Scheffler, McIlroy or Koepka? Can Tiger’s body hold up? Here’s what to watch for at Valhalla

The first redesign by noted course architect Tom Doak for the PGATOUR is featured this week as Memorial Park in Houston assumes the role host of the Vivint Houston Open. The TOUR returns to its roots as this municipal track is back on the schedule for the first time since 1963. The inaugural event in Houston took place in 1946 and the first one at Memorial Park debuted the following year, running until 1963. The Houston Open sat as the preparatory exam for Augusta National, for most of the last 15 years and returns to that position on the schedule, albeit accidentally, this time around. Tom Doak and Brooks Koepka (player consultant) have positioned only 19 bunkers through 7,432 yards on this Par-72 (36-36). The focus this week will be on excitement and scoring chances rather than grinding out pars and surviving. With five Par-5 holes, five Par-3 holes and a pair of Par-4 holes that can possibly be driven, a full array of shots will be required, not to mention a bunch of birdies, to pick up the trophy this week. Think ZOZO but with a few hundred additional yards and Bermuda on the greens. We all remember who was on the podium that week (Cantlay, Rahm and Thomas). RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Sleeper Picks With a new test it’s always the ball-strikers who move to the forefront. With 28 acres of fairway, less than three inches of rough and only four holes with water, I would think scoring will be a major focus this week. Greens are large, averaging 7,000 square feet, and running slick with Mini-Verde Bermuda so hitting plenty of them will be the angle. The more GIR will give more scoring chances and it won’t hurt to have shorter clubs into those scoring holes. Lanto Griffin is the defending champion at the event and will lead the field of 132 as they look to get their hands on $1.26 million (winner) of the $7 million prize pool plus 500 FedExCup points. The winner won’t get into the Masters next week but will be eligible in 2021. Event Winners at Golf Club of Houston Recent Winners 2019: Lanto Griffin 2018: Ian Poulter (not entered) 2017: Russell Henley Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. Those listed in BOLD deserve deeper inspection if not already on your RADAR. Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green 2 Hideki Matsuyama 4 Sergio Garcia 8 Harold Varner III 9 Dustin Johnson 10 Scottie Scheffler 11 Tony Finau 13 Tyrrell Hatton 14 Russell Henley 16 Corey Conners 20 Viktor Hovland 21 Luke List 24 Emiliano Grillo 25 Cameron Tringale Par-5 Scoring 6 Wyndham Clark 6 Matt Jones 10 Hideki Matsuyama 10 Dustin Johnson 10 Kevin Streelman 10 Tyrrell Hatton 10 Ryan Palmer 10 James Hahn 18 Alex Noren 21 Cameron Davis 21 Sam Burns 21 Jhonattan Vegas 21 Sungjae Im 21 Scottie Scheffler Strokes-Gained: Putting 1 Denny McCarthy 3 Andrew Putnam 4 Kristoffer Ventura 8 Mackenzie Hughes 9 Maverick McNealy 11 Patrick Rodgers 14 JT Poston 16 Wyndham Clark 23 Troy Merritt 24 Beau Hossler 25 Patton Kizzire Top players at Bermuda Championship (entered this week) 1 Brian Gay P2 Wyndham Clark 3 Ollie Schniederjans 4 Matt Jones 4 Stewart Cink 4 Denny McCarthy 4 Doc Redman 8 Ryan Armour 8 David Hearn 14 Scott Piercy 16 Russell Knox 21 Maverick McNealy 21 Brice Garnett 21 Andrew Putnam 21 Sepp Straka 26 Paddy Harrington 26 Beau Hossler Top 25 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD (entered this week) 4 Russell Henley 4 Ryan Palmer 8 Corey Conners 11 Tony Finau 11 Dylan Frittelli 11 Lanto Griffin 17 Alex Noren 17 Scottie Scheffler 26 Brian Harman

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Scottie Scheffler had a magical 2021-22 PGA TOUR campaign, and through the first round of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, he’s re-kindled a little bit of Mexican magic from a year ago. Scheffler, who finished fourth at Mayakoba last season, opened this year’s edition with a bogey-free 65. He was tied for fifth when the morning wave finished Thursday at El Camaleón Golf Course. Will Gordon shot a 9-under 62 to take the early lead. “Solid golf. A clean card’s really nice,” said Scheffler, who made three birdies on both his front and back nine. The key part to Scheffler’s round, he said, was how he scrambled for par- after taking a drop he knocked his approach to just a few feet on the par-4 third – and how he followed that with a tee-ball on the par-3 fourth to gimmie range. “I felt like a lot of my birdies today I just hit it really close to the hole,” said Scheffler. “Like No. 4 was really close, No. 5 was a tap-in. No. 9 may have been the longest birdie putt I made today, and it was like seven feet. “I think when you’re hitting the ball well here, you’re going to get a ton of looks. I mean, the fairways are very narrow, but there’s a little bit of space. Really, you’ve just got to keep the ball in play. If you’re hitting fairways off the tee, the golf course will really open up for you. And you can get in some trouble in a hurry pretty much on any hole just because off the fairways is jungle.” Scheffler is grouped with Viktor Hovland, the two-time defending champion, for the first two rounds. Hovland, who shot a matching 6-under 65, went on a heater after making the turn – firing a 6-under 30 for his second nine holes. Scheffler said although “for the most part” he was trying to stay in his own zone, it was good to see Hovland score well. “It’s nice when you’re on the golf course and you can see other players hitting really good shots,” said Scheffler. “I think that’s good kind of momentum for the group, when somebody starts playing well, the other guys can kind of feed off of it sometimes.” With a win or solo second result this week Scheffler will return to No.1 in the Official World Golf Ranking after ceding it to Rory McIlroy two weeks ago, with McIlroy’s triumph at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina. But Scheffler’s still got 54 holes of golf left before he’s thinking about getting back to world number one. He’s relaxing this week after a long season that featured four wins and PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors. He took a Mexican cooking class Wednesday night with his wife Meredith, plus Max McGreevy and his fiancé – “I’ll get by,” he said about his cooking skills normally. “Last night was fun having them show us what to do.” – but came out alongside the two-time defending champion at Mayakoba to get himself firmly in the mix through 18 holes. Scheffler’s putting has been a question mark since his Masters triumph (he’s lost strokes on the greens in seven of his nine starts since then) but he said he had “solid” putts at THE CJ CUP, despite a T45 result, and more solid putts today – only needing 26. “Solid golf is fun. Stress-free,” said Scheffler. “If you can keep the ball in play, the golf course is gettable.” So, too, is the world number one ranking.

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