Horse For The Course: PGA DFS Course History - 2025 Texas Children's Houston Open

It was a good run in Florida, as the Valspar Championship ended in a dramatic showdown between Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland. After going -2 under on the "Snake Pit", Hovland took a commanding lead coming down the stretch after J.T. hit wayward drives on holes 16 and 18, leading to two costly bogeys and losing to the young Norwegian by one shot. Having a showdown like this from two fan favorites looking for comebacks is exactly what the PGA Tour needed to keep the buzz going with a couple of weeks left before The Masters.

Next is a two-event swing in the Lonestar State, starting with the Texas Children's Houston Open. An event rich in professional golf history, it has been at several venues and points in the schedule since its first playing in 1946. This year's event has drawn a decent field as both of the top-ranked players in the world—Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy—are in the field looking to shake off the last bit of rust before Augusta. While they have only played this event at the recently renovated Memorial Park Golf Course since 2020, there have been a few names to show promise here year in and year out.

Horse For The Course is an article highlighting players in this week's field with elite course history and is part of our free PGA DFS content here at RotoBaller. For some of the favorite DFS plays of the week, check out the Core Four article written by my buddy, Joe Nicely, here at RotoBaller every Wednesday. It's part of our amazing PGA Premium package that includes an all-new PGA Research Station, Lineup Builder & Optimizer, and some of the best articles in the PGA DFS industry! You can sign up now using the Promo Code TDG for an extra discount at checkout!

2025 Texas Children's Houston Open

After serving stints in the fall for three seasons from 2020 to 2023 before reverting to a spring event last year. The change in timing of this event has had a dramatic effect on predictive course history compared to events with a set spot on the schedule. Nevertheless, there are some similarities to draw from on a course that plays incredibly long and demanding from tee to green no matter the time of year.

The field list is heavy at the top with the first and second-ranked players in the world teeing it up, but no other player inside the top 10 in the OWGR is making the trip. That being said, it is still a fairly tough group, with most of the guys outside the top 25 in the world making a start. Given the toughness of the course and the general presence of wind, it makes this event a difficult test, and with that, it generally comes with a top-notch leaderboard.

Stephen Jaeger looks to defend his title from last season, as he bested the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, and three others by a single stroke. It was the first event played at this venue in March, which will provide much of the context for this article; more for performance on the greens than anything else.

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Memorial Park Golf Course

Par 70 - 7,475 | Greens: 328 Bermudagrass | Designed By: John Bredemus

A 1935 design by John Bredemus, Memorial Park Golf Course went through a major redesign by Tom Doak in 2018 at the cost of $35 million, which lengthened the course and made the municipal track easier to maintain by removing 33 bunkers on the property. The transformation has kept this track as a premium spot to play golf for the city of Houston, but it also provides a place for world-class competition in a sports hub city.

Don't mistake this muni as a place easily overpowered by the world's best players. It is a beast of a golf course that stretches out to nearly 7,500 yards and lends itself to longer hitters who can manage to have a good touch on and around the greens. With almost 33% of approaches coming from 200+ yards, and another 38% coming from between 150 and 200 yards, getting the ball close to the hole isn't easy. Strokes gained putting will be a large part of the success this week, as Stephan Jaeger's third-place rank last year is proof.

Approach play is always a large statistical consideration, and this week is no different. However, its importance varies largely by the presence of wind at Memorial Park. Gusty conditions are usually one of the course's strongest defenses, and while the unpredictability can skew strokes gained metrics, the need for sound ball striking can't be overstated. Managing ball flight and spin is key to navigating this layout.

Recent Houston Open Winners

• 2024: Stephan Jaeger (-12)
• 2023: Tony Finau (-16)
• 2022: Jason Kokrak (-10)
• 2021: Carlos Ortiz (-13)

The Horse

Tony Finau

• Notable Finishes: 1st ('23), T2 ('24)

As the last person to win this event in November, he undoubtedly had no trouble adjusting to playing at this venue at a different time of year. Of anyone in the field with at least eight rounds played, he leads in true strokes gained at Memorial Park (+2.45). This is led by a fifth-place rank on this layout in strokes gained off the tee (+0.829) and sixth in strokes gained around the green (+0.704).

The 35-year-old is coming off a disappointing missed cut at The Players but had shown promise in his ball-striking and short game before that. His ability to handle windy conditions has been proven throughout his career, and it wouldn't be surprising to see a bounceback performance from him this week.

The Ponies

Scottie Scheffler

• Notable Finishes: T2 ('24 & '22)

HERE COMES SCOTTIE! 😤

Scheffler drains a beautiful bunker shot from 104 yards out 🦅

📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/33qAwQzGsE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 6, 2025

It's no surprise to see Texas' own having success at a ball-striking-centric venue like Memorial Park. Advantageous ball placement and navigating through demanding winds are at a premium here, and there's no one better at that than Scottie Scheffler. In his last four starts at this event, he has an average of +0.872 (ranked third in the field) in strokes gained around the green and +0.758 (ranked seventh in the field) in strokes gained off the tee.

He's admittedly still struggling with his comeback from the hand injury at the start of the year, but it hasn't been apparent through his ball-striking statistics this season. He ranks sixth on the year in strokes gained off the tee (+0.641) and 11th in strokes gained on approach (+0.817).

Aaron Rai

• Notable finishes: T7 ('24 & '23)

Near-albatross from 282 yards 😳

Aaron Rai climbs to T1 with an eagle.

📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/2C0POQjXfb

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 23, 2025

After back-to-back T7 finishes the past two seasons, Aaron Rai has established a nice history at Memorial Park. For someone as powerful as he is off the tee, it's interesting to see the +0.688 in strokes gained around the green as his strongest metric here. However, he is managing to gain strokes across the board. After three straight quality finishes, Rai will be an interesting name to watch out for this week.

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Stephan Jaeger

• Notable Finishes: 1st ('24), T9 ('23)

Stephan Jaeger details how he was able to outplay Scottie Scheffler to earn his first @PGATOUR title. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/fyamlYHi1z

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) March 31, 2024

The move to Memorial Park in 2021 has been a significant change for many players who made this stop on the schedule, but perhaps none has benefited from that change more than Stephan Jaeger. He missed the cut at this event in 2018 when it was played at the Golf Club of Houston, but since it switched, he has had finishes of T35, T9, and first. He's been dominant on and around the greens here, with an average of +1.074 in strokes gained putting and +0.927 around the green.

Finishes for him in 2025 have been sporadic, so seeing how his defense goes this week will be interesting. Though, it's plausible to expect something decent.

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