2021 Houston Open: Top 10 power rankings at Memorial Park
No one was catching Viktor Hovland in his second straight Mayakoba win last week, but Carlos Ortiz was closest.
He fired 67-65-67-66 (-19) to finish four back off the winning pace and alone in second place by one. That type of performance is what can lock up a PGA Tour card for a player. Ortiz isn’t worrying about that because he’s exempt through 2022-23 thanks to his win last fall at the Houston Open.
The Mexican carded 67-68-67-65 to notch his maiden PGA Tour win by two over the last two Masters champions, Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson.
Fortunately for Ortiz, neither of those are back in Houston this year.
He didn’t have his crispest ball striking week, though Ortiz was efficient on and around the greens. He was third in strokes gained around the green (5.684) and fifth in SG putting (6.111).
He reached 13-under and only three players got to double digits at the 2020 Houston Open. In tough conditions, Ortiz made only five bogeys and nothing worse.
Ortiz’ win at Memorial Park was out of nowhere. It was his first top-10 in nearly a year.
The North Texas alum hasn’t lit the world on fire since then, but he’s played fairly consistently to remain a top 100 player in the world and someone who could be in the mix next year come Presidents Cup time.
While the UNT campus is a good four-hour drive to Houston, he still feels the love in the Lone Star State.
“Texas is like my second home state, I’ve been here 12 years now and I’m just really grateful to this state,” Ortiz was quoted by Tee Scripts. “It’s an amazing place. People are great to me, they’re really friendly and how you guys could see today, they were cheering.”