Texas Children's Houston Open
Purse: $9.9M
Winner's Share: $1.78M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Houston, Texas
Course: Memorial Park Golf Course
Yardage: 7,475
Par: 70
Previous Winners
2025 – Min Woo Lee
2024 – Stephan Jaeger
2023 - No Tournament
2022– Tony Finau
2021– Jason Kokrak
2020– Carlos Ortiz
2019 – Lanto Griffin
2018 – Ian Poulter
2017 – Russell Henley
2016 – Jim Herman
Recap: Valspar Championship
In what's becoming an all-too familiar trend this 2026 Tour season, the player leading for the majority of a tournament didn't come away with the victory. That was the case again this past week at the Valspar, which saw Sungjae Im's lead over the first three days vanish in the final round, as he ended with a three-over 74 score to settle for a T4 finish. With Im slipping down the leaderboard, others attempted to make the charge. At the end, it was Matt Fitzpatrick, who came away with his third PGA Tour victory thanks to his birdies on the 15th and 18th holes, which was enough to hold off David Lipsky.
It was a particularly sweet victory for Fitzpatrick after what happened last week at THE PLAYERS Championship, when his bogey on the 72nd hole dropped him to a runner-up finish to winner Cameron Young. Fitzpatrick now has three top-10 finishes to his name through seven Tour events and sits third in the FedExCup standings behind Young and Genesis Invitational winner Jacob Bridgeman.
Despite coming up just short at the Valspar, Lipsky's runner-up finish was a huge boost to his tournament outlook for the rest of the season, as he now sits at the top of the Aon Swing 5 standings, which should be enough for him to earn a spot at the next Signature Event, the RBC Heritage Open, which takes place one week after The Masters. Meanwhile, Jordan Smith surged to a solo third finish thanks to his five-under 66 final round, the best performance of his PGA career. On the other hand, 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker tumbled from the top of the leaderboard to a T18 finish after going five-over on the back nine of Sunday's round.
Tournament Preview: Texas Children's Houston Open
With the Florida swing complete, the PGA Tour will head to the Lone Star State for two weeks, starting with the Texas Children's Houston Open at Memorial Park. Last year saw Min Woo Lee capture the first PGA Tour victory of his career; not only did he become the eighth player in Tour history to make the Texas Children's their first win, but his 20-under 260 score also set a 72-hole record. Lee ended the tournament with a three-under 67 on Sunday, but the lead he built for himself over the first three days of the event was enough to hold off late surges from Gary Woodland and Scottie Scheffler. That may not be the case this year, given how unsafe leads have been on the Tour so far in 2026.
The layout of Memorial Park is a sharp departure from what we saw during the Florida swing. At 7,421 yards, Memorial Park is the second-longest par 70 course on the Tour. Whereas the past weeks featured strategically-placed bunkers and water on the majority of holes, Memorial has just 24 bunkers littered through the course (including three on the fairways), and water plays a factor on only four holes. The wide fairways and non-penal rough makes this a paradise for long bombers, who will thrive particularly on the long par-4 holes (five of which are over 490 yards) and each of the par-5s (two of which are longer than 610 yards). Driving distance, long iron play and putting are going to be keys to victory this week at the Texas Children's Houston Open.
One key development over the last 24 hours was Scheffler withdrawing from the tournament while expecting the birth of his second child. He was the only player in the initial field ranked in the top-5 of the OWGR, leaving Chris Gotterup (10th) as the only player ranked in the top 10. Scheffler had finished T2 in three of his last four outings at the Texas Children's Houston Open and was the unanimous first-overall pick in Underdog drafts before his withdrawal.
Underdog Contest Overview
Underdog hosts drafts every week at three buy-in amounts; The Par 3 at $3, the featured draft at $10, and "The Sandbagger" at $100. Each entrant will be paired up with five other participants and participate in a six-man snake draft of teams made up of six players (36 total selections), with each selection on a 30-second timer. For example, the person with the first overall pick and lucky enough to get Scheffler (unless you like to live dangerously) will have to wait until 2.6 and 3.1 to make their next selections. Points are allocated to golfers based on their performance on every hole, with bonus points available for golfers who make consecutive birdies or finish a round bogey free.
First Two Rounds
Min Woo Lee (2.5 Average Draft Position)
Lee's lone PGA Tour victory came at the Texas Children's last year, setting the course record in the process. He's coming off a disappointing finish at THE PLAYERS two weeks ago (T32 after a two-over 74 final round), but he finished T2-T12-T6 in the three events prior to TPC Sawgrass. Lee ranks seventh on the Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee, third in total driving (13th in distance, 37th in accuracy), 15th and 17th in approaches from 225-250 yards and 150-175 yards, respectively, and in the top-35 in both SG: Putting and SG: Around-the-Green. He enters this week looking to become the second player in event history to go back-to-back since Vijay Singh in 2004-05.
Jake Knapp (5.2 ADP)
I went back and forth between Knapp and Chris Gotterup (5.4 ADP), but I stuck with the former for his combination of elite play on the green (second in SG: Putting) and power off the tee (eighth in driving distance, 17th in total driving). Knapp is coming off an MC at THE PLAYERS, but prior to that, he finished T11 or better in each of his first five PGA Tour events of the season. He finished T27 last year after missing the cut in his debut outing at the event in 2024.
Michael Thorbjornsen (6.2 ADP)
Thorbjornsen has been one of the best drivers on the Tour this season, ranking second in total driving (17th in accuracy, 25th in distance) while also ranking 20th in approaches from greater than 200 yards. He has three top-25 finishes in seven tournaments this season, most recently a T22 at THE PLAYERS.
Brooks Koepka (8.3 ADP)
There must be some sort of home-course advantage if you're the one involved with the redesign of said course, right? Koepka was a consultant for the redesign of Memorial Park in 2019, and in the first event in November of 2020, he finished tied for fifth after ending the tournament with back-to-back, five-under 65 rounds. Koepka enjoyed a successful Florida swing, finishing T9-T13-T18 over his last three tournament outings. His putter held him back in each of his last two outings (THE PLAYERS and the Valspar Championship), but Koepka leads the PGA Tour this season in SG: Approach and 10th in approach from beyond 200 yards while also ranking in the top-40 in driving distance.
Middle-Round Value
Adam Scott (17.9 ADP)
The 45-year-old Australian and 14-time Tour winner is coming off a disappointing T56 finish at THE PLAYERS, but prior to that he finished solo fourth and T11 at The Genesis Invitational and Arnold Palmer Invitational, respectively. Scott ranks ninth in SG: Approach and has been particularly good from 150 to 200 yards-plus while ranking 26th in driving distance and 38th in total driving. His last appearance at Memorial park was 2021, when he finished T32.
Marco Penge (19.4 ADP)
Penge went MC-MC-T64 over his first three Tour tournaments of the season, but he got back on track with a T16 at The Genesis Invitational and is entering this week with momentum on his side after a T4 at the Valspar Championship. It's his first appearance at the Texas Children's, but he has the kind of profile that would translate nicely to Memorial Park; Penge leads the PGA Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee and seventh in driving distance.
Wyndham Clark (22.0 ADP)
It's been a slow start to the 2026 Tour season for Clark. He missed the cut at the Valspar and finished T35 or worse in each of the five prior tournaments, with his T13 at The American Express being his best outing of the year. That said, he finished tied for fifth at last year's Texas Children's, and this year he ranks sixth in Approaches from 175-200 yards, 29th in SG: Approach and top-50 in both driving distance and total driving.
Late-Round Targets
Rasmus Hojgaard (23.6 ADP)
Following his T9 finish at the Cognizant Classic, Hojgaard has gone MC-MC-T68 in each of his three events in March. Memorial Park could help him break out of his rut; he ranks fifth in driving distance, seventh in club head speed, 12th in SG: Putting, 17th in approaches from greater than 200 yards. Last year was Hojgaard's first appearance at the Texas Children's Houston Open, when he finished T32.
Stephan Jaeger (25.2 ADP)
The 2024 Texas Children's winner is coming off a T7 at the Valspar Championship, his second top-10 finish of the 2026 season. Jaeger hasn't been as effective off the tee as he was two years ago, though he ranks 34th in driving distance and top-50 in SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting. He finished T11 in his tournament defense at Memorial Park and T9 in 2022.
Sudarshan Yellamaraju (32.1 ADP)
The 24-year-old Canadian took a well-deserved week off after his T5 at THE PLAYERS Championship, finishing the tournament with a four-under 68 final round. Yellamaraju leads the PGA Tour this season in total driving (including 15th in distance and 25th in accuracy), second in approaches from greater than 200 yards and 16th in SG: Putting.
Gary Woodland (34.3 ADP)
Woodland finished T64 or worse in each of his first six tournaments this season (including four MCs) but is coming off a T14 at last week's Valspar Championship. He surged to a T2 finish in last year's Texas Children's after an eight-under 62 final round and finished T9-T22 in the two prior years. Woodland ranks fourth this year in SG: Off-the-Tee and leads the Tour in driving distance.
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