Let’s get after another new course (since 1963 at least) hitter on the PGA TOUR this week as we head to Memorial Park Golf Course for the Vivint Houston Open. This course has been renovated recently by Tom Doak with the help of Brooks Koepka…weird right? It’s set up as a par 72 over 7400 yards with five par 5s and bermuda grass through and through. Green complexes are quick, slopey and larger than average. We’ve heard the fairways are wide, but if you find yourself in the rough, you’re going to have some trouble hitting the proper tier of these greens. There are only 19 bunkers on this golf course (thank you Mr. Koepka). Here are 10 stats that really point to form and course fit as we best we can predict.
1. Strokes gained tee to green from last years Houston Open: 1. Harrington 2. Armour 3. Straka 4. Cook 5. Griffin 6. Hubbard 7. Tringale 8. Zhang 9. Scheffler 10. Ryder
2. Historical GIR leaders are GC of Houston (min 8 rounds): 1.Scott 2. Henley 3. Stenson 4. Schwartzel 5. Garnett 6. Molinari 7. Westwood 8. McCarthy 9. Chappell 10. TringaleÂ
3. Strokes gained putting leaders last 50 rounds on Bermuda that also rank in the top 100 in ball striking: 1. McCarthy 2. Burns 3. Poston 4. Im 5. Day 6. Taylor 7. Lashley 8. Koepka 9. Harman 10. Ventura
4. If I make a custom model with courses that are 7400+ yards, bermuda greens, and extremely fast greens, your top 10 in total strokes gained are: 1. DJ 2. Phil 3. Molinari 4. Day 5. Stenson 6. Mitchell 7. Scott 8. Glover 9. Garcia 10. Chappell
5. If I make another model with JUST strokes gained ball striking on courses that are 7400+ yards, really fast greens, and par 72Â your top 10 are: 1. Scott 2. Stenson 3. DJ 4. Glover 5. Matsuyama 6. Molinari 7. Bradley 8. Hoffman 9. DeLaet 10. Garcia
6. Your top 10 in opps gained the last 12 rounds: 1. Laird 2. Grillo 3. Cook 4. Im 5. Vegas 6. Griffin 7. Zhang 8. Dufner 9. Henley 10. DJ
7. Strokes gained on the par 5’s will be the most important at GC of Houston this week, so your top 10 in strokes gained on the par 5’s are: 1. Finau 2. Clark 3. Hovland 4. DJ 5. Lowry 6. Straka 7. Davis 8. Burns 9. Schenk 10. List
8. Top 10 in GIR’s gained the last 12 rounds: 1. NeSmith 2. ZJ 3. Knox 4. Laird 5. Rodgers 6. Im 7. Hovland 8. Henley 9. DJ 10. Redman
9. The two highest approach shot distribution buckets this week are 150-175 & 200+, so your top 10 in proximity are: 1. HV3 2. Grillo 3. Redman 4. DeLaet 5. DJ 6. Finau 7. Long 8. Mickelson 9. Knox 10. Murray
10. Top 10 ‘values’ on DK compared to FanDuel pricing: 1.Hoffman 2. HV3 3. Zhang 4. Bradley 5. Wise 6. Burns 7. Gooch 8. Noren 9. ZJ 10. McNealy
