Keegan Bradley and Austin Cook are our value bets for the upcoming Houston Open taking place in Houston Texas from 10 – 13 October, while our man to beat is 23 year old Scottie Scheffler. Read our full preview below.
US PGA Tour 2019/2020
Houston Open
Golf Club of Houston, Houston, Texas
10th-13th October
Now that was Vegas for you. Kevin Na’s pulsating victory over Patrick Cantlay in a playoff was one of the more exciting crescendos I have seen in recent times. It was far more intriguing than Jon Rahm’s runaway romp in Madrid. The tour moves to Texas this week for the Houston Open. This event dates all the way back to 1946 and undergoes a fairly substantial facelift this year. Between 2007 and 2018 this event was used as a final tune-up for the Masters. As such it always struggled to attract a stellar field. Having said that, this reshuffle to the wraparound season hasn’t resulted in a more captivating filed. If anything, many of the big names seem to be conserving themselves for the upcoming Asian swing.
This will actually be the last edition of this event staged at Golf Club of Houston for the foreseeable future: it’s slated for a move to Memorial Park next year. It will be interesting to see if they keep up the pre-Masters tradition of making the Bermuda greens super slick. The course was designed by Rees Jones in consultation with David Toms. In many ways this course is quite non-descript. The fairways are wide and rough tame. Water is in play on nine of the holes. It could boil down to a putting competition, though the final four holes have some challenging options from the tee. But you can fully expect a low scoring affair not too dissimilar from Vegas.
As I noted earlier, this week’s field has been eviscerated. Only Henrik Stenson is in participation of the world’s top 50 players. Sebastian Munoz has been in excellent form and really jumps off the page this week. Luke List and Pat Perez both made strong statements of intent last week in Vegas. Jhonattan Vegas is an enigmatic talent while Cameron Champ looks to consolidate an excellent start to the season. It’s hard to get overly excited about this week, though it should offer the skilful speculator with some excellent opportunities.
Past Winners
- 2018: Ian Poulter (-19)*playoff
- 2017: Russell Henley (-20)
- 2016: Jim Herman (-15)
- 2015: J.B Holmes (-16)*playoff
- 2014: Matt Jones (-15)*playoff
Betting Favourites (To Win): Henrik Stenson (9/1), Daniel Berger (22/1), Brian Harman (22/1), Cameron Champ (25/1), Pat Perez (25/1)
Value Bets
Keegan Bradley- To Win (40/1)
Keegan Bradley makes for a very appealing option this week. The 2011 US PGA Championship winner has been a regular on this tour since his rookie season in 2011. He has made all seven cuts, with two top five finishes and two further top 15 finishes. He has never shot higher than 70 in the opening round. His current stats also make for appealing reading. He ranks inside the top 25 for scoring average, birdie average and driving accuracy percentage. Bradley had some impressive finishes last season, including a runner-up spot at the Travellers Championship. The 2018 BMW Championship winner has proven pedigree and could make it a 4th PGA Tour victory this week.
Austin Cook- To Win (70/1)
It’s never easy to back a man with three consecutive missed cuts. However, this week’s field makes it far more compelling. The 28 year-old Cook is extremely talented and picked up that crucial victory at last year’s RSM Classic. Cook also has some significant course credentials dating back to 2015. He made it through Monday qualifying and actually only trailed by one shot going into Sunday. Cook is an extremely talented player who should be able to thrive this week.
The Man to Beat- Scottie Scheffler- To Win (30/1)
I think that this could be the week that 23 year-old Scottie Scheffler may make his breakthrough. A graduate of the Korn Ferry Tour, Scheffler finished the qualifying tour in fine fashion, finishing in the top 11 in his final three events. He seems to have carried that positive juju over, with a top 10 finish at the Greenbrier Classic followed by a top 20 finish at the Sanderson Farms. Yes, he finished way down the field last week in Vegas. But he still made the cut and should benefit from this extremely poor field.
