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Horse Racing Texas Children's Houston Open Tips - 61.00 Expert Pick For This Weekend’s Action
Memorial Park Golf Course is the host venue for the Texas Children’s Houston Open. Our betting expert Duncan Campbell has prepared his Texas Children’s Houston Open tips for the 2024 edition of this tournament. Our Texas Children’s Houston Open tip is for K.H. Lee to win each way at odds of 60/1.
- Selection: K.H. Lee EW (1/5 1-8)
- Best Odds: 61.00 (bet365)
- Stakes: 1/10
Odds via bet365 as at 22.55 March 25th 2024. Odds may now differ.
How To Win at the Texas Children’s Houston Open
Thursday, 28th March, 11:30 (UK)
Last week’s Valspar Championship marked the end of the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing and the Tour now moves to Texas for a run of two events in the lead up to The Masters. This year marks the fourth year in a row that Memorial Park hosts the Houston Open but the event has a long running history dating back to 1946.
The last three events played at Memorial Park were played towards the end of the calendar year but this year sees a return to a more familiar slot, having been the warm up event for The Masters for a number of years. The course is likely to play slightly softer as a result of the scheduling change and it would be prudent to pay attention to what the players say about conditions when interviewed before the start of the event.
We do know that Memorial Park remains a par 70 with five par three holes and only three par fives. John Bredemus was the original course architect but Tom Doak oversaw a renovation in 2019 that had input from Brooks Koepka. The result is a course that has quite significant undulations in and around the greens.
As you would expect from a course with difficult green complexes, accurate approach shots have been the key to success at Memorial Park over the past three years. All three of the course winners ranked inside the top 15 for SG: Approach for the week they triumphed and I’m looking for strong iron players with my Houston Open tips.
The weather forecast suggests that all four days will be sunny. Scoring is likely to be best on day one, with the wind forecast to blow up to 10mph. The wind will pick up over the final three rounds, reaching 17mph on Sunday. At the time of writing, those players playing late on Thursday and early on Friday may have the best of conditions.
Who Can Stop Scheffler?
Scottie Scheffler returns to action looking to make it three wins in his last three starts and give himself the best possible preparation for a tilt at The Masters in a fortnight’s time. The world number one defended his Players Championship title two weeks ago, despite a neck injury that nearly caused him to withdraw in round two. Inconsistency on the greens appears to have disappeared as a result of a switch to a mallet putter and he looks a very fair price at 3.75 to win this week in his home state.
Perhaps the one glimmer of hope for the field could be the neck injury that seemed to be troubling Scheffler at Sawgrass. A week off may well have cured the problem but bettors should be mindful that The Masters is looming large and a flare up of the injury will likely result in Scheffler opting to withdraw rather than risk aggravating it.
Value in Siding with Lee
If someone is to challenge Scheffler it may well be a player who has won twice previously in the state of Texas and has shown he’s capable of beating some of the best in the world to do so. World number 89 Kyoung-Hoon Lee is a player who doesn’t always demonstrate the most consistent of results but tends to make good weeks count, a fact demonstrated by two wins at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Scottie Scheffler, along with several other top class players, played in each of those events, so Lee does have previous history of beating the world’s best when he’s on his game.
Two top ten finishes in his last three starts suggest his game may well be rounding towards a big week in a state he loves. His driving statistics have improved in each of the past four events and his approach stats were also promising for three of four rounds last week.
The negative attributable to Lee is that he has only played this event once and that resulted in a missed cut in 2020. However, that missed cut came in the midst of a poor run of form and course form hasn’t proven to be a crucial factor in the three events played at Memorial Park to date.
Each Way Play on 365
Lee can be backed at 61.00 with eight each way places with bet365 and he is my favourite Houston Open tip this week. However, given the aforementioned threat of Scottie Scheffler running away with this event, it is also worth noting that Lee can be backed at 61.00 with bet365 in the ‘Without Scheffler’ market for five each way places.
Looking for a spot of value outside of the outright markets, there are a couple of prices offered which make appeal. A traditional golf course setup generally has only four par three holes so the fact Memorial Park has five draws me towards the hole in one market. Unsurprisingly, given the extra attempt at a hole in one the course offers, there has been a hole in one at each of the last three events played at the course. You can back that trend to continue with bet365 at odds of 1.67.
At a slightly bigger price of 1.83, I think Will Zalatoris should get the better of Tony Finau in a 72 hole tournament match up. Although Finau is a past winner at this venue, he appears to be badly out of sorts at present and Zalatoris should have too much for him given the form he has shown in recent weeks.
- Selection: K.H. Lee EW (1/5 1-8)
- Best Odds: 61.00 (bet365)
- Stakes: 1/10
Odds via bet365 as at 22.55 March 25th 2024. Odds may now differ.
