BlogTexas Children's Houston Open Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

So it’s year six of the Cadence Bank Houston Open being played at Memorial Park. When its original sponsor, Shell Oil, left in 2017, the event was near death. The event needed help finding a new sponsor and looked bleak. But Houston Astros owner Jim Crane came in with financial backing, with one stipulation. The event would return to its roots and to Memorial Park, a course located just outside downtown Houston. The course hosted the second Houston Open in 1947, and then, between 1951 and 1963, it began to fall into disrepair. With help from the Astros Golf Foundation, they revamped the course at a cost of $ 34 million. The course was upgraded, and the club ensured it was PGA Tour-ready. The course added yardage, and for the Houston Open, it is playing at 7,412 yards and to a par of 70.

Five years ago, the course hosted the Houston Open for the first time, and it was well received. Players seem to like the course and have told others, and the field seems to improve each year it’s played.  With the Valero Texas Open next week and the Masters the week after, players have a choice of which course best suits them for Masters prep.  Unfortunately, Scottie Scheffer was in the field but had to withdraw as it looks like his second child could be born soon.

So the field has a lot of good players, but the marquee names are few.  One tip I can give people off the bat is that Memorial Park caters to shot makers, and since it’s a municipal course, it’s got municipal greens, which are flat and have very little undulation.  So poor putters tend to do very well this week, so look for that player who is great from tee-to-green, but lacks good putting.

Things you need to know about the Houston Open

This will be the 78th edition of the Houston Open. This is the sixth year of the Texas Children’s Houston Open with new leadership. They have a new sponsor, and those running the event have ties to the Houston Astros baseball team. The significant change is playing at its new home, Memorial Park, a public course in downtown Houston, ready for fans. The event began in 1946, and the following year Memorial Park hosted the tournament for 14 events, mostly between 1951 and 1963. When the tournament left, the public course fell into disrepair.

After two years of renovations by architect Tom Doak and player consultant Brooks Koepka, the course opened in 2020 to great fanfare; not only did fans like what they saw, but many of the players did as well. In prior years, the tournament was held at the Golf Club of Houston, then, between 2003 and 2005, across the street at the Members Course at Redstone. Before that, the TPC at the Woodlands had been the site between 1985 and 2002. Courses used before 1985 include the West course at the Woodlands, River Oaks C.C., Memorial Park G.C., Pine Forest C.C., Brae Burn C.C., Sharpstown C.C., Champions G.C., Westwood G.C., and Quail Valley G.C. The first Houston Open, played in 1946, was called the Tournament of Champions. Byron Nelson beat Ben Hogan that year by two strokes at River Oaks.

Course information:

• Memorial Park Golf Course
• Houston, Tx.
• 7,475 yards     Par 35-35–70

Memorial Park was always the sentimental home of this event. I attended about a dozen Houston Opens between 1990 and 2003; those who ran the tournament always wished to return to Memorial Park one day. But at that time, the course was in terrible shape and beaten up, as it was nothing but a cheap place for 18 holes. When the Astros Golf Foundation took over the operations of the Houston Open, they spent $34 million to redesign Memorial Park and build an education and golf center for the course. Architect Tom Doak redid the course, and his mission was to make it enjoyable for recreational golfers and tough enough for PGA Tour players. One unusual characteristic of the course is that there are only 17 bunkers on the par-70 course. What makes it challenging is accuracy, which is essential on the thick, rough, tight grass slopes and contours. The weather will make the course challenging; when the wind blows, especially a north or northeast wind, it will make things very tough. The course was opened for play in November of 2019, and the Bermuda grass has come in; the course will be in good shape.

But look for low scores, as there are several drivable par-4s and two reachable par-5s. The greens are big, 7,000 square feet, and they are flat, like most municipal courses. Looking at the weather for the week, it’s going to be close to perfect, with each day in the mid-70s on Thursday and Friday, rising to 85 on Saturday and Sunday.  Possible Thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday, with great conditions, no rain over the weekend, with very low humidity and limited winds.

The big surprise is how tough the course has played. In 2021, Carlos Ortiz shot just 13 under. Of the 68 players that made the cut, only 39 were under par, which means the course played hard. The reason is the weekend; they had wind gusts of up to 25 mph. After the first two days, the scoring average for the course was 71.82, and even with the winds, the average was 70.28 in the third round and 68.74 in the final rounds.

In 2022, much of the same as the course was still played hard. Winner Jason Kokrak was just 10 under par, and of the 67 players that made the cut, only 28 were under par.

In 2023, Tony Finau played great and won with a 16-under-par total. Of the 68 that made the cut, 38 were under par for the week.

In 2024, Stephan Jaeger shot 66-67 over the weekend to claim a one-shot win over defending champion Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Thomas Detry, Taylor Moore, and Alejandro Tosti.  Scoring got better this year as 56 players were under par for the week.

In our Key Fantasy stat guide, we wrote about the two major storms that hit the Houston area in the summer of 2024, which caused close to 300 trees to be lost.  With that said, the course got a lot easier, playing a shot and a half easier as Min Woo Lee won in 2025 by a shot over Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland.  Showing how much easier it played, Lee shot 20 under par.  The previous winning score was 16 under by Tony Finau in 2023.

Some of the keys to playing well at Memorial Park is this. First, hitting greens is essential. Another key is that long hitters have to be careful since the rough was one of the most demanding of the year. On top of that, as I said above, the greens are flat with very little undulation, so poor putters tend to put well at Memorial Park.

The course has been well-received over the past five years, generating strong buzz that draws players to Houston to play a great course.