The first spherical of this yr’s Houston Open is in the books, and if leaderboards are any indication of the standard of an occasion — and they’re — then this match goes to be a terrific one over the following three days.
Former Ryder Cuppers Alex Noren and Tony Finau are tied on the high at 5 beneath together with doubtlessly future Ryder Cupper, Aaron Wise in addition to Tyson Alexander who solely accomplished 17 holes earlier than darkness. Between the three gamers on the high who accomplished their rounds, they made simply two mixed bogeys in 54 holes at a troublesome Memorial Park Golf Course, and there is a long way between them and the remainder of one of the best gamers in the sector.
Let’s take a better have a look at their first rounds and what to anticipate over the weekend in Houston.
The leaders
1. Tony Finau, Alex Noren, Aaron Wise, Tyson Alexander (-5): Gone are the low 60s scores of final week signifying a straightforward resort golf course that professionals can mild up. Memorial Park Golf Course is a Tom Doak redesign and has proved to be difficult over its first two PGA Tour occasions. This one seems to be to be a lot of the identical.
Wise has been taking part in terrific golf this fall and appears to have solved a few of his putter issues, which is also an issue for the remainder of the fields he performs in. It’s been en vogue to recommend him as a possible breakout star this yr, however there is a purpose for that — he is a terrific ball-striker — and it is trying at the very least now prefer it could possibly be true.
“I feel like I’m getting there,” mentioned Wise of the state of his recreation. “I’m pretty hard on myself, there’s always things I want to improve, but I feel like I’m well on my way. I feel like I’m in a way better spot than I was a year ago or two years ago. I just want to keep pushing and keep getting better and see how good I can get”
Finau has been one of many hottest gamers in golf over the past two months, and Noren has caught a little bit of that warmth as effectively — he completed second on the Barracuda Championship in July and T2 on the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship initially of October. Both are super ball-strikers and Noren led the sector in iron play on Thursday. I’d be shocked if one in all these three gamers did not find yourself successful the match.
Other contenders
T5. Zack Fischer, Ben Taylor, Keith Mitchell, Taylor Pendrith, Wyndham Clark, Mackenzie Hughes, Max McGreevy, David Lipsky (-4)
T13. Scott Piercy, Denny McCarthy, Brendan Steele, Maverick McNealy, Justin Rose, Marty Dou Zecheng, Joel Dahmen, Zack Fischer, Brent Grant, Trey Mullinax, Yechun Yuan, Ben Griffin (-3)
That’s a variety of names however not a variety of depth. Who’s one of the best participant in this group proper now? Mitchell? Dahmen? McNealy?
McNealy has most likely been taking part in one of the best golf of anybody in this assortment of gamers with 4 consecutive top-20 finishes after a missed minimize on the Fortinet Championship to start out his 2022-23 season. He drove it poorly on Thursday (solely two golfers hit fewer fairways) however his immense quick recreation saved a spherical collectively. If he will get it rolling off the tee, he may actually bounce up into rivalry on the weekend.
Dahmen, too, has been trending in the proper course. After a T37 on the Shriners, he completed T16 on the Zozo and T3 final week on the World Wide Technology Championship in Mayakoba. He was good throughout the board on Thursday, and it might give this match a little bit of a jolt to see one of many extra standard males in golf get his second profession victory.
Sam Burns’ struggles
As one of many two high 12 gamers in this area, a lot was anticipated of Burns. Unfortunately he shot a 77 on Thursday and has solely 4 golfers behind him on the leaderboard. Normally a powerful putter, Burns misplaced almost 5 (!!) strokes to the sector on the greens on Thursday and put himself in a nook that is going to be troublesome to get out of.
2022 Houston Open odds, picks
- Tony Finau: 4-1
- Aaron Wise: 5-1
- Alex Noren: 12-1
- Taylor Pendrith: 14-1
- Maverick McNealy: 14-1
- Scottie Scheffler: 18-1
Normally I prefer to look fairly far down the board to search out anyone with longer odds. However, I believe one of many co-leaders goes to finish up successful this match. I’d merely sprinkle on those three and hope that Noren hits however not be dissatisfied if it is one of many others.
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