2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open: PGA Tour Betting Odds

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler enters with back-to-back Tour wins and is the +300 favourite on the golf odds.

The Houston Open was played the week before the Masters from 2007-2018 (except for 2013 when it was two weeks prior) and was the last chance for competitors to get into the field at Augusta National via victory in Houston. The event was moved to the fall in 2019 but is back to the spring this year after no event in 2023 with record crowds expected as it will be the final time most guys play before the Masters. This is the final week prior to the world Top 50 cutoff to qualify for Augusta.

Memorial Park Golf Course has been hosting since 2020 and is a par 70 at 7,435 yards. It’s a long track with four par 5s of at least 575 yards, five par-4s of at least 490 yards and two par 3s each at least 215 yards.

The course and tournament 72-hole record was shot in 2022 by American winner Tony Finau, who finished at 16-under 264 and four up on second-place Tyson Alexander. Finau took control with a 62 in the second round ahead of a big change in weather (again, this was played in November then) and was excellent in his bogey-free round of 68 in Saturday’s cold and wind. Finau led by as many as eight on Sunday. The last repeat winner here was Vijay Singh in 2005. He and Curtis Strange are the only players to also win the Houston Open three times.

Peter Malnati was the surprise winner Sunday at the Valspar Championship in Florida, his first PGA Tour win in 3,058 days. Malnati got into the Masters with that victory but will tee it up this week and is +12500. Malnati was +35000 to win the Valspar, the eighth winner with at least +10000 odds to win on the PGA Tour this season and the second-longest odds to win on Tour in the last five seasons.

Sam Bennett (+25000), the 2022 U.S. Amateur champion, will make his 2024 Tour debut. The Texas A&M alum has played five events on the Korn Ferry Tour this season with three Top 25s. Padraig Harrington won the Hoag Classic on the Champions Tour on Sunday by a shot and is also +25000 this week.

Texas Children’s Houston Open Golf Odds

That world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is such a low-priced favourite at +300 tells you how dominant he has been of late with wins in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship in his past two starts. Those opening odds are the shortest for a pre-tournament favourite since last year’s Mexico Open at Vidanta when Jon Rahm opened at +240 before finishing runner-up to Tony Finau.

It’s hard to see Scheffler not favoured in every event all year and he’s the only multiple-time winner on Tour in 2024. His best result at this tournament was a co-runner-up to Jason Kokrak in 2021. Scheffler was ninth in 2022.

Wyndham Clark is +1400 with Will Zalatoris at +1800 and defending champion Tony Finau at +2000. Clark nearly forced a playoff with Scheffler at the Players Championship but his birdie putt lipped out on the final hole. Clark has a win on Tour this year and a best finish of 16th here. Zalatoris is playing the tournament for the first time. His season has been a mixed bag off injury. Finau had missed the cut here in 2021 before his win in 2022. He comes off a missed cut at the Valspar.

No Canadian has won this tournament, which dates to 1946. Mackenzie Hughes is +5000 this week with Adam Svensson +8000, Ben Silverman +15000, Taylor Pendrith +15000 and Roger Sloan +40000. Hughes is off a third-place finish at the Valspar on Sunday and has a best result here of seventh.

Texas Children’s Houston Open Golf Predictions

Have to take Scottie Scheffler for a Top 10, but the winner is Joel Dahmen at +6600 as he has been Top 10 in the Houston Open its past two stagings.