Rory McIlroy will be hoping to finally complete the career Grand Slam at the Masters this month, but before that has the task of this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open
Rory McIlroy will play in Houston this week(Image: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy has opted to compete in this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open ahead of next month’s Masters and, according to Billy Horschel, the setup is a ‘perfect’ one for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy will be gunning to win the Masters for the very first time next month, in a bid to complete the career Grand Slam and secure a major championship for the first time in 11 years. Heading into the opening flagship event of the season the 35-year-old is a man in form.
He already has two wins to his name in 2025, clinching the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February before securing The Players title with a Monday playoff win over J.J. Spaun earlier this month.
There is a three-week gap between The Players and the trip down Magnolia Lane, and McIlroy has therefore opted to add in this week’s event in Texas to fill the gap. The event is one that does not usually find its way onto the world No. 2’s schedule, but one of his fellow players in Horschel believes he has made a good choice.
“It’s a perfectly designed golf course for Rory,” Horschel told the Sky Sports Golf podcast of Memorial Park. “When Rory was talking to me about it when we were talking schedules at the end of last year, early this year, and he mentioned playing Houston, I said to him, ‘man, that course is right up your alley’.
“There’s a distance bias there. There’s a lot of holes that he can hit his nice going draw along. I would suspect Rory has a very good chance to win. I know that Scottie Scheffler’s in the field, but with the way that Rory has been playing this year, the way his game is at, it wouldn’t shock me if he went on to win this week.
Rory McIlroy won The Players (Image: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
“I think it’s going to be a great test. The greens are big; they’ve got some slope in them. Chipping around the greens and having to hit chips up to greens sort of gets you ready for Augusta a little bit. The field is a really good one, but if Rory wins, then I’m not shocked by it at all.”
McIlroy will be playing Memorial Park for the first time in his career, in his latest schedule approach in making sure he is primed and ready for the test at Augusta. Last year, the four-time major winner opted to play the Valero Texas Open the week before the Masters, but has this time opted to have a week in between starts.
McIlroy has also revealed he has planned a trip or two to Augusta in the build-up to the opening major of the campaign, especially after some changes were made to the Augusta course following Hurricane Helene in October. “I think it’s just going to be a little bit different this year,” he said at Bay Hill this month.
“Just with there’s some areas of the course that are maybe a little thinner tree-wise, just with the hurricane that rolled through. “Sixteen is a new green. So, yeah, I’ll probably go up there once or twice beforehand.”
