The PGA TOUR makes its first of five stops of 2026 in the Lone Star State as it returns to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston. Last year, Min Woo Lee edged out Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland by one stroke for his first PGA TOUR victory. It sets up for another exciting week as the players ramp up for the Masters just a few weeks away. The week starts with 135 players in the field, and the players will go off in threesomes from hole No. 1 and hole No. 10 starting at 8:20 a.m. ET. Let’s take a look at the wide variety of markets available on DraftKings Sportsbook and pinpoint some of my best bets for Round 1 of the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
Wind is always a huge factor in Texas tournaments, but the week looks like it will start fairly calm before possibly getting windy on Sunday for the Final Round. The wind is forecast to get more gusty in the afternoon, which could give an advantage to the morning wave, but be sure to keep close tabs on the weather as you plan your strategy,
In this post, we’ll focus on my three best bets for Round 1 of the Texas Children’s Houston Open on Thursday, March 26. Let’s tee it up!
Wyndham Clark under 68.5 (+105)
Teeing off at 8:42 a.m. ET, Clark should be done before the wind kicks up. Clark is a well-known name for his 2023 U.S. Open victory. He won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am the following year but hasn’t been back in the winner’s circle since then.
He made the cut in 18 of his 24 events last year, with eight top-25 finishes, including a T5 at Memorial Park Golf Course last spring. He had a 69 in Round 1 but then went 68-64-64 to finish last year’s tournament.
Clark finished 2025 with top-10 finishes at the unofficial Hero World Challenge and Grant Thornton Invitational and started 2026 with a T13 at The American Express. He made the cut in five straight touranments after that, before missing the cut last week at the Valspar.
Back at a course that fits his game better, Clark has a good chance to get out to a fast start in Houston this week. Over the last three months, Clark ranks in the top 15 in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Approach, with his putter the main culprit holding him back. He ranks in the top 25 in the field in Driving Distance over the last three months as well, so he should have the length and approach game to get off to a fast start and get at least -3 on Thursday, going under this even-money prop line.
Matchup (3 Way) – Round 1 – Tony Finau (+106) over Will Zalatoris
Finau has a great history at this event on this course, which I’ve detailed in my DFS pivot plays for this week. He won in 2021, finished runner-up in 2023 and T32 last year with four rounds of par or better. He will be playing in Round 1 with defending champ Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott, but for this prop, he’s matched up with Will Zalatoris, who is in the group ahead of him.
Finau has played well lately and seems to be finding good form, while Zalatoris has only played two events. He finished T18 at The American Express and then missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, where Finau finished T11.
Zalatoris was forced to withdraw from the Cognizant Classic with an ankle injury and could need some time to knock the rust off after so long on the shelf. He was just returning from back surgery, and the 29-year-old has already battled all kinds of injury issues since getting his breakthrough PGA TOUR win in 2022.
I love Zalatroris’s long-term potential, but I think this is a great matchup to attack since Finau is so strong on this course and comes in with solid form. In the afternoon, I’d rather take matchups head-to-head with players on the course at the same time in case the wind becomes more of a factor and makes scoring conditions more difficult.
Player to Make an Eagle in Round 1: Sahith Theegala (+770)
Let’s finish my Round 1 best bets with a longshot play. At almost 8:1, Theegala to make an eagle is longshot option that make sense if you’re looking to get this tournament in Texas off to an especially spicy start.
Fresh off helping his Los Angeles Golf Club to the TGL title on Tuesday, Theegala heads to Houston. Theegala leads the PGA TOUR with 11 eagles on the season and ranks second to only Jake Knapp in Eagles per hole. He ranks 12th on the PGA TOUR in par-5 scoring average this season, and he has gone for the green on 65.6% of his par-5s this season. He hit the green in 17.5% of his attempts and also has 12 total hole outs, which ranks him second on the PGA TOUR behind only Patrick Rodgers.
Last year at Memorial Park, Theegala finished only T67, and he didn’t have an eagle. In 2024, when he was in better form overall, he finished T28 with an eagle in Round 4. I highlighted Theegala’s trending form in my cash game plays for DFS fantasy golf this week.
This course as a whole doesn’t give up many eagles with just three Par-5s, but the way Theegala has been playing and with his aggressive record so far this year, I think he has a chance to deliver at these long odds on Thursday, when he tees off at 9:15 a.m. ET off the back nine. He should get a good rhythm going before hitting his Par 5 chances on his seventh, 12th, and 17th hole of the day.
