Break the cowboy boots out of the closet because the PGA Tour is back in the Lone Star State. Completing its Florida Swing with an exciting finish at the Valspar Championship, the tour heads to Texas where the Houston Open will kick off a two-week stretch ahead of the first major championship of the season.
Azaleas blossoming and birds chirping are on everyone’s minds, but not every player in this field has secured himself of a tee time at Augusta National. Fan favorite Rickie Fowler is on the outside looking in for the first major championship of the season despite a strong start to his year.
Fowler has made all six of his cuts in 2026 and rattled off four top-20 finishes, including a T9 effort at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to climb to No. 61 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He will need to find a way to sneak inside the top 50 by the end of the week or be forced to win the Texas Open next week to earn his invitation.
Pierceson Coody has an easier path, albeit one that requires a strong week as he starts the Houston Open at No. 51 in the OWGR. After a fast start to his season that included five top 20s in a six-tournament stretch, he has since cooled with missed cuts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship.
Road to the 2026 Masters: What to watch for as first major championship of the year at Augusta National looms
Patrick McDonald
While Fowler and Coody scratch and claw for their rights to play in the Masters, two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler was expected to return to action before withdrawing from the tournament on Tuesday. The PGA Tour announced it was due to “family reasons” as Golf Channel reported it is due to the anticipated birth of his second child.
While Scheffler could be out until the Masters in two weeks’ time, reigning champion Min Woo Lee looks to continue a run of sensational play. The Australian has notched top-15 finishes in three of his last four tournaments as a putter switch at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has proven to be a catalyst to his game.
He will look to go back-to-back at Memorial Park against a bevy of bombers that includes two-time winner this season Chris Gotterup, Jake Knapp, Sam Burns, a trending Brooks Koepka, Marco Penge, Nicolai Højgaard, Kurt Kitayama and Michael Thorbjornsen who returns to action following a run at the title at the Players Championship.
2026 Houston Open schedule
Dates: March 26-29
Location: Memorial Park Golf Course — Houston
Par: 70 | Yardage: 7,475 | Architect: John Bredemus
Purse: $9,900,000
2026 Houston Open field, odds
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
- Min Woo Lee (15-1)
- Chris Gotterup (20-1): If this tournament plays out in a similar manner to last year, Gotterup could easily pick up his third win of the season. The two-time winner battled his back through the cutline at the Players Championship and overcame a loose driver in both his Florida starts. He finished inside the top 20 in 2025 when he was not close to being the same quality of player that he is now.
- Jake Knapp (22-1): Let’s not forget about Knapp, now. The smooth-swinging right hander’s hot start to the year was upended when he was forced to pull out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational with what turned out to be a back injury. He returned at the Players Championship but only to play two rounds as he was an early exit at TPC Sawgrass. He started his year with five straight top-11 finishes and should be in line for a similar type of result this week after a couple of weeks to get right. He tops this field in terms of putting.
- Sam Burns (24-1)
- Brooks Koepka (24-1): Don’t look now, but Koepka is turning the corner right as major championship season appears on the horizon. The five-time major winner ranks fifth in strokes gained tee to green and second (!) in approach behind only Shane Lowry in this field. The driver has been a little wayward at times and the short game has been checkered, but that has done nothing to stop a run of finishes that reads: T9, T13 and T18 across the state of Florida. He helped with the course renovation back in 2019.
- Rickie Fowler (27-1)
- Nicolai Højgaard (27-1)
- Michael Thorbjornsen (30-1): Dropping 20 spots on the leaderboard in the final round of the Players Championship did no favors for Thorbjornsen’s Masters aspirations as he starts the week No. 56 in the OWGR and on the outside looking in for the first major of the year. The powerful right hander has put himself in position to win a couple of golf tournaments so far in 2026, but a couple of ill-timed short irons have thrown his chances out the window. His game fits the bill for what is required out of contenders this week.
- Marco Penge (31-1): It was slightly surprising to see Penge contend at the Copperhead Course given the tight corridors but the end result was a T4 finish. If he brings that game over to Houston, he should be up on the first page of the leaderboard once again as his iron play and putting both woke up from a hibernation that hindered his play for the first couple months of the year.
- Ben Griffin (32-1)
