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2021 Houston Open: Top 10 power rankings at Memorial Park

By Mike Randleman

Nov 6, 2020; Houston, Texas, USA; A view of the Vivint Houston Open tee box on the 10th tee during the second round of the Houston Open golf tournament at Memorial Park Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 6, 2020; Houston, Texas, USA; A view of the Vivint Houston Open tee box on the 10th tee during the second round of the Houston Open golf tournament at Memorial Park Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 24, 2021; Avondale, Louisiana, USA; PGA Cameron Smith walks the fairway on the 1st tee during the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 24, 2021; Avondale, Louisiana, USA; PGA Cameron Smith walks the fairway on the 1st tee during the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports /

Cameron Smith is making his Houston Open debut.

As most top-50 players in the world are this time of year, Smith has kept a pretty light schedule. That’s especially so as an Aussie who was not eligible for the Ryder Cup.

We’ve seen the shaggy-haired golfer just once since the Tour Championship. Smith still looked sharp, collecting a big check at the CJ Cup with a T-9th finish. It was an absolute birdie fest that week at The Summit Club. His scores of 66-67-67-68 would win a lot of tournaments. Smith finished five shots back.

For as solid as Smith has been the past few years, you could quibble he ought to win more on the PGA Tour. The 28-year-old has a solo win at the 2020 Sony Open and a team win with Marc Leishman at the 2021 Zurich Classic.

Smith did have a close call recently in the FedEx Cup Playoffs where a wayward drive on the first playoff hole all but handed Tony Finau the win at The Northern Trust.

Smith has finished on the upper half of the leaderboard in seven of his last eight events, which also includes T-5th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and T-10th at the Olympics.

Smith’s occasional waywardness off the tee would have been real bad news last week at Mayakoba. It won’t harm him quite so much this week at Memorial Park, but he still needs to hit a lot of fairways if he wants to turn a good finish into a great one.

I think he can do that, particularly against a weak field. Plus, his craftiness is an asset attacking these undulating greens.

Smith ranked 25th last season on the PGA Tour in strokes gained around the green (.261) and 19th in SG putting (.573).

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