As the golf world races toward the first major championship of the year, the PGA Tour jumps across the gulf from Florida to Texas for the annual playing of the Houston Open.
This year marks the fifth time this historic tourney has been played at Memorial Park, and the most notable storyline is newly crowned Players Championship winner Rory McIlroy making his first appearance at the event since 2014.
Expect to see a lot of guys—Rory obviously included—get deep in their processes this week as they fine-tune for The Masters. That also applied to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who we'll get back to shortly.
The fine folks at Data Golf show the relative importance of five skills for each course on the PGA Tour, with each usually having one or two skills that stand out as being more indicative of success than the rest.
For Memorial Park, all five skills (driving distance, driving accuracy, approach play, short game, and putting) are equally weighted. Basically, just be good at all aspects of your game, and you should find success at the Texas Children's Houston Open.
Pretty poor performance on our end from the picks at the Valspar Championship, with only Lucas Glover and Corey Conners finishing in the top 10. None of the picks really threatened to win, and we snapped our short win streak.
But you know what? We're not worried. Everyone has an off week, and we're coming back strong for Houston.
Honorable Mentions: Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Si Woo Kim, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak
9. Jacob Bridgeman
Jacob Bridgeman rode a hot putter to a solo third-place finish at the Valspar this past week, but the 25-year-old has been playing some solid golf for much of this 2025 season.
He's currently in the top 50 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green and ranks sixth in strokes gained: putting. He may be primed to regress after his week at the Copperhead Course, but I'm willing to back the Clemson product building off of holding a share of the 54-hole lead last weekend.
8. J.J. Spaun
All the credit in the world should go to J.J. Spaun for his performance at The Players.
Spaun's iron play has risen his floor significantly, as he now has three top-five finishes on the year, his most in a single season on the PGA Tour.
Taking the week off right after his playoff loss at Sawgrass was for the best, as Spaun can now come into Houston physically and mentally rested and ready for another high finish.
7. Scottie Scheffler
Hot take: I don't think Phil Mickelson's Scottie take is all that crazy.
Clearly, Scheffler hasn't found his rhythm yet this season, and the frustration is getting to him. It was always going to be difficult to follow up a historic 2024, and the freak hand injury didn't help things.
Will Scheffler actually go winless this season? No, he'll piece together a week at some point. I just think he's farther away than we'd like to believe right now.
It doesn't help that Scheffler's success has seemingly lit a fire under Rory McIlroy this year, but this placement is out of respect for Scottie. And his Champions Dinner menu.
6. Max Greyserman
I was high on Max Greyserman earlier this year, but he hasn't quite been able to carry over his form from the Fall Series.
But Greyserman returns to an event where he finished T7 last year. We should be able to see a bounceback from a disappointing missed cut at The Players as long as he can find the fairway this week.
5. Alex Smalley
In eight events this year, Alex Smalley has six finishes in the top 25.
The vast improvement in his putting has been the catalyst for his success this year, giving him a much more balanced skill set. Much like my reasoning for picking Smalley at Cognizant, his all-around game will lead me to backing him this week.
4. Jake Knapp
Jake Knapp learning how to putt should worry his competitors.
Mr. 59's form feels more consistent than last season, and I think we're due for another victory. He's like Aldrich Potgieter if Potgieter could chip. And for that reason, I like Jake Knapp a lot this week.
3. Aaron Rai
I had Rai in the Valspar rankings before he withdrew early in the week.
My analysis of Rai for Houston will echo last week's writing, as his all-around game is just too good to pass up in Houston.
He's finished tied for seventh in each of the last two years at this event, so he should be feeling good going into Memorial Park.
2. Jason Day
If he hadn't withdrawn from The Players due to illness, Jason Day would have been in the hunt on Sunday.
Instead, we have him to thank for Danny Walker getting into the field at Sawgrass, and I hope Walker, who tied for sixth, takes Day to dinner as a thank you.
Day has been able to keep up his form from a strong second half of 2024 this year, and while his driving isn't what it used to be, his ball-striking makes up for it. I really just want to see the Malbon outfit he wears when he lifts a trophy again, so I'm hoping it comes this week.
1. Rory McIlroy
The Official World Golf Ranking may not say it, but Rory McIlroy is the best player in the world right now, bar none.
Here's the thing, though. I doubt Rory is going to be 100% locked in this week. And I find it interesting that Rory has added Houston to his schedule this year, but he clearly feels a new course will help keep his game sharp for Augusta.
Even if he's not going all out this week, McIlroy's floor is so high that he belongs in the rankings again.