Best bets for Houston Open, Nedbank Golf Challenge

Russell Henley won the World Wide Technology at Mayakoba by four shots. Scottie Scheffler finished T-3. The PGA Tour goes to Houston this week for the Cadence Bank Houston Open. Henly is 22-1, while Scheggler is 6-2. Sam Burns (12-11), Aaron Wise (18-18), Tony Finau (22-22), and Hideki Matsuyama ( 22) are also in the field.

The Houston Open is a PGA Tour event that dates back to 1946. It returned to Memorial Park Golf Course last year for the first time since 1963. The tournament is run by the Astros Foundation. Shell Oil Company sponsored the event from 1992 to 2017. Cadence Bank takes over as the tournament's title sponsor.

Memorial Park Golf Course will host the Houston Open in 2020. It is a municipal course owned by the city of Houston. John Bredemus designed the course in 1935. Tom Doak finished the renovation in 2019 with an assist from Brooks Koepka. The greens fee for a weekend round is $38. Memorial Park plays as a par-70 course of 7,412 yards.

Jason Kokrak rated second in the field for Strokes Gained: Approach for his winning week at the Houston Open last year.

Taylor Montgomery is a good bet for FanDuel. Montgomery posted another top-10 last week in Mexico.

Jason Day is 28-1 favorite for Nedbank Golf Challenge. He has won at Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Quail Hollow and TPC Sawgrass.

Taylor Pendrith had an injury that forced him to miss most of the summer.

Davis Riley finished fourth at Colonial earlier this year. He has also won two Korn Ferry Tour titles in Texas.

Matthew NeSmith has three consecutive top-10s coming into Houston. Ne Smith ranks top 10 in the field over the last 36 rounds for Strokes Gained: Putting on fast, Bermuda greens.

Dean Burmester is a 66-1 favorite to win in Houston. He finished 10th at the Renaissance Club earlier this summer and 11th in the British Open at St. Andrews. Burmezter had two top-5s on the Korn Ferry Tour to earn his PGA Tour card and finished fourth at Sanderson Farms recently.

Sepp Straka finished second at Sanderson Farms four starts ago. He also won earlier this year at the Honda Classic held at PGA National. Strak was fifth on debut here in 2020.

Best bets for Houston Open, Nedbank Golf Challenge are Lee Hodges (95-1, FanDuel) and Rory McIlroy (20-11, PGA Tour). Hodge rates seventh in this field for Strokes Gained: Approach over the last 36 rounds.

Aaron Wise is a great driver of the golf ball. He is third in this field for Strokes Gained: Ball Striking over the last 36 rounds and 20th in Driving Distance. Wise has won in Texas before at Trinity Forest Golf Club, when it hosted the Byron Nelson Championship.

Tony Finau has finished second at two courses this week, the Fortinet in Napa and TPC Scottsdale. He won in back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour and finished ninth at the Tour Championship. Fin Pau missed the cut last week in his first appearance of the fall season.

Keith Mitchell is a big-hitting ball striker who can putt on Bermuda grass. Mitchell won the Honda Classic. He was top 35 at Southern Hills and has a 10th and a 16th at TPC Scottsdale.

Gary Woodland is a former winner in Phoenix and had a top-35 finish at Southern Hills last May. He's fourth in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and ranks 16th on par-5s longer than 550 yards.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge is the penultimate event on the DP World Tour. Most of the 66-player field will be part of DP Tour Championship in Dubai. Tommy Fleetwood is defending champion. Jordan Smith broke a five-year winless drought at the Portugal Masters. Thomas Detry has been playing full-time schedules both on DP and PGA Tour and is chasing his first major win. Robert MacIntyre won the Italian Open in September. Ryan Fox has had a career season with two DP world Tour victories and two runners-up. Christiaan Bezuidenhout won 2020 South African Open and Branden Grace won 2017 event.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge dates back to 1981. It was an unofficial event until 2005. The Sunshine Tour in South Africa sanctioned the tournament from 2006 to 2012. European Tour and Sunshine tour co-sanctioned the challenge from 2013 to 2015.

Gary Player Golf Club is a par-72 course located in Sun City. It measures at 7,834 yards but plays at around 7.500 yards because it is played at altitude (3,721 feet). The kikuyu fairways are of average width and the greens are slick Bentgrass. The course record of 62 was set at the 2011 event by Lee Westwood. Thunderstorms may soften the course ahead of the tournament itself.

Tommy Fleetwood won the last time the event was held here in 2019. He finished T-4 his last tournament three weeks ago at the CJ Cup.

Antoine Rozner has three top-10 finishes in his last seven events.

Eddie Pepperell is the best bet for Nedbank Golf Challenge at 35-1. Pepperol ranks second on the DP World Tour for Strokes Gained: Approach.

Thriston Lawrence has won twice in the last calendar year. He was sixth on this course last year for the South African Open.

Richard Mansell has six top-10s on the DP World Tour this season. He ranks third on tour for Strokes Gained: Off The Tee.

Oliver Bekker won the Sun City Challenge on this course in 2016 and finished second in the South African Open here last year.