Rory v Scottie top story lines in Houston

Look what a major championship can produce - A Scottie-Rory matchup in a good, old-fashioned, run-of-the-mill, no-$20-million-purse here PGA Tour event. 

With 2025's first major championship just two weeks away, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, nos. 1 & 2 in the world, both entered the 153-man field for the Texas Children's Houston Open, each hoping to dial in their games and peak for Augusta National Golf Club. 

The last time these two players played in a non-Signature, major championship, PGA Tour playoff or in the Olympics was at the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open, which Rory won and Scottie finished T3.

Last week's Scorecard: 

Player to Beat: Justin Thomas (2nd). 

Expect to be contention: Tommy Fleetwood (T16), Will Zalatoris (T47), Shane Lowry (T8).

No surprise if one of these guys win: Jake Knapp (Missed cut), Aaron Rai (DNP), Corey Conners (T8).

Don't forget about these guys: Sepp Straka (T28), Sahith Theegala (T36).

Longshot: Nicolai Hojgaard (Missed cut).

Now a look at Houston: 

Players to beat: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy.

Scottie and Rory have played four times this season, with Rory winning at Pebble Beach (Scheffler T9) and The Players (Scheffler T20) and Scottie outfinishing Rory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T11 to T15) and at the Genesis (T3 to T17) played at Torrey Pines in San Diego. 

Scottie reached a level of golf in 2024 that has drawn comparisons to Tiger Woods at his best, and it showed from January until the U.S. Open. Scottie and Rory played in the same tournament eight times and Scottie outfinished Rory in all eight, winning five times. It wasn't until the U.S. Open where Rory was able to turn the tables, finishing second to Bryson DeChambeau while Scottie was finishing T41. 

The golfing world will be watching this week to see if Scottie can regain the form he achieved in 2024.

Scheffler arrives in Houston with a track record boasting a pair of T2s (2024, 2021) around a T9 (2022) in this event. Rory has not played Houston since 2014, and has never played the event at Memorial Park. 

For those of you in One-and-Done leagues who plan to select Scheffler or McIlroy elsewhere, here are a few other names worth considering this week: 

These Two Guys Definitely Like This Place: Tony Finau, Stephan Jaeger. 

Tony Finau definitely loves Memorial Park, winning here in November, 2022, and finishing T2 last March. If the tournament were held a month ago, he would easily be the third favorite here after posting a T5 at the Genesis for his third Top-15 finish of 2025 - Tony finished T15 at The Sentry and T13 at Pebble Beach. 

However, Finau comes into Houston off a Players Championship in which he missed the cut by nine shots. That effort came one week after a T36 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Finau's two previous Players saw him finish T45 in 2024 and T16 in 2023, but Pete Dye's Stadium Course can bite anybody at any time.

Stephan Jaeger is the defending champion, posting his first PGA Tour here by xxx. He also finished T9 in the event in November, 2022. Jaeger's season could be misleading as he has a T3 at the Sony Open in January, and a T6 at the Mexico Open last month, two of the lesser impressive fields in 2025. Jaeger did finish T20 at The Players two weeks ago, but comes into the event off a T36 last week.  

Also Worth Considering: Aaron Rai, Thomas Detry, Max Greyserman

Aaron Rai has back to back T7 finishes in the last two Houston Opens, and comes in off his two best finishes of 2025, finishing T14 at The Players and T11 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. His T4 in Mexico figured as he was one of the best players in the field that week. In his five PGA Tour events going into the 2024 playoffs, Rai posted his first PGA Tour with three other finishes T7 or better.

Thomas Detry won by seven shots in Phoenix in February for his first-ever PGA Tour win, but hit a rough patch in his next three events, finishing 53rd at the Genesis and missing the cuts at the Arnold Palmer and The Players. His T22 finish at Valspar last week included a final-round, 4-under-par 67, his best round since Phoenix. 

The 32-year-old from Belguim in his third full PGA Tour season showed signs of elevating his game last year by posting a T4 at the PGA Championship and a T14 at the U.S. Open, the only two majors he was eligible for in 204. 

Max Greyserman has yet to win a PGA Tour event but he continues to close in on the world's best. He arrives in Houston off a wickedly bad performance at The Players, missing the cut by nine strokes. That was only the second time in nine 2025 PGA Tour events he failed to reach the weekend. Prior to that, he posted three consecutive top-25s and in nine 2025 events, Max has two finishes T11 or better and three other top-25s. He finished T7 in Houston last year. 

This Week's Longshot: Matt McCarty.  

It's difficult to select a PGA Tour rookie in a 1-and-Done league because he is learning each venue as he goes along, but McCarty has over the last five weeks posted the following four finishes, T63, T48, T20 at The Players and a T16 at Valspar. That's a big step up from his first five 2025 events, in which he missed three cuts and  never finished better than T53.