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Golf Monthly

Sport

Mike Hall

6 Big Names Playing In The Texas Children’s Houston Open

Scottie Scheffler PGA Tour Rory McIlroy Tony Finau Texas Jason Day Wyndham Clark Nicolai Hojgaard Rickie Fowler Stephan Jaeger

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark.

After the Florida Swing phase of the PGA Tour season concludes with the Valspar Championship, the circuit heads to the Lone Star State for the first of two events with the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

The tournament is not one of the PGA Tour’s signature events, which can be relied upon to include many of the best players in the world. However, the 2025 edition has some eye-catching names, largely because of its proximity to the first Major of the year, The Masters, which comes just two weeks after the Memorial Park Golf Course contest.

The field is littered with players who have enjoyed considerable success in the game, including multiple PGA Tour winners, Major champions and current and former World No.1s. Here are six of the biggest names competing in the tournament.

Scottie Scheffler

Scheffler is a Texas native, so it was no surprise to find the world’s top-ranked player in the field for the tournament. He also played in the 2024 edition, where he nearly added to his Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship titles with another victory before eventually settling for T2 behind Stephan Jaeger.

Two weeks later, Scheffler claimed his second Masters title, and he continued to largely dominate the men’s game throughout the rest of the season.

It hasn’t been quite as successful so far in 2025 for the 28-year-old, although there have been periods where he has been in contention for victory without yet getting over the line. Could this be the week where everything clicks in time for the biggest months of the season?

Rory McIlroy

Unlike Scheffler, World No.2 Rory McIlroy has already achieved considerable success this year. The 35-year-old wrapped up his 27^th PGA Tour victory in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and that became 28 at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, where he beat J.J Spaun in a playoff, who also plays this week.

That bodes well for McIlroy just two weeks before he makes his latest attempt to add one of the few notable omissions from his resume – a maiden title in The Masters and the completion of his career Grand Slam.

It’s three years since McIlroy was last in serious contention at Augusta National, when a barnstorming final round helped him finish second behind Scheffler. However, if he can back up his recent form with another strong performance here, it will send a message that this could be the year he claims the Green Jacket.

Wyndham Clark

It’s over a year since Clark’s most recent PGA Tour win, which came in the 2024 Pebble Beach Pro-Am. However, he has come close several times since.

The 2023 US Open champion came into last year’s event off the back of successive runner-up finishes, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship. However, he had a more subdued time in Texas, finishing T31. It got even worse for him in his next appearance at The Masters, where he missed the cut despite saying “I like my chances” after an opening round of 73.

He’ll be hoping to ensure that, this year, he produces the kind of performance to take serious momentum into Augusta National as he looks for his second Major title.

Tony Finau

In 2022, the Houston Open was held in November, and on that occasion, Tony Finau claimed his third title of the year with a four-shot win over Tyson Alexander.

The 35-year-old has just one more PGA Tour since then, the 2023 Mexico Open, so he could be due another. Finau finished T2 in the Houston Open a year ago, so there’s every chance this will be the occasion for him to claim his seventh PGA Tour win.

So far this season, Finau has shown flashes of his best form, including T5 at the Genesis Invitational, but he has struggled for consistency, with three missed cuts. With his recent record in Texas, though, he will be expected to shine at Memorial Park Golf Club two weeks before he looks for his maiden Major title at The Masters.

Jason Day

Like Finau, former World No.1 Day hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2023, but there have been enough signs over the opening months of the year that he is not too far away from the form needed to claim his 14^th title.

Highlights of the Australian’s year so far include T3 at The American Express and T8 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he was firmly in contention before a wayward fairway shot found the water on the 16^th at Bay Hill resulting in a double bogey and effectively ending his challenge as Russell Henley took the title.

Day then withdrew from The Players Championship with illness, and he’ll be hoping to get back on track this week.

Rickie Fowler

A resurgence in form in 2023, culminating in his sixth PGA Tour title at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, saw Rickie Fowler firmly back in the world’s top 30. However, he found the going tougher throughout much of 2024 and the opening months of the 2025 season.

That means he is currently outside the world’s top 100, well beneath the threshold of 50^th, which he would need to achieve the week before The Masters to qualify for the Augusta National Major via his world ranking.

Another way to make it into the field would be to win a PGA Tour event, and with opportunities running out, he’ll be keen to recover his best form at Memorial Park, where he will be making his first appearance since a T43 at the 2018 tournament.

Other notable names in the field include defending champion Stephan Jaeger, Maverick McNealy, who narrowly missed out to Ludvig Aberg on the Genesis Invitational title, and 2023 Fortinet Championship winner Sahith Theegala.

Stephan Jaeger won the 2024 edition of the tournament (Image credit: Getty Images)

There are also appearances from Hojgaard twins Rasmus and Nicolai, the in form Michael Kim, WM Phoenix Open winner Thomas Detry and Min Woo Lee, who was the joint leader after two rounds of The Players Championship before finishing T20.

Below is the confirmed field for the Texas Children’s Houston Open.