After Hurricane Harvey, golf world lending a hand to Houston

CureSearch for Children's Cancer is the annual QBE Shootout's primary charitable beneficiary. Since 1989, the QBE Shootout has raised more than $14 million for CureSearch and other charitable causes. The national non-profit foundation accelerates the search for cures for children's cancer by driving innovation, transcending research barriers and solving the field's most challenging problems. This year, the 2020 QBE Shootout's chosen Honored Fighter from CureSearch is Peyton Armstrong. Peyton had been diagnosed with high-risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at only 10 years old. At an early age, Peyton had undergone multiple harsh treatments, misdiagnoses and unexpected surgeries on his long road to recovery. Now, at 20 years old, Peyton is in remission and is celebrated as one of cancer's toughest survivors. Cancer, to say the least, was no easy obstacle for Peyton to overcome, along with the many others that have a similar story. Peyton's mother, Jess, wanted to ensure her son was safe in any environment he was in while going through his recovery from cancer. That's why the family created "Peyton's Potion" - a safe, effective, uplifting and sustainable multipurpose cleaner. The "potion" helps to mitigate the smells of treatments that might otherwise make patients, such as Peyton, nauseous and helps to ensure patients are not susceptible to other bacteria in rooms. Peyton and his family now run the business together, hoping to help other patients feel just as safe as he did while undergoing treatments and surgeries. As the chosen Honored Fighter, the participant is typically brought on-site to the tournament for a VIP experience, similar to 2018's Honored Fighter, Joseph Campione. Due to the pandemic, Peyton was a virtual Honored Fighter for this year, sharing his experiences through calls and recorded videos. Graciously, the tournament has given Peyton the opportunity to come on-site next year to the 2021 QBE Shootout to have the full experience. Although some of his opportunities as an Honored Fighter will be delayed until then, Peyton had the chance to FaceTime two PGA TOUR players, Tony Finau and Cameron Champ. Both Finau and Champ, after their practice round at the QBE Shootout, took the time to reach out to Peyton and chat both about Peyton's Potion and him being the 2020 Honored Fighter. "We look forward to seeing you out on-site next year at the 2021 QBE Shootout," said Finau and Champ. "It was so fun getting to talk to Finau and Champ," said Peyton. "They were really nice guys who I look up to. I hope I get to meet them in person one day." Peyton is now a sophomore at Utah Valley University and is studying Mechanical Engineering while helping to run the family business, Peyton's Potion. More about Peyton and Peyton's Potion Peyton's Potion is a vehicle for Peyton to use his experience overcoming childhood cancer to help other children going through the same thing. Peyton is a mentor to other children with cancer, speaking at schools and community events, sharing his story and raising awareness. His determination and strength are an inspiration to other children overcoming childhood cancer and to all of us as we are presented with challenges in our lives. Read more at https://peytonspotion.com/ More about CureSearch Mission: End childhood cancer by driving targeted and innovative research with measurable results in an accelerated time frame. CureSearch for Children's Cancer is a 501(c)3 U.S.-based non-profit foundation that accelerates the search for cures for children's cancer by driving innovation, overcoming research barriers and solving the field's most challenging problems. We fight every day to make new, better treatments possible for the 43 children diagnosed with cancer each day. Read more at https://curesearch.org/About-Us

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The Houston Open is back after an 18-month hiatus – and don’t be surprised if Sunday’s final round is a tight finish. Since 2009, eight of the last 10 winners have either been decided in a playoff or by just one stroke, including the most recent winner, Ian Poulter, who beat Beau Hossler in a playoff in 2018. Russell Henley, Cameron Champ and Henrik Stenson are in the field, and Stenson is making his PGA TOUR debut at a tournament he’s played well at in the past. The Golf Club of Houston – the host course for the last time before the tournament moves to Memorial Park — is a par 72, measures a long 7,441 yards and will offer Bermuda greens this week as opposed to overseeded rye in the spring. The Houston Open played as the 10th easiest course in scoring relative to par last season but played as the 24th most difficult course the year before. What changed? The wind. The weekend rounds recorded extremely winding conditions and scores averaged 73.4 on Saturday and a few strokes better on Sunday at 70.2. Playing in Texas always means potentially playing in the wind; since 2015, the Houston Open has had 25% of their rounds played with significant windy conditions. Other than Vijay Singh, who has won this tournament three times dating back to the early 2000s, Australian golfers have done extremely well, winning this tournament five times since 1999. Check the weather report for wind conditions as this is an important piece of information we can leverage when building lineups. Other than playing the weather conditions, golfers will need to again be strong with their approach. In 2018, the top-5 gained an average just under three strokes with their irons (2.92). A lot of those iron shots were hit from 200-plus yards out, once again being the approach distance with the highest shot distribution. This is the first time we’ll experience the course in its new scheduling slot and we don’t know how it will play differently, but the strokes gained category to correlate the highest here is Strokes Gained: Putting. Winners here have gained 34% more strokes on the greens than off-the-tee. Putting has the highest variance day-to-day making it difficult to predict but should still be important on these Bermuda greens this week. Other key statistics will be par-5 scoring average and birdie or better percentage on this Rees Jones course design. TOP VALUES SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER ($9,900) He’s been my favorite play even though he shot 7 over last weekend in Las Vegas, which has been Scheffler’s Achilles heel of recent. His scoring average in the opening two rounds this season is 65.8, while his weekend scores increase to an average of 71.75. Scheffler, who grew up and played his college golf (University of Texas), also ranks first in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green over his last two tournaments. HARRIS ENGLISH ($8,900) English is hitting the ball fantastic and playing impeccable golf, gaining an average of three strokes tee-to-green over his last five tournaments. English ranks 15th in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, first in par-4 scoring average, and first in birdie or better percentage over his last six tournaments. English is also a great putter, ranking eighth in Strokes Gained: Putting on Bermuda greens over his last 50 rounds. If he’s able to hit these fairways with regularity this week, he should be in contention. SHAWN STEFANI ($6,800) Stefani played decently in his first start of the season with a top-30 a couple weeks ago and should have another solid performance this week heading back to his home state of Texas, where he also played his college golf. It’s not only his home ties, which make him a potential play this week, he also ranks 21st in birdie or better percentage, eighth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and inside the top-50 in Strokes Gained: Putting on Bermuda greens over his last 50 rounds. CAMERON DAVIS ($7,000) Davis is a cheaper option who has upside with his ability to score ranking sixth in birdie or better percentage over his last three tournaments. He’s been struggling with his driving accuracy of recent, but these wide Bermuda fairways should help Davis find the short grass even though he ranks 192nd in hit fairway percentage this season. He’s also struggled on Bermuda greens last season ranking 147th but gained 4.5 strokes putting over his last two tournaments on Bermuda. His experience growing up and playing in Australia should give him an advantage over the field this week hopefully mitigating his inconsistency over his short career. 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