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Contents
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open
Houston, Texas
Memorial Park Golf Course – Par 70 – 7,412 yards
Field – 132 entrants
Purse – $7.5M
The Preview
The PGA Tour’s rookie class of ’19 continued its dominance last week as Viktor Hovland successfully defended his title at Mayakoba, firing four consecutive scores of 67 or better while racking up 28 total birdies en route to his four-shot victory. This ultimately allowed the 24-year-old to join the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his young career.
Par-breakers will be much tougher to come by this week, however, as Memorial Park Golf Course not only features just three par-5s to five par-3s, but it also played as one of the most difficult venues on Tour last season while hosting the Houston Open for the first time since 1963. A three-over-par cut line demonstrates demanding scoring conditions, which can be exaggerated by the typical Texan winds.
Unlike the aforementioned Hovland situation, we won’t get to see a title-defense effort this week as 2020 champion Carlos Ortiz was unfortunately forced to withdraw due to a shoulder injury.
Recent Champions
2020 – Carlos Ortiz (Memorial Park Golf Course)
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)
2015 – J.B. Holmes (Golf Club of Houston)
2014 – Matt Jones (Golf Club of Houston)
2013 – D.A. Points (Golf Club of Houston)
2012 – Hunter Mahan (Golf Club of Houston)
2011 – Phil Mickelson (Golf Club of Houston)
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Driving distance
Proximity: 150-200+ yards
Scrambling
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Sam Burns – $44
Burns is the favorite this week for a reason, as he paces the field in a number of statistical categories over his last 12 rounds, including SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Tee-to-Green and Par-3: 200-225 efficiency. He’s also No. 2 in SG: Approach, birdie or…
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Source : yahoo
