2021 Houston Open picks, subject grade, odds, golf predictions, finest bets at Memorial Park

Subsequent week’s RSM Traditional is the final PGA Tour occasion of the calendar yr (!), however this week’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open might be the extra intriguing of the ultimate two tournaments on the slate this fall. Its subject — crammed with names comparable to Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns — is robust, and Memorial Park Golf Course can check wills if it is enjoying quick and agency. If a number of of the 21 top-50 gamers on this subject get within the combine on the weekend and situations get just a little bit wild, this occasion may present an awesome begin to a pleasant closing kick for the Tour this fall.

Let’s take a better have a look at this week’s contest with odds supplied by way of Caesars Sportsbook.

Occasion data

Occasion: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open | Dates: Nov. 11-14
Location: Memorial Park Golf Course — Houston, Texas
Par: 70 | Purse: $7.5 million

Three issues to know

1. Brooks bounce? It is not been an exhilarating begin to the brand new season for Koepka, who helped course architect, Tom Doak, design this course. It is clear he likes his personal work, although, because the four-time main champ completed within the high 10 right here final yr every week earlier than the 2020 Masters after taking pictures 65-65 on the weekend. He does not carry a lot momentum on this time round — no high 25s in three begins this season — and his iron play has not been superb over his final 20 rounds (seventy fifth of all of the golfers on this subject). Nonetheless, troublesome checks appear to carry out the most effective in him, maybe much more so when he is the one which creates them.

“Tom clearly I believe did an awesome job with this place,” Koepka stated final yr. “From the second we sort of sat down … to sort of focus on some issues and what I believed can be good in a golf course, and he had his concepts and I had mine and mixed them and that is what you get. I believe it is a very robust golf course. You understand, with the tough being the best way it’s, you have to put the ball within the fairway after which it is a second-shot golf course. You actually should putt strike on the ball, with the ability to spin it, be good along with your lengthy irons, there’s fairly a number of lengthy holes. However on the identical time it makes it fairly enjoyable should you do miss the inexperienced as a result of you may have so many choices.”

2. Wolff run: One of many extra thrilling gamers on the earth, Matthew Wolff, is on a pleasant heater to begin the brand new season. It is nice to see, too, after the bumpy 2021 he endured. He completed T17 on the Sanderson Farms Championship earlier than notching top-five finishes at each the Shriners Hospitals for Kids Open and final week’s World Broad Know-how Championship. Final week was particularly spectacular as a result of Wolff needed to shelve driver extra usually than he would have preferred due to the best way the course was constructed. He can let it eat a bit extra at Memorial Park, and if it is rolling, he can let a suddenly-scorching strategy recreation take over as he goals for the second win of his profession.

3. Powerful scene: Memorial Park could not have performed terribly robust final time round, but it surely did create some separation on the high of the leaderboard, which is the signal of check for the most effective on the earth. Carlos Ortiz completed two forward of Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson however 4 forward of Talor Gooch and six forward of all however 5 gamers. Its protection is its greens (mostly on approach shots), but it surely’s solely a protection if they’re — as famous above — enjoying quick and agency or if the wind is whipping. We should always be capable of inform most of that early on, but when they’re something like final yr, it’s going to be week for the most effective ball-strikers as final yr’s high 10 included Burns, Matsuyama, Johnson in addition to Talor Gooch, Koepka and Tyrrell Hatton.

Need the sharpest DFS recommendation, picks and data-driven golf evaluation? Hear under and subscribe to The First Minimize Golf podcast the place we clarify what’s occurring on the course so you may win off of it.

Grading the sphere

Finau is the highest-ranked participant within the subject, and he is joined by different top-25 gamers together with Sungjae Im, Patrick Reed, Cam Smith, Tyrrell Hatton, Scheffler, Burns and Koepka. Exterior the highest 25 however within the subject are Joaquin Niemann, Max Homa, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry, Jason Day and Wolff. For a mid-November occasion that’s on simply its second run at a brand new (form of new) course, that is a reasonably robust exhibiting. Grade: B-

2021 Houston Open picks

Who will win the Houston Open, and which lengthy pictures will stun {the golfing} world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard and best bets, all from the mannequin that is nailed seven golf majors and is up virtually $10,000 because the restart.