Texas Children’s Houston Open Power Rankings: The 10 Best Golfers at Memorial Park

Our two-week streak of winners ended with a thud as long shot Peter Malnati took home the title. I could have ranked 100 golfers, and he would not have appeared on my list. But hey, kudos to Mr. Bucket Hat as he won his first event in his eight-year career.

This week, the Tour moves from Florida to Texas for what used to be the Texas Swing years ago. These days, the Texas evens are split before and after The Masters. The (Texas Children’s) Houston Open has been around forever but only four years at Memorial Park.

I think most of the money will be on the top-six favorites (Scheffler +275, Clark +1200, Zalatoris +1800, Theegala +2000, Finau +2200, Day +2500), but I would not be at all surprised if another longshot wins this week.

Betsperts golf analyst Ron Klos points out that Memorial Park is the sixth least predictive annual course on Tour, so we have our work cut out.

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The Texas Children’s Houston Open Power Rankings

1. Scottie Scheffler +275

Look at those odds. There is not much money to be made there, but how can you leave World #1 off your power list? You can’t, so here he is. There are no weaknesses in his game at the moment, he’s won his last two starts, and he has a nice track record at Memorial with a T-9 last year and a T-2 in 2022.

2. Wyndham Clark +1200

In Clark’s last two starts, he finished second both times to Scottie Scheffler. Maybe he finally gets the best of him this week. Clark has course experience at Memorial finishing T-16 here last year to go along with a missed cut in 2021.

3. Will Zalatoris +1800

Willie Z is now a Texas native living in Dallas. He’s had a couple of recent close calls having finished T-4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (API) and T-2 at The Genesis.

His hot streak ended at The Players when he surprisingly missed the cut after coming in as one of the favorites. Zalatoris ranks Top 25 in five statistical categories including sixth in strokes gained approaching the green. The negative is that he has no course history at Memorial.

4. Sahith Theegala +2000

Theegala is certainly on form. He has three Top 10s in his last four starts including an impressive T-9 at The Players. He has a T-22 here last year and a T-61 in 2022.  He currently ranks fourth in total strokes gained and seventh in strokes gained putting. It’s only a matter of time before he wins.

I think it will be this week.

5. Jason Day +2500

Be forewarned.  Every time Day appears on the Power Rankings, he has not won. But it’s hard to ignore his play at Memorial with a T-16 last year and a T-7 in 2021.

Day has three Top 10s this year with a season-best sixth at Pebble Beach. His putting has come around this year as he ranks in the Top 10 in five putting categories including sixth in overall putting average and putts per round.

6. Keith Mitchell +4000

Mitchell was last week’s 54-hole leader before fading badly with a final round 77 to finish T-17. He’s also come close at both The Cognizant and The Amex with T-9 finishes. He also has two additional Top 20 finishes.

Mitchell finished a solid T-9 here last year. One of the Tour’s more accurate players, he ranks ninth in strokes gained off the tee, ninth in strokes gained approaching the green, sixth in total driving, and sixth in GIR. I’ll gladly take those 40:1 odds.

7. MacKenzie Hughes +5000

The Canadian had the lead on the back nine last week before back-to-back bogeys killed his chances. He ended up four strokes back in a tie for third. He finished a respectable T-26 at The Players which included an impressive -7 for the weekend.

He owns a T-7 and a T-16 at Memorial, and he ranks eighth on the Tour in putts per round.

8. Aaron Rai +5000

Although he missed the cut last week, Rai has a few things going his way. Prior to the missed cut he had a nice streak of T-19, T-23, and T-35.

As far as course history, Rai finished T-7 last year and T-19 in 2022. And how about this.  He ranks first on Tour in driving accuracy and eight in GIR. I think he’s worth a stab at 50:1.

9. Beau Hossler +5000

I’m ranking Longhorn Hossler over Longhorn Ghim because Hoss has a T-13 at Memorial and Ghim has not played the course. Ghim has played better recently but Hossler had a good start to the season with two Top 15s including a T-6 at the Farmers.

He has missed his last two cuts, but he’s heading to his home state which I think will bode well for him. He has some favorable stats starting with strokes gained off the tee at 35th and ranks 38th in GIR and 16th in strokes gained putting. I think he will show up on the leaderboard.

10. Ryan Moore +10000

I’m throwing in a longshot. The long-forgotten Moore is on the upswing and seems to be getting it back together after a T-45 at The Players and a T-5 last week.

He has not played Memorial which I’m not fond of, but he’s got some good stats including fourth in strokes gained approaching the green and second in driving accuracy. If he has a good putting week, perhaps he can pull the upset.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.