2025 Texas Children’s Houston Open Betting Preview: Memorial Park Picks, Predictions, Odds

Iain MacMillan | Mar 24, 2025

Stephan Jaeger will return to the Texas Children's Houston Open as the defending champion. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

The PGA Tour has wrapped up its Florida swing and will now head to Texas for the final two events before the first major of the year.

The Texas Children’s Houston Open isn’t a signature event but there are some big names, most notably Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who are using this week's tournament as a final warm-up before the Masters.

Let’s take a look at the top odds to win this week and then I’ll break down a few of my best bets.

Texas Children’s Houston Open odds

Top 15 odds to win via FanDuel Sportsbook

• Scottie Scheffler +330
• Rory McIlroy +700
• Aaron Rai +2800
• J.J. Spaun +3300
• Davis Thompson +3300
• Jason Day +3500
• Sungjae Im +3500
• Tony Finau +3500
• Wyndham Clark +3500
• Michael Kim +3500
• Si Woo Kim +4000
• Min Woo Lee +4000
• Taylor Pendrith +4500
• Stephan Jaeger +4500
• Jacob Bridgeman +5000

Texas Children's Houston Open how to watch

• Thursday: 4–7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
• Friday: 4–7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 1–3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. ET (NBC)
• Sunday: 1–3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), (NBC/Peacock)

Texas Children's Houston Open purse

• Date: Thursday, March 27–Sunday, March 30
• Purse: $9.5 million ($1.71 million to winner)
• 2024 champion: Stephan Jaeger

Texas Children’s Houston Open notable golfers

Scottie Scheffler: The No. 1-ranked golfer in the world is still looking for his first win of 2025 and now he returns to an event where he has been close but has yet to win. He finished T2 here both in 2021 and 2024.

Rory McIlroy: Is this going to be the year of Rory McIlroy? He already has two wins in four starts in 2025, including a victory at the Players Championship. This will be the last time we’ll see him tee it up before he tries, once again, to complete the career grand slam at the Masters.

Texas Children’s Houston Open Best Bets

Rory McIlroy +700 (via FanDuel)

This week’s field is a rare situation in that it features the top two golfers in the world, but then only two others who are currently in the top 20 in the world; Maverick McNealy and Wyndham Clark.

As bettors, I think we need to pick either Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler as insurance and then fill out the rest of our cards with golfers further down the odds list. When picking between the top two, I think McIlroy is the obvious call at +700. Despite still being listed with the same odds as he was last season, Scheffler hasn't been the same golfer. His approach numbers haven’t been what they were at his peak and he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in three of his last four starts. I’d much rather back McIlroy, who has won twice already this season, at double the odds.

Alex Smalley +6000 (via FanDuel)

According to Justin Ray, the top-10 finishers at the Houston Open when hosted at Memorial Park have got 19.5% of their strokes gained from shots around the green. That’s the most of any tournament besides the U.S. Open.

Top-10 finishers at Memorial Park, which has hosted the Houston Open the last 4 times it's been played, have got 19.5% of their strokes gained total from shots around the green.

Only the U.S. Open has a higher percentage in recent seasons.

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) March 24, 2025

That means we should consider targeting golfers who are great chippers. With that in mind, I’m going to go back to Alex Smalley. He’s fifth on the PGA Tour in strokes-gained around the green seventh in total strokes gained. he posted four straight finishes of T21 or better but after last week’s missed cut, people have forgotten about him.

I’m willing to look past the missed cut considering he has been one of the very best golfers on the Tour this season yet he’s available at 60-1 despite the field being relatively weak after McIlroy and Scheffler. It’s also worth noting he finished T4 at this event in 2022.

Mac Meissner +17000

Mac Meissner hasn’t had his best stuff early in 2025, but there are signs of some recent improvement. he finished T42 at the Players and then T28 at last week’s Valspar Championship while gaining +1.93 true strokes per round with his approach play.

One area of his game that has been strong all season has been his chipping, ranking 13th on the Tour in strokes-gained around the green. If he can keep up his strong chipping while carrying over his approach play from last week's Valspar Championship, he's going to be worth a look at 170-1.

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