2025 Houston Open Picks, Bets, Course Preview
COURSE
Memorial Park GC
Yardage: 7,435
Par: 70
Greens: Poa trivialis overseed
Number of Sand Bunkers: 19
Number of Holes Water is in Play: 4
Average Green Size: 7,000 sq. ft.
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Par 3's (5): Average distance - 192 yards
- The average birdie rate for the four easier Par 3's was 14.8% ... Hole #11 was the exception and sits at 5.3%
- Jaeger par'd the two back-9 Par 3's in every round
Par 4's (10): Average distance - 483 yards
- Two of the four hardest holes on property are Par 4's and on the final five coming home (Holes 14 and 18)
- Jaeger had multiple bogeys in Rounds 1-2-3 ... five of those six hiccups came on a Par 4
Par 5's (3): Average distance - 610 yards
- All three have an eagle rate of at least 1%, but #16 has some teeth if you get going bad (13.5% bogey rate and 4.2% double-or-worse)
- Jaeger birdied both front-9 Par 5's in each of the final three rounds
DFS Streak
Is this the course where this advantage is the greatest? It's on the short list -- Holes 1 and 18 are two of the four toughest on the course and that makes playing it backwards a tough sell. When starting on the front, you get access to Holes 8-9-10, all of which play easier than course average.
KEY STATS
Mayo’s Key Stats powered by FantasyNational.com
2024 STATS LEADERBOARD
PAST WINNERS
2024: Stephen Jaeger -12 (one clear of five golfers, including Tony Finau and Scottie Scheffler)
(Played in November)
2022: Tony Finau -16 (four clear of Tyson Alexander)
2021: Jason Kokrak -10 (two clear of Kevin Tway and Scottie Scheffler)
2020: Carlos Ortiz -13 (two clear of Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson)
2019: Lanto Griffin: -14 (one clear of Scott Harrington and Mark Hubbard)
WINNERS NOTES
2024: Stephen Jaeger (+5000)
- The top-10 finishers all gained Good Drives, but two of the top of the board (Jaeger and Alejandro Tosti) lost fairways.
- Four of the five players that finished with at least a share of second place gained in Prox 150-175
2023: Tony Finau (+1600)
- Finau was the second best putter for the week and Mackenzie Hughes was able to salvage a T-16 finish despite losing ground T2G because of the flat stick (+8.5)
- The top-3 finishers dominated with their irons from everywhere ... all three gained Prox from 75-100, 100-125,, 125-150, and 175-200
2022: Jason Kokrak (+6000)
- Three of the top-6 finishers (including Kokrak at -3.9 strokes) lost ground around the green
- Luke List was the only top-18 finisher to loss strokes putting (T-11 despite bleeding 5.8 strokes with the flat stick!). Kokrak and Tway were 1-2 on the leaderboard ... they tied for the second best putting performance of the week (+8.7)
2021: Carlos Ortiz (+15000)
- The Top 10 finishers for the week all gained on the Par 5's, but only six gained on the Par 3's
The gains were minimal, but everyone who finished with at least a share of fifth picked up ground on the field from 25+ feet with the putter
2020 - Lanto Griffin: -14 (+8000) (one clear of Scott Harrington and Mark Hubbard)
- Wasn't consistent (66-74-65-69) but that 65 on moving day was 4 better than Hubbard and 7 better than Harrington.
- 15 of the top 16 finishers gained on Par 4's 400-450 yards
FIRST ROUND LEADERS
2024 ROUND 1
64 - Taylor Moore (67 or better in three of four rounds), Wilson Furr (followed with a Friday 75)
65 - Scottie Scheffler (68 or better in three of four rounds), Davis Riley (sandwiched 71 with 65's), Joe Highsmith (went 70-72 over the next two days)
2023 ROUND 1
65 - Tony Finau (only player in the 60's all four days), Alex Noren (10 shots better in Rounds 1-2 than Rounds 3-4), Aaron Wise (followed with 71-71 the next two days)
66 - 8-way tie that included second place Tyson Alexander and third place Ben Taylor, both of whom shot 70 or better in all four rounds
2022 ROUND 1
65 - Martin Trainer (14 shots better in Rounds 1-2 than Rounds 3-4), Russell Henley (followed his best round of the week with his worst, a Friday 72), Luke List (his only round better than 69), Marc Leishman (gradually got worse: 65-70-71-72), Talor Gooch (only round better than 72 for the week)
2021 ROUND 1
65 - Brandt Snedeker (followed up with 71-76)
67 - 6-way tie that included winner Carlos Ortiz (68 or better in all four rounds)
NOTES
The overseed now provides a much tighter playing surface than the bermudagrass did when this event had previously been held run the swing season. This will highlight the penal green surrounds, while shorter rough gives opportunity for aggressive approach shots to the green.
No. 17 green was moved 30 yards further back and two bunkers were added to the left of the green for 2024.
Average fairway widths in landing areas are 30-40 yards.
Weather since last year’s event included a May windstorm (a derecho) that damaged more than 100 trees and then Hurricane Beryl in July which dropped 13”-plus of rain and damaged 100 more trees
Memorial Park is the third longest course played on TOUR this season and it is only Par 70.
There are five Par 4s 490 yards or longer. They all play over par and are five of the six toughest holes on the course.
Tom Doak did a complete renovation of the course in 2019 (started in January and the course re-opened in November). Brooks Koepka assisted. The renovation and redesign brought ravines and water into play and reduced the number of bunkers from 54 to 19. Three of the bunkers are surrounding the 18th green.
Tons of run off areas and false fronts on a lot of greens. Many greens elevated as well.
PICKS/BETS
Will Update after the Picks & Bets show with Geoff on Tuesday this week. But like everyone else, Davis Riley is likely going to be on that list. And Stephen Fisk as First Round Leader seems likely to lose me money.