Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- Houston Open

OVERVIEW
Even though many compare this course’s traits to that of Augusta, success at one or the other doesn’t necessarily translate as only two winners of the SHO have placed in the Top 15 the following week – Anthony Kim (destroyer of hearts) and Hunter Mahan (insert your own pun here). Last year the course played average relative to par on Thursday, then things got dicey as the winds kicked up on Friday and Saturday and Russell was able to take advantage of optimal conditions on Sunday. Typically, this course plays at an average difficulty relative to par, so that’s how I’m approaching my analysis this week, and will lean harder on guys that typically play well when things get tough. It should be a good week to take advantage of pricing discrepancies as people may have developed some bad habits last week with the relatively soft pricing and will do so again next week with the Charmin soft Masters pricing. Taking a stance on some of the top tier players this week will prove to be the difference maker as we’ve seen value plays win this event the last four years, which may have something to do with the focus being on next week.

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND

o The Course
• Golf Course of Houston
• Par 72
• 7,400 yards
• Bermuda (heavily over seeded with Bentgrass & ryegrass – plays more like Bentgrass than Bermuda)
o Location: Humble, TX
o Past Champions:
• 2017: Russell Henley -20 over Sung Kang
• 2016: Jim Herman -15 over Henrik Stenson
• 2015: JB Holmes -16 over Jordan Spieth & Johnson Wagner
• 2014: Matt Jones -15 over Matt Kuchar in a playoff
• 2013: DA Points -16 over Billy Horschel & Henrik Stenson

KEY STATS TO TARGET

o Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, SG: T2G, Birdie or Better %, Scrambling
o Important – GIR, P4 Scoring 450-500y, SG: P, P4 Scoring 350-400y, APP 200+

Sign up for an FGI account today to see the rest of this post.