Memorial Park Golf Course – The anticipation for the 2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open is building as some of the biggest names on the PGA Tour are getting in some practice rounds early this week.
The conditions of the golf course are pristine ahead of this year’s tournament, and Memorial Golf Course’s Superintendent, Parker Henry, who maintains the conditions and operations of the course, shared with us that his team enjoy making the course similarly challenging to Augusta National Golf Club, just two weeks out from The Masters.
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“That’s kind of what our setup is to emulate some of the conditions with our heights of cut and mowing patterns and try to entice them (PGA Pros) to come out and get a good practice round in,” said Henry.
But what do the players think of the challenging conditions?
“I think this is a great lead-up to Augusta, but I love this golf course,” said Tony Finau. “You know I obviously won here back in 2022, so it always brings back really nice memories for me, but it’s a golf course that you know I think fits my game, and just in general, you gotta strike it well around here. That’s been the positive about my game over my career, so hopefully I can do that this week.”
“When you get closer after you get through The Players, you know Augusta’s right around the corner,” said Billy Horschel. “It’s on a lot of guys’ minds whether they’re in the field or whether they’re not, and trying to get in. You know, I wouldn’t say the greens have as much slope as Augusta, but they’re built up and perched up a bit, so you have a little bit of those chips where you have to pitch up to the surface of the greens. Obviously, they try to do a really great job with the overseeing and similar conditions to Augusta.”
The first round of the 2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open will begin on Thursday.