The top two players in the world are in the field for this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, which tees off Thursday at Memorial Park Golf Course.
It also represents the final opportunity for players to earn automatic spots into next month’s Masters through the Official World Golf Ranking, so there is plenty on the line in Texas this week.
Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.
TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOUSTON OPEN
Location: Memorial Park Golf Course (Par 70, 7,475 Yards)
Purse: $9.5M (Winner: $1.71M)
Defending Champion: Stephan Jaeger
FedExCup leader: Rory McIlroy
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ET
X: @TCHouOpen
PROP PICKS
–Tony Finau to Beat J.J. Spaun (-110 at DraftKings): Spaun has a pair of runner-ups over his past three starts — including at The Players — as he has risen to 27th in the world rankings. Meanwhile, Finau is coming off a MC and a T36 in his past two starts. But the 2022 champ in Houston has a strong track record at Memorial Park, where he and Scheffler are the only players with multiple top-5 finishes.
–Jason Day Top 30 Finish (+110 at BetRivers): As a standard full-field event, the field isn’t chock-full of marquee names beyond Scheffler and McIlroy. Day posted a T8 at Bay Hill before withdrawing from The Players due to illness. He did finish T50 at The Genesis, but that was against a much deeper field.
–Stephan Jaeger Top German (+110 at DraftKings): Jaeger obviously feels comfortable at Memorial Park, and he has hung around the first page of the leaderboard multiple times this year already. Matthias Schmid (+280) can’t be discounted after a T6 in Puerto Rico and a T28 last week, but he also has five missed cuts in nine starts this year. The other two in this prop are Jeremy Paul (+330) and Thomas Rosenmueller (+650). Paul finished T22 at the Valspar, where Rosenmueller missed his fourth cut in his past six events.
2025 Prop Pick Record: 12-18-1
BEST BETS
–Scottie Scheffler (+350 at DraftKings) finished one shot off the pace here last year and is seeking his first victory of 2025. He leads the field with 13 percent of all money wagered backing Scheffler to snap his “drought” this week.
–Rory McIlroy (+650) has already won twice in 2025 but is making his debut at Memorial Park. The Northern Irishman claiming a top-5 finish this week has been the most popular top-5 play at the book.
–Tony Finau (+3000) won the event in 2022 and tied for second last year.
–Min Woo Lee (+3500) has been a popular longshot, drawing 7 percent of the total money — equaling McIlroy’s support from the public. Lee is coming off a T20 at The Players, where he was firmly in the mix until a 78 on Saturday.
–Stephan Jaeger (+4500) has already won at Memorial Park and has a T6 in Mexico and a T20 at The Players among his past four starts.
–Alex Smalley (+5500) has yet to win on tour but has been knocking on the door with six T21 or better finishes in his past eight starts. The other two were MCs.
NOTES
–Memorial Park will play host to the event for the fifth consecutive year.
–The field includes 20 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. The top 50 players in the OWGR after this week who are not otherwise exempt will earn spots into next month’s Masters. In the field this week are No. 52 Michael Kim, No. 53 Ben Griffin, No. 61 Eric Cole and No. 66 Si Woo Kim.
–Houston native Matthew Riedel will make his event debut as a PGA Tour rookie. It’s his seventh start since earning his card with a T4 at last year’s Q-School, with his best finish to date a T26 in Puerto Rico.
–Field Level Media
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