2024 Texas Children's Houston Open: Top 10 power rankings at Memorial Park

Peter Malnati is riding high after earning his second career PGA Tour victory and first in nine years.

It was his first win as a father, which meant a lot to him.

“Yeah, you know, that moment of winning a tournament and having your family come out on the green and the big hugs and all that, that's something that I've seen other families have and that has been my dream,” Malnati was transcribed by ASAP Sports. “There's been a lot of stretches of golf in the last nine years when I wondered if I would ever have that experience.”

Malnati overcame a two-shot deficit entering the final round at the Valspar Championship. He was among a bevy of names with a chance to win after an even par opening nine. Then Malnati rattled off three straight birdies to open the back nine and rolled in a six-footer for birdie on the par-3 17th that all but sealed the deal.

Malnati’s scores of 66-71-68-67 (-12) were good for a two-shot win over Cameron Young.

The former Missouri Tiger ranked third in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (8.307). That’s no surprise for a guy who is sixth on the PGA Tour in that stat.

A bonus for Malnati was ranking fourth in SG: Off-the-Tee (3.45), an area that’s not usually his strong suit.

Malnati will be making his third appearance at Memorial Park this week. His debut at the Texas Children’s Houston Open was in 2021 where he missed the cut by one after posting 69-73.

His ship had sailed the next year after an opening 78, but he admirably fought back for 71 the next day.

Recent form aside from his win at Innisbrook includes T-14th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and T-9th at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches.