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The Texas Children's Houston Open tees off in less than 24 hours at its traditional home of Memorial Park Municipal Golf Course. The event has a long history and several legendary players have won it.
Curtis Strange and Vijay Singh share the record of top winners of the Houston Open, both with three editions. Strange won in 1980, 1986 and 1988, while Singh won in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Seven other players are part of the group of Houston Open multi-winners with two victories. They are Cary Middlecoff (1950, 1953), Jack Burke Jr. (1952, 1959), Mike Souchak (1955, 1964), Bobby Nichols (1962, 1965), Arnold Palmer (1957, 1966) Bruce Crampton (1973, 1975) and Stuart Appleby (1999, 2006).
Among the great players who have won the Houston Open are Byron Nelson, who won the inaugural edition (1946), Bobby Locke (1947), Johnny Palmer (1949), Roberto De Vicenzo (1968), Gary Player (1978), Fred Couples (2003), Adam Scott (2007) and Phil Mickelson (2011).
There are some other great players who have not been able to win the Houston Open but have come close. They are Ben Hogan (runner-up in 1946) Jack Nicklaus (runner-up in 1962 and 1964), Lee Trevino (runner-up in 1968, 1980 and 1983), Greg Norman (runner-up in 1988), John Daly (runner-up in 2005), Jordan Spieth, runner-up in 2015, Dustin Johnson (runner-up in 2020) and Scottie Scheffler (runner-up in 2021).
Texas Children's Houston Open: Other historical details
The event is currently played at Memorial Park Municipal Golf Course, which opened in 1936 and was designed by John Bredemus. The course is currently 7,435 yards and is par 70.
Although it has been played there for several seasons, other courses have hosted the tournament throughout its more than 70 editions. The event has been hosted by the River Oaks Country Club, Pine Forest Country Club, BraeBurn Country Club, Sharpstown Country Club, Champions Golf Club and Westwood Country Club, among others.
The course aggregate record is held by Tony Finau (264) since he won in 2022. The record to par is held by Vijay Singh, who won in 2002 with a score of 22 under 266, playing on the Tournament Course at The Woodlands Country Club.
The largest margin of victory in the event is six strokes and was achieved by three former champions: Jack Burke Jr. in 1952 (defeated Frank Stranahan), Vijay Singh in 2002 (defeated Darren Clarke) and Stuart Appleby in 2006 (defeated Bob Estes).
It may be noted that before the event currently known as the Houston Open came into being, there was another tournament with the same name that held seven editions (1922, 1923, 1924, 1930, 1932, 1937 and 1938) at the River Oaks Country Club. This tournament is also recognized by the PGA Tour, so its winners are considered as such in the history of the circuit.
