This week’s field at the Houston Open will all be chasing one man: Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler, looking for his third straight PGA Tour win, is an incredibly short +275 favourite (shortest odds we’ve seen to win any event this season) to win the Houston Open, with Wyndham Clark a distant +1200 with the second-shortest odds. Scheffler is rolling after back-to-back wins at The Players Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and hasn’t finished outside of the top 20 in any event this season. He’s looking to become the first golfer to win three straight Tour events since 2017 and he’s recorded back-to-back top-10s in Houston and shares the course record at Memorial Park with an 8-under 62.
Scottie Scheffler to win Houston Open
+275
Tony Finau (+2200) is the defending champion and is looking to become the first golfer to successfully defend his title in Houston since Vijay Singh accomplished the feat in 2004-05. Finau missed the cut last week at the Valspar, but he’s had a solid season to this point with four top-25 finishes, including a T6 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
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. Of the par-4s, half will play over 490 yards, which will favour those in the field who can hit it long and straight.
Notable Canadians in the field
Mackenzie Hughes (+5000): Hughes didn’t have a top-20 finish this year leading up to last week’s Valspar Championship, but he broke out in a huge way with a T3 finish. It’s important to note this is the final week before the world top-50 cutoff to qualify for the Masters, so Hughes, who sits at No. 63 in the rankings, will be looking for another strong result to catapult himself into Masters qualification.
Adam Svensson (+9000): Svensson broke a streak of three consecutive missed cuts with a T49 result at last week’s Valspar Championship. His best result was a T10 at The Genesis Invitational last month.
Ben Silverman (+10000): Silverman has three top-20 finishes this year, but he’s missed the cut in back-to-back events.
Taylor Pendrith (+11000): After opening the season with a pair of top-10 finishes in his first three events, he’s missed the cut in four straight tournaments.
Mackenzie Hughes top-10 finish
+450
Outright odds
| Golfer | World Ranking | Outright Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Scottie Scheffler | 1 | +275 |
| Wyndham Clark | 4 | +1200 |
| Will Zalatoris | 29 | +1800 |
| Sahith Theegala | 15 | +2000 |
| Tony Finau | 30 | +2200 |
| Jason Day | 20 | +2500 |
| Si Woo Kim | 45 | +3000 |
| Alex Noren | 66 | +3500 |
| Keith Mitchell | 70 | +3500 |
| Stephan Jaeger | 71 | +4500 |
| Tom Hoge | 57 | +5000 |
| Beau Hossler | 76 | +5000 |
| Mackenzie Hughes | 63 | +5000 |
| Kurt Kitayama | 41 | +5000 |
| Aaron Rai | 81 | +5500 |
All odds courtesy of 
Three golfers to back
Scottie Scheffler (+275): I wouldn’t necessarily back Scheffler at these insanely short odds, but you can’t ignore the fact that he has the potential to blow away the relatively weak field this week and cruise to his third straight Tour victory. A Dallas resident, Scheffler will be playing in his own backyard where he’s enjoyed a considerable amount of success, particularly on this golf course. He ranks first this year in the following statistical categories on Tour: SG -Total, SG – off the tee, SG – approach to green, GIR%, putting average, scoring average, and birdie average. With the Masters just a couple of weeks away, Scheffler will be incredibly motivated to keep the momentum rolling with another win at this event. It’s just a shame there’s literally no value on backing him this week.
Si Woo Kim (+3000): The South Korean is coming off an impressive T6 performance at The Players and we’re getting a good price on him here in a weak field. He’s also had a pair of top-15 finishes this season at Pebble Beach and the Phoenix Open, and if you look at his recent results, one bad round each week has spoiled his chances of capturing his fifth career PGA Tour win. He has strong metrics this year in SG: total (13th), SG: off the tee (14th), driving accuracy (10th), GIR% (12th), and scoring average (seventh). His game should bode well on this course that favours long and straight players.
Robert MacIntyre (+11000): Our dark horse this week is MacIntyre, who is making his maiden voyage on the PGA Tour this year after making a name for himself in Europe, and at the last Ryder Cup when he played to a 2-0-1 record as a rookie against the United States. He’s already captured a top-10 result at the Mexico Open and he was very consistent last week at the Valspar with a T33 finish. One stat really stands out for MacIntrye this week: Approach >200 yards. He’s first on Tour in that category and this course demands several long approach shots. Roll the dice on the lefty at very long +11000 odds outright, or play it a little safer with a top-10 result at +800 or a top-20 finish at +350.
