, outside the top-20 in both SG: Approach and greens in regulation, ninth in SG: Around-the-Green and third in SG: Putting. Of Jaeger's 12-under, 8-under came on the par-5s -- and there are only three.

Among the runners-up, Alejandro Tosti ranked first in driving distance, Scheffler was seventh and Finau 16th.

The over/under on the winning score on golfodds.com is 264.5 -- 15.5 under par. 

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$9,000-$9-990

Jake Knapp - $9,500 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +2600) 
Knapp finally stumbled for the first time in 2026 last time out at THE PLAYERS. He missed the cut. He is ranked second on Tour in SG: Putting, and great putting has correlated to success here the past two years. Of course, you need to do other things well, such as hit the ball far. Oh, Knapp is also ranked eighth in driving distance. He's ranked in the top-65 in every strokes-gained category and, even though we didn't check every player, we're fairly certain no one else can say that (but feel free to prove us wrong).

Rickie Fowler - $9,400 (+3300) 
While Fowler qualified for every Signature Event in 2026 by virtue of his top-50 finish in the FedExCup Standings last year, he still is not in the Masters. He's also on the list of early commits for next week's Valero Texas Open. Fowler may not need to play the Valero if he has a good result this week. He is ranked 61st in the OWGR, and he needs to be in the top 50 by week's end. He has played well this season, opening with three top-20s, adding a top-10 at Bay Hill and not missing a cut in six starts. He's ranked top-50 in both SG: Off-the-Tee and Approach, and ninth overall in Putting.

$8,000-$8,900

Michael Thorbjornsen - $8,600 (+3700) 
Thorbjornsen has been inching closer and closer to his first PGA Tour win. He was in the final group at THE PLAYERS Championship, only to shoot himself out of the tournament with an early quadruple bogey. He is an elite driver, ranking top-25 in both distance and accuracy -- quite the rarity. While it's not well known, he's also adept around the greens, ranking 31st. At No. 56 in the OWGR, Thorbjornsen needs a final push to reach the Masters.

Harry Hall - $8,500 (+4600) 
Hall has been all-or-nothing in 2026. He has four top-25s (two of which doubled as top-10s) and three missed cuts. He's improved the past three years here, from 39th to 28th to 18th. Hall is not the longest driver -- but he's not short, either. What he is, however, is a short-game maestro, ranking top-20 on Tour in both SG: Around-the-Green and Putting.

Rasmus Hojgaard - $8,100 (+5200) 
We've been on Nicolai Hojgaard a bunch this season, to reasonable success. Now, we're gonna pivot across the family dinner table to his twin brother. Rasmus has not been as good, though he did finish top-10 at the Cognizant and top-25 at Phoenix. Checking his stats, it appears he's playing better than he's scoring. He's ranked top-50 in SG: Approach and 12th in Putting, and is one of the true bombers on Tour, ranking fifth in distance. He has been highly inaccurate off the tee, but you can get away with that -- a little bit -- this week.

$7,000-$7,900

Stephan Jaeger - $7,900 (+6500) 
This is probably Jaeger's most successful track. He got his only win here, in 2024, then finished 11th in his title defense. He also was ninth in 2023. Further, he's coming off his second-best result of the season, a tie for seventh at the Valspar. Jaeger also was fifth at the Farmers. His stats don't scream out -- good or bad -- but he is top-50 in both Around-the-Green and Putting. Maybe that's why he's done so well here.

Sahith Theegala - $7,600 (+5900) 
Theegala has been playing a ton. In fact, he's played in every tournament this season. Probably because he doesn't want to take Masters week off. Right now, he's not in the field. He's had a good season, which began with him ranked 119th in the OWGR. But now he's up to only 80th despite three top-10s and two other top-25s, and he needs to get into the top 50. Theegala finally missed a cut last week, and that weekend off may have been the best thing to provide some rest. He is a top-50 player in SG: Approach, Around-the-Green and Putting.

Tony Finau - $7,600 (+7800) 
The once great Finau is now the just okay Finau. He's another player not yet in the Masters field. But he has had great success at Memorial Park. He won there in 2023, then shared runner-up in 2024. He tied for 32nd last year. This season, Finau has three top-20s, including last week at the Valspar.

Ryan Fox - $7,400 (+8400)
Fox has played four times in 2026 and has four top-25s, three of them in Signature Events, and Riviera was a top-10. But he had to skip THE PLAYERS because of kidney stones -- and they had to be removed surgically. So this seems like a quick return. But Fox is already in the Masters, so he must feel 100 percent again. He tied for 15th here a year ago. He is one of the biggest hitters on Tour, yet he's well balanced statistically, including ranking 35th in SG: Putting.

Mackenzie Hughes - $7,100 (+10500) 
Sometimes you just have to look at a guy's track record at a certain, um, track and not overthink things. Hughes has finished 16th, 14th and 10th here the past three years. This season, he's made five of his past six cuts, albeit with just one top-25. Statistically, Hughes is doing most everything pretty well, which means his once elite short game is not elite right now.

$6,000-$6,900

Alejandro Tosti - $6,600 (+37500) 
Once again, the $6,000s are a vast wasteland. The good news is, in a 135-man field, probably more than half the field will make the cut, and that means a bunch of $6,000s. All that said, the Argentine has been brutal in 2026. He's made only 1 of 7 cuts, though that one was last week at the Valspar, and he tied for 30th. Really, this all comes down to Tosti somehow finishing top-5 here the past two years -- runner-up in 2024 and fifth last year.

Chandler Phillips - $6,400 (+45000) 
The Huntsville, Texas, native went to Texas A&M, so Phillips is Texasy through and through. And he obviously likes this tournament. Phillips has made the cut in all three tries here. He was 45th two years ago and 32nd last year. This season, he's made 5 of 7 cuts, with one top-25 (at the Sony). Phillips' stats are downright abysmal -- except on the greens, where he ranks 23rd on Tour in SG: Putting. 

Honing in on your Houston Open lineups? See how they look in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.