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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. Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. Writer’s bio: “I’m a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is reidtfowler) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.â€�

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Notes and observations from Sunday’s final round of the BMW Championship, where Australian Marc Leishman shot 67 to salt away his third PGA TOUR victory at age 33. Justin Rose shot 65 and briefly pressured the winner before finishing tied for second with Rickie Fowler (67), five shots back, and Jason Day (69) was fourth alone. For more coverage from Conway Farms Golf Club, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. LEISHMAN GOES WIRE-TO-WIRE Leishman’s 194 (-19) through three rounds was the second-lowest opening 54 holes this season, but a five-shot lead is not insurmountable. Three weeks earlier, at THE NORTHERN TRUST, Jordan Spieth had built a five-shot lead Sunday only to lose to Dustin Johnson in a playoff. Indeed, there were some tense moments at the BMW, but no one got closer to two shots, and Leishman birdied three of his final four holes to finish with the same big lead he started with. Around the TOUR, Leishman is known as a “good blokeâ€� who is understated, underrated, and as down-to-earth as they come. After his third-round 68, Leishman spoke about working the graveyard shift in a factory back in Australia. He was 18 or 19, needed money for tournament entry fees, and used a laser cutter to shape sheets of metal. After going from work to the golf course, he was so tired he once slept 18 straight hours. He lasted only a week or two on the job. Leishman and his wife Audrey, who nearly died of sepsis in 2015, spearheaded National Sepsis Month to spread awareness about a disease that is estimated to kill 250,000 people in the U.S. each year. Their Begin Again Foundation, which helps families that have been affected by sepsis and toxic shock syndrome, has impacted some 700 families in the last year and a half. In July, Audrey gave birth to the couple’s third child, Eva, whom they call their “miracle baby.â€� On a lighter note, Leishman has beer and pizza sent to NBC cameraman Murrill Boney on Saturday night. It was Boney who unwittingly became part of a video clip that went viral when he raised his leg to allow Leishman’s shanked chip shot to go between his legs at the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston two weeks ago. “If that ball hits him, it goes back in the hazard,â€� Leishman said. “He saved me a lot of money.â€� Leishman’s playing partner Fowler opened with two straight birdies, but stalled with 10 straight pars. Day mounted a charge with three straight birdies to get within four, but drowned his tee shot at the watery par-3 11th. Then came Rose, who cut it to two before Leishman, who settled down after some loose shots on the front nine, responded with birdies at 15, 16 and 18. The winner moved from seventh to fourth in the FedExCup standings. GOOD SIGNS FOR INTERNATIONALS Louis Oosthuizen did not win or even come close, but he was feeling chipper about his finish nonetheless. He considered withdrawing from the tournament as he suffered from flu-like symptoms during rounds of 77-74 Thursday and Friday. After waking up Saturday feeling fine, Oosthuizen shot 66-67 on the weekend to get back to even par. That would get him a handful of FedExCup points, and Oosthuizen was told by a TOUR official that he would likely bounce in and out of the top 30 all afternoon. With his fate hanging in the balance, he flew home to West Palm Beach, Florida, only to later learn he finished 31st and would not qualify for East Lake and the season-ending TOUR Championship. “Played well on the weekend,â€� Oosthuizen said. “Could’ve had loads more birdies today and yesterday, but I’m pleased, in general. I didn’t have much momentum going into Saturday, had a lot to do. I thought if I could get to 2-under I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else. “I don’t know if I was coming down with the flu or something. I felt horrible. I had no energy, wasn’t hitting it anywhere, was struggling everywhere. I was thinking about not playing Friday.â€� It turned out to be good that he did, if only to give him some positive momentum going into one of the most important tournaments all year. Oosthuizen’s more Louis-like form on the weekend provided reason for optimism for the International team as it prepares to take on the U.S. at the Presidents Cup at Liberty National, Sept. 28-Oct. 1. This, as pundits were already taking note of a surging Leishman and a suddenly revitalized Day. What’s more, captain’s pick Anirban Lahiri of India, who needed a miracle to make the TOUR Championship, actually came close with weekend scores of 68-66 to tie for ninth at the BMW. “Anyone having good form going into next week and Presidents Cup for our side is going to be great,â€� Oosthuizen said. “Leish has been playing well for a while, and it’s great seeing Jason’s name up there. If he can get going, he can be the best asset on the team to have.â€� CALL OF THE DAY SPIETH PLEASED WITH FINISH Jordan Spieth came into the BMW on the strength of back-to-back runner-up finishes, so his no-bogey 65 and T7 finish Sunday was bittersweet. On the one hand, Spieth may have played his best golf of the week, and he’ll go into next week’s TOUR Championship at No. 1 in the FedExCup Playoffs. But on the other hand, Spieth never seriously contended after following up a first-round 65 with middle rounds of 70-71. “Absolutely,â€� Spieth said, when asked whether he believes in the value of momentum from one week to the next. “I shot two bogey-free, 6-under rounds. I know the way I’ve been playing in the last few months, I know that that golf is still there, it’s just a matter of going out and executing and these rounds in between.â€� Jon Rahm (67, T5) did the best of the top five in the FedExCup, for whom it was a relatively flat week. All five maintained their positions with the exception of Hideki Matsuyama, who went from fourth to seventh after a final-round 69 and a T47 finish. Leishman took over in fourth. “I felt like today was a slight improvement on yesterday and I made a few more putts,â€� said Spieth, who started with two birdies in his first three holes. “Really good start. It was a round that could have been extra special.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Phil Mickelson waited for some 20 minutes while playing partner Sergio Garcia got a ruling on the 18th hole. Asked for his thoughts during the delay, Mickelson said: “I was thinking this is what my playing partners go through most of the time.â€� Was it hard to wait? “No,â€� Mickelson said after making birdie for a 70 (T20). “I needed that extra 38 minutes to read that putt.â€� … Playing by himself in the 7:30 a.m. tee time Sunday, Wes Bryan shot a final-round 69 in just an hour and 29 minutes. He finished 69th in the 70-man field (Danny Lee withdrew with a back injury) and will finish his season 41st in the FedExCup standings. … Rory McIlroy will become the eighth defending FedExCup champion to not make it back to East Lake and the TOUR Championship the following year. McIlroy, who went winless this season, began the week at 51st in the FedExCup and needed to at least contend at Conway Farms, but shot a final-round 71 to finish T58. He ends his season at 58th in the FedExCup. … Kevin Na shot the low round of the day, an 8-under 63, but it was too little, too late. Brooks Koepka later matched him with his own 63, shooting up the leaderboard to finish T12. SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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