2026 Houston Open: Scheffler Withdraws, Lee Now Favorite as Tournament Approaches
A two-week stop in Texas leads into the Masters and up first is the 2026 Houston Open beginning on Thursday at Memorial Park Golf Course. Texas native Scottie Scheffler originally planned to be in the 2026 Houston Open field, but he withdrew on Tuesday citing family reasons. The latest 2026 Houston Open odds now list defending champion Min Woo Lee as the modern favorite at +1300 after he opened at +2200.
Other Houston Open contenders include Chris Gotterup (+1800), Jake Knapp (+2000), Sam Burns (+2200), and Brooks Koepka (+2200), who has just one top-10 finish this season in five tournaments since returning to the PGA Tour after his departure from LIV this year.
Before locking in any 2026 Houston Open picks, entering any Houston Open one and done contests, or making any PGA DFS picks on sites like FanDuel or DraftKings, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine’s proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, simulated every PGA Tour event 10,000 times and reveals golf betting picks that have a history of being extremely profitable. This same model has as well nailed a whopping 16 majors entering the weekend, including the 2025 Masters — its fourth Masters in a row — as well as last year’s PGA Championship and Open Championship. Anyone who has followed its sports betting picks could have seen massive returns on betting sites.
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2026 Houston Open Predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the Houston Open 2026: Lee, the defending champion and the favorite, barely cracks the top 5. He’s a golfer to fade this week. The 27-year-old Australian has had a strong season, but his last outing at The Players Championship was more of a struggle. He shot 70 or higher in each round, including a fourth-round 74 as he finished T32.
Another surprise: The model says Nicolai Hojgaard is a top-three favorite this week despite his longer odds at +2500. He had a tough weekend at the Valspar Championship last week, but hasn’t finished worst than T27 at any other event this season. That includes a T3 at the WM Phoenix Open and a T6 at the Cognizant Classic.
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How to Produce 2026 Houston Open Picks
The model is also targeting three other golfers going off at +4000 or higher to make a strong run, including a massive +6000 longshot. You can only see the model’s picks here.
Who will win the 2026 Houston Open, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine to see the projected leaderboard, all from the model that’s nailed 16 golf majors, including three in 2025.
2026 Houston Open Odds, Favorites
(odds via FanDuel and subject to change)
- Min Woo Lee +1300
- Chris Gotterup +1800
- Jake Knapp +2000
- Sam Burns +2200
- Brooks Koepka +2200
- Nicolai Højgaard +2500
- Marco Penge +2700
- Michael Thorbjornsen +2700
- Kurt Kitayama +2700
- Rickie Fowler +3000
- Ben Griffin +3300
- Ryan Gerard +3300
- Harris English +3500
- Adam Scott +4000
- Pierceson Coody +4000
- Rasmus Højgaard +4000
- Shane Lowry +4000
- Keith Mitchell +4000
- Wyndham Clark +4000
- Harry Hall +4000
- Taylor Pendrith +4500
- Sahith Theegala +4500
- Samuel Stevens +4500
- Jason Day +5000
- Ryan Fox +6000
- Alex Smalley +6000
- Ricky Castillo +6000
- Jordan Smith +6000
- Tony Finau +6000
- Stephan Jaeger +6000
- Kristoffer Reitan +6500
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju +6500
- Max Greyserman +6500
- Davis Thompson +6500
- Mac Meissner +7000
- Sungjae Im +7000
- Aaron Rai +7000
- Patrick Rodgers +7000
- Nico Echavarria +8000
- Gary Woodland +8000
- Will Zalatoris +8000
- Mackenzie Hughes +8000