Memorial Park provides a test at Vivint Houston Open

HOUSTON – Memorial Park underwent its most recent renovation with a tournament in mind. The course’s radical transformation, overseen by one of the top names in modern course architecture, was intended to end an absence from the PGA TOUR that had lasted more than half a century. RELATED: Leaderboard | Scottie Scheffler gets mad, sets course record in Houston | Adam Schenk incurs penalty after mistakenly touching ball A dramatic finishing stretch was one of the features Tom Doak built on the new-and-improved Memorial Park, which is in its second year hosting the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open, and Doak’s design delivered late Saturday afternoon. Birdie opportunities are rare on the par-70 course that measures more than 7,400 yards. Firm greens surrounded by dramatic swales make players hesitant to fire at flags. And even when an opportunity does arise, it doesn’t come without plenty of risk. That’s especially true on the course’s 16th and 17th holes. Doak studied under Pete Dye, and he borrowed the World Golf Hall of Famer’s trademark closing trio of holes when he built Memorial Park. That includes a reachable par-5 16th surrounded by water and a demanding closing hole. The penultimate hole veers slightly from Dye’s philosophy, as Doak built a drivable par-4 with a peninsula green. Dye usually built a trademark par-3 – sometimes with an island green – for his penultimate hole. It led to a leaderboard that seemed constantly in flux during the final moments of Saturday’s third round. When it was all over, Scottie Scheffler emerged as your 54-hole leader. Scheffler is at 7-under 203. Five players – Jhonattan Vegas, Matthew Wolff, Kramer Hickok, Martin Trainer and Kevin Tway – are a stroke behind, and three more players are just two back. “It’s a placer where you can score,” Scheffler said. “It’s just difficult to.” Scheffler, who parred the final three after birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, was the rare player who was unscathed by the final three holes. Tway birdied 16 before a bogey-bogey finish dropped him from the lead. He bogeyed 17 after driving past the green, then watching his chip roll across the putting surface and into the water. After reaching the 16th green in two with a 6-iron from 230 yards, Wolff couldn’t hit the next green with a sand wedge. He thought he was playing safe when he teed off with a pitching wedge on the short par-4, but still made double-bogey after his approach went into the water. “At the end of the day, I thought I would be holding the lead,” Wolff said, “especially with a sand wedge in on 17.” Vegas, who said the 16th has always made him uncomfortable, hit his second shot into the water for the second straight day, but rebounded with a 15-foot birdie putt on the next hole. Scheffler is seeking his first PGA TOUR win, the only thing the 25-year-old hasn’t accomplished during the impressive start to his pro career. He was the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and was the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year last year. He’s advanced to the TOUR Championship in each of his first two seasons and made his Ryder Cup debut this year, beating World No. 1 Jon Rahm in Singles. He set Memorial Park’s course record Friday, shooting 8-under 62. It was his fourth round of 62 or lower since the start of the 2020 season, the most on TOUR in that span. That includes a 59 in last year’s FedExCup Playoffs. In a testament to the high variance that Memorial Park seems to create, he is 1 over par on his other 36 holes this week. “I always prefer the harder courses because I feel like I can take it deep on them still and get myself back in the tournament, which I did this week,” said Scheffler, who was 3 over after his first three holes of the week and shot 72 in the opening round. “This golf course is pretty challenging, but it’s not a golf course where if you’re playing great golf, you can’t take advantage of it.” Sunday could be a low-scoring day. In Memorial Park’s debut last year, a variety of tees and hole locations were used to create the easiest day of the week. Three players shot the then-course record of 63 in the final round. It’s likely this Sunday will provide a similar scenario. A victory, especially in his home state, would be meaningful for Scheffler, but he’s not the only one with a lot to play for Sunday. Wolff may be the hottest player on TOUR, arriving at Memorial Park after a runner-up and fifth-place finish. His resurgence comes after this year’s well-publicized mental health break. He’s once again showing the potential he displayed earlier in his career when he won just weeks after turning pro, was runner-up in last year’s U.S. Open and rose as high as 12th in the world ranking. Vegas first moved to Houston from Venezuela when he was 17 years old. He arrived without his family, and with just his clubs and a bag of clothes. He knew just 10 words of English. He qualified for the Houston Open the next year, and remembers being awestruck as he walked past legends like Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson. He calls it one of the most important weeks of his career. Trainer has endured a difficult stretch since his surprise win at the 2019 Puerto Rico Open, having made just six of 54 cuts in the last three seasons. It’s been three years since Tway won his lone PGA TOUR title. Hickok is seeking his first win. Winning at Memorial Park won’t be easy, but it should be exciting.

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