HOUSTON — Scottie Scheffler can add his name to the PGA Tour record books in yet another way this week.
If Scheffler were to win the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course, he would become the first player in seven years to win in three straight starts, and he would be the first in a decade to win three straight stroke-play events.
Dustin Johnson won three straight tournaments in 2017 during a stretch that included the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event. In 2014, Rory McIlroy won three straight stroke-play events, starting with the Open Championship and closing with the PGA Championship.
Scheffler can join that duo after consecutive wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, the latter becoming the first player ever to win back-to-back tournaments at TPC Sawgrass. But that’s not on the forefront of his mind.
“I don’t really think much about that kind of stuff,” Scheffler said. “I had a good rest week at home last week. I was pretty worn out after Bay Hill and Players, so it was nice to get home and just relax. I didn’t do nearly as much practice as I typically would have in the last week, so coming in shaking off a little bit of rust the last couple days. But game feels like it’s in a good spot, so I feel rested and ready to go this week.”
Scheffler and rust don’t belong in the same sentence, but if the world No. 1 is indeed trying to find his groove two weeks before the Masters, Memorial Park is a good place to do it.
The municipal course in Houston has been a part of the PGA Tour’s fall schedule in previous years, but the course is plenty different being played in the spring. Players have commented on how the rough is lighter, and the premium for hitting the fairway isn’t as high as it used to be. Scores could be lower than in past tournaments.
Scheffler finished T-9 in Houston in the fall of 2022. The year before, he tied for second and fired a course-record 8-under 62 in the second round (Tony Finau tied the record last year in his winning effort).
Don’t expect the challenge to go away with the move to the spring, Scheffler warned.
“With the way the greens are elevated and with the runoffs and with the way the rough was, you had to hit fairways (in the past),” Scheffler said. “Now there’s not as much of a premium on that. I think we’re supposed to get some pretty good winds over the weekend. The golf course is still really, really challenging. I think it’s just going to be challenging in a different way this year.”
The Texas Children’s Houston Open is the first of four events in the state of Texas in the next couple months. Scheffler, who went to school at the University of Texas and lives in Dallas, enjoys playing in events close to home.
His schedule is fluid the next couple months because he and his wife, Meredith, are expecting their first child in April. But even after a couple exhausting weeks in Florida, he didn’t want to pass up playing in the Lone Star State before the first major championship of the year.
“I like trying to support as many events as I can in my home state,” Scheffler said. “I definitely am a proud Texas, and so I like to do what I can to support the events here at home. Yeah, it’s good to be back. I don’t know what my schedule will be like going forward, but I definitely like to try and support the events here in Texas as much as I can.”
