The PGA heads from the beauty of Mexico to the oil-rich fields of Houston, and there are just two weeks left in the fall swing. These two weeks are pivotal to a lot of golfers who will be fighting for starts come the new year when the fields get stronger. The Houston Open has bounced around the calendar a few times, even missing it one year, as it used to serve as the tournament a week before The Masters. Now part of the fall swing, the tour heads back to Memorial Park for the second straight year. This article is the first look at the DFS golf strategy to employ for this week’s tournament on DraftKings and FanDuel — a quick highlight of the top stats to be looking at when making PGA DFS picks for lineups.
Hewlett Packard Houston Open PGA DFS Preview
One of the main reasons this tournament has struggled is its lack of corporate presence. Now a solid backer, Hewlett Packard, has stepped up to the plate and will support the tournament for at least a few years. The host course has also bounced around since leaving The Golf Club of Houston and has now settled at Memorial Park.
Memorial Park Golf Club Preview
Much will be made about Brooks Koepka, the headliner of the field this week, having a part in the redesign of this par-70, 7,400-yard municipal course. It is always a joy watching a course that hosts over 60,000 rounds a year get set up for a pro event. While the public plays this golf course as a par 72, the pros play it at a par 70. There are three par 5’s, though, which is unusual for a par-70 layout, and it features a drivable par 4 on the back nine.
Par and Yardage
- Par 70: 7, 400 yards
Course Difficulty
- 39/49 — 70.999, or slightly under par
Hole Dispersion:
- The Par 3’s: 160, 171, 183, 238, 135
- Par 4’s: 494, 466, 451, 432, 440, 475, 318, 497.377, 485
- The Par 5’s: 575, 591, 555
Grass Types & Hazards
- Grass Type: Bermuda
- Average Green: 7, 000 square feet
- Water Hazards: 4
- Bunkers: 19
- Rough Length: 2.25 in.
Designer
- Tom Doak
Facts and Figures
- Off the Tee: The first time around, Memorial Park golfers hit the fairway on average about 54% of the time. That was slightly below the average for the tour last year. However, the average drive previous year was 303.4 yards, which is higher than the average.
- Approach to the Green: All of those missed fairways and longer than average rough would lead to fewer greens in regulation than average, coming in at 62%.
- On and Around the Green: Missing the green at Memorial Park has been penal, as golfers only got up and down 53% of the time. Once on the greens, however, it gets easier, which is no surprise given it is a municipal course.
Houston Open Classic Championship Player Preview
A week after the strongest field of the fall, this week it turns weak. Tony Finau joins Koepka as the only golfers ranked in the top 13 in the world. Sam Burns is rising up the rankings, as he had a fantastic three months of golf that included two wins. Sungjae Im will also be looking for his second win of the fall. Joaquin Niemann, Matthew Wolff and Scottie Scheffler are coming in hot off a good week in Mexico, while Tyrrell Hatton, Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed round out the big names playing.
Houston Open Statistical Review from 2020
After a couple of weeks with events outside of the United States and no shot tracker was available, it returns this week. There is also one year of data to look at for the Memorial Club. The following are the averages for the top 10 last year:
- Strokes Gained Putting: 1.139
- Strokes Gained Around the Green: 0.5
- Strokes Gained on the Approach: 0.8
- Strokes Gained off the Tee: 0.41
- Average DraftKings Points of Golfers that Made the Cut: 65
- Average DraftKings Salary: $8, 790
With so many missed greens, short game became vital last year. Of golfers that finished in the top 10, only Burns was not able to gain over 3.2 strokes with the putter last year, and he was the only one that lost strokes with short game.
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