First Round at Houston Open is Underway

We’re EARLY for Brunch with the tournament ready to tee-off at 7:45am EST.

Matt Jones, Rory Sabbatini and Henrik Norlander teed-it-up on No. 1 at 6:45am (local)/7:45am (EST) while Russell Henley, Danny Lee and Cameron Davis went off from No. 10 in about 15 minutes from our posting today.

We’ll be LIVE TWEETING throughout the weekend. Please follow @PGATourBrunch on Twitter and share the feed with your golfing buds.

Weather forecast is mostly sunny, ranging from 54-78-degrees with SE winds 6-12 mph

Tournament Tee Times(link)

Pre-Tournament Notes:

The Houston Open is being held at recently-renovated Memorial Park Golf Course for the first time since 1963 and adds Vivint Smart Home as title sponsor. It is the first PGA Tour event to allow patrons on-site, a major step. (See Sports Biz below).

PGA Tour and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson will make his first start on tour since testing positive for COVID-19 prior to The CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK.

Thirty-seven players in this week’s field will compete at next week’s Masters Tournament at Augusta. The winner this week will qualify for the 2021 Masters.

Harry Higgs is WD after testing COVID-19+

Ian Poulter and KJ Choi dropped out in advance of the tournament.

@PGATourBrunch - Quick Look

THIS WEEK on the PGA Tour: Vivint Houston Open

COURSE: Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston

ARCHITECT: Nelson Byrd Woltz with assist from Brooks Koepka

YARDS/PAR: 7,432 yards/Par 70

PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $7,000,000/$1,260,000

DEFENDING Champion: Lanto Griffin (2019 Leaderboard)

FEDEx CUP Points/Winner Share: 2,989/500

TV Coverage: Thursday-Sunday (11pm-4pm EST) - GOLF Channel

PGA Tour Radio Coverage: Thu-Fri (10am-4pm EST); Sat: (11am-4pm EST)

PGA Live: Thursday-Friday: (7:50am-4pm EST); Saturday-Sunday (9am-4pm EST)

Featured Groups on PGA Tour Live: (link)

What They’re Saying

Brooks Koepka Assisted with Memorial Park Renovation (Golfweek)

Adam Scott is Coming Off COVID-19 layoff (USA Today/Golfweek)

Power Rankings for Houston Open (PGA Tour dot com)

Harry Higgs Tested COVID+ (ESPN)

Sports Business and the Golf Industry

According to Sports Business Journal and Golf Channel, PGA Tour players are "still adhering to all the COVID protocols" for this week's Vivint Houston Open, but they are "thrilled to have fans back" on site this week, according to Golf Channel'sLisaCornwell. Plans call for 2,000 fans to attend per round, becoming the largest crowds on Tour since the shutdown at The Player’s Championship back in March.

Vivint stepped up as the new sponsor for this event after Shell dropped out after the 2017 tournament. For longtime golf fans who remember, Shell and the Houston Open went hand-in-hand for some 26 years. Houston Astros team owner Jim Crane came to terms with the PGA Tour and saved the event with it now scheduled until 2023. For more details, see (Golf Digest)

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