Star-studded field comes for Masters prep
The No. 1 player in the world, Dustin Johnson, is a huge get. Adding major championship winners Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day just bolsters the field.
And by bringing in rising PGA Tour stars Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and Sungjae Im, the 2020 Vivint Houston Open is shaping up as a tournament to keep tabs on.
“It’s going to be a tournament full of stars, which we’re excited about,” tournament director Colby Callaway said.
Among all the non-major tournaments this fall, the Houston Open’s field ranks among the best. Sixteen players in the top 50world rankings are making the trek to play the redesigned Memorial Park Golf Course. The four rounds of competitive play runs Thursday through Sunday.
“It’s about as good as it gets,” Callaway said. “It’s very rare that you’ll ever see a field like this in the fall.”
A PGA Tour fall schedule is still a learning curve for the players. In 2019, the tour made the fall schedule more attractive by adding additional FedEx Cup points. Players such as Lanto Griffin, the 2019 Houston Open Champion at Golf Club of Houston, and Sebastian Munoz capitalized on the new points distribution format. By playing an extended fall schedule, both players finished in the top 15 in the final standings.
“Guys are relearning how this works, and they’re changing their playing schedule. And with us being able to throw big names out there this fall, it’s going to help all of us this (fall) season,” Callaway said.
Players in the top 50 world rankings playing this week in Houston are Johnson (1), Tyrell Hatton (10), Koepka (12), Adam Scott (15), Tony Finau (17), Hideki Matsuyama (20), Im(23), Hovland (24), Scheffler (30), Shane Lowry (31), Billy Horschel (38), Sergio Garcia (40), Day (43), Lee Westwood (45), Ian Poulter (48) and Kevin Streelman (49).
Also participating are Munoz, Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett, Mackenzie Hughes, Erik van Rooyen, Brandt Snedeker, Charl Schwartzel, Graeme McDowell, Keegan Bradley and Griffin.
Playing one week before the Masters helped enhance the Houston Open lineup.
“It’s improved our field, no doubt,” said Giles Kibbe, president of the Astros Golf Foundation.
Traditionally, the Masters is played in early April. With the coronavirus pandemic altering the 2020 schedule, the Masters moved to a November date.
This year, Augusta National has over-seeded with ryegrass, a cool season turf that provides a beautiful playing surface throughout the fall, winter and spring. The Masters is not being played on Bermuda, used in warm-weather locations and the green and fairway surface that will be played at the Houston Open.
Augusta National closes throughout the summer. It opens in October and closes in May. The ryegrass is growing in right now. Many players have gone to Augusta National and played there a few weeks before the tournament. They’re not able to do that this year because the grass is in a growin phase. This year, Augusta National is not allowing the pros to play there a week or two before the tournament.
“A lot of players thatwould have normally skipped theweek before the Masters in order to go out to Augusta and stay there a fewdays, they’re coming here because they don’t have access to Augusta National,” Kibbe said. “We’ve benefited from that.”
The 2020 Houston Open originally was set to be played Nov. 1215. But the date moved to Nov. 5-8 to accommodate the Masters.
Callaway said assembling a robust field was not a difficult sell. The move from Golf Club of Houston in Humble to Houston is inviting for the players, who can experience the city as well as compete at Memorial Park, which has been redesigned by Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf Design as part of a $34 million project funded by the Astros Golf Foundation.
“Those guys talk,” Callaway said. “The players are a close-knit circle. So there’s a lot of interest of what has been done here and how it’s been prepared, the money that’s been put in to making this thing so special. Recruiting is easy for this.”
Anticipation has been building for the PGA Tour’s first tournament at Memorial Park since 1963. Playing at a new venue located in the heart of Houston, combined with the timing of the event aweek before the Masters, seems to make the 2020 Houston Open a destination for a number of the professionals.
“It’s brought a tremendous field,” said Jhonattan Vegas, a resident of The Woodlands, who received a sponsor exemption into this year’s tournament. “It’s drawn some huge names. It’s one of the best events that we’ve had since the restart of the PGA Tour. It’s going to be a lot of fun, a great field, some of the best players on tour.”
Griffin, who won last year’s Houston event by a shot over Mark Hubbard and Scott Harrington for his first PGA Tour victory, will be facing a more daunting field than he did a year ago.
“He’s got his hands full. He’s going to have to battle,” Callaway said. “This is the real deal coming. It’ll be exciting, it will be star-studded, and it’s exactly what we thought it would be at Memorial Park.”