Houston Open 2021 R2
November 11-14
Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston, Texas
$7,500,000
Round 1, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Martin Trainer fired a bogey-free 65 on Friday at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open to take the lead ahead of an all-American top-13 at 10-under.

Houston Open 2021 R2

"Every course on Tour is firm and fast and difficult, but this week especially so. So it's really tough just to make pars, and then I had a couple instances today where I was just trying to two-putt and, you know, they dropped in from long range. When that happens, not only do you know it's your day, but
you're thankful that you're in that position.

Houston Open 2021 R2

Having completed the first round in the morning due to a long weather delay on Thursday, play was once again suspended due to darkness with many players still on the course.

Trainer won the Puerto Rico Open in his rookie year on the PGA Tour in 2019 but has only made nine cuts in seventy starts since.

Houston Open 2021 R2

"It is demoralizing when you keep missing cuts over and over again. On Tour obviously it's tough to even compete and make a cut let alone, you know, get to the top of the leaderboard. It's been tough at times for me the last couple years not playing well, but now that I figured out a little bit of ball-striking, dropped some putts, it really can turn around that quickly. So I'm just grateful that that's happening to me this week and hopefully I'll keep it going.

"Last week I hit the ball really well for the first time in a long time and I just didn't putt very well. So I figured if I could somehow do both those at the same time, which to be fair, every single player says that every single week, but for me it had been such a long time coming that, you know, it really was a grind for a long time. So now to finally be able to put it together I think is, you know, it's not easy, but you have to hope that this is the week."

Houston Open 2021 R2

Kevin Tway played nine holes in the morning to complete his first round then closed with a 64 featuring two eagles and a single bogey to move into second place at 9-under followed by Jason Kokrak who was 6-under for the round when play was called with seven holes to play.

"You're never going to complain about a 64 with a couple hole-outs," said Tway. "I played very well, putted well. I'm a little tired now, but all in all a good day.

"The greens are big, so if you hit them, you've got some crazy putts, but as long as you can get semi close to the hole, they're good surfaces, you can make some putts. It pays to be long and straight out here and if you're in the fairway you can get at some holes. The greens are very good, so I enjoy it."

Houston Open 2021 R2

Adam Long went bogey-free for a 67 to reach 7-under followed by Kramer Hickok (67), Adam Schenk (64) and Scottie Scheffler who in fifth place at 6-under. Scheffler, who played six holes in the morning to complete his first round, shot the low round of the day and set a new course record with a 62.

"Yesterday I was playing out of the rough most of the time, so it was just nice getting the ball out there in play, give myself some opportunities," said Scheffler. "This golf course can be pretty challenging from the bermuda rough and you've got to hit the ball in play. If you're hitting it in the rough to elevated greens that you can't hold just because you're hitting knucklers out of the rough, so it was very important to get the ball in the fairway."

Houston Open 2021 R2