Stephan Jaeger faces strong field in defense of Houston Open title

The Houston Open has dealt with a revolving door of title sponsors and multiple shifts in the PGA Tour schedule in recent years. It even fell off the schedule altogether in 2023.

Event organizers must be glad to have not only World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, but also World No. 2 Rory McIlroy in the field this year at the Texas Children's Houston Open, which begins Thursday.

McIlroy will make his first appearance at the event since 2014, long before it was moved to Memorial Park Golf Course. It will serve as the Northern Irishman's Masters tune-up rather than next week's Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

"I've watched this tournament the last couple years, especially since it moved to this date instead of the fall, and felt like it was a golf course that would be right up my alley and would suit my game and suit my style of play," said McIlroy, who went on to call the par-70, 7,475-yard course "bombs away" off the tee.

Though not a signature event, the tournament will enjoy a field headlined by Scheffler and McIlroy and also featuring former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, 2022 Houston Open winner Tony Finau and South Korea's Sungjae Im.

"(Scheffler is) great for the game," McIlroy said. "What he did last year, I don't think it gets talked about enough. His season last year is up there with one of the all-time great seasons in the history of the game."

Scheffler's accomplishments, of course, were a seven-win season on tour, including The Players Championship and the Masters, plus an Olympic gold medal and the FedEx Cup. He's still searching for his first win of 2025, while McIlroy has two.

A Texas native, Scheffler has played the Houston Open each of the past four years. He tied for second last year and in the fall of 2021.

"When you're here with the Masters being only two weeks away, I think it's very easy for us to look ahead towards the Masters, but I'm trying to do my best to focus on this week," Scheffler said. "Like you said, playing on similar type of grass on the fairways (as Augusta National) and hitting similar shots, this is a big golf course, you've got to hit some big tee balls. It definitely is good preparation for the tournament."

Germany's Stephan Jaeger won his first PGA Tour title at least year's edition, beating Finau, Scheffler and three others by a shot.

Jaeger has two top-six finishes this season and was in the mix early at last week's Valspar Championship, too, before finishing tied for 36th.

"I felt really good the two times I had a chance this year to do something on Sunday and it didn't pan out the way I wanted to," Jaeger said. "... It definitely kind of ingrains that belief like, ‘Hey, you know what, it didn't work out this time but I know you're good enough to do it.'"

--Field Level Media