Tony Finau moves into lead in bid to defend his title

Texas Children’s Houston Open R2

Defending champion Tony Finau tied the Texas Children’s Houston Open scoring record and matched his career-low score on the PGA Tour with an 8-under 62 on Friday to take a two-shot lead at 9-under heading into the weekend.

“There’s always I think that added pressure [when it’s] a place that you’ve played well, obviously a course that I really like, so there’s that added pressure on both fronts. Overall, it’s a place that I have great memories coming back to. I get great support here from the fans. It is pressure, but I look forward to coming back and defending any title that I win.

“I knew I was in contention, near the top of the leaderboard with a handful of holes there to go and then the putter just got hot. I hit some nice shots, but it was mostly just draining some long putts from long distance, I chipped in for eagle on 8. Next thing you know, I’m like wow, 8 under, so it’s strange how this game works, but you’re never thinking ahead too much.”

Argentinian rookie Alejandro Tosti closed with a 67 to move into second place at 7-under, his best 36-hole position in his 12th start, followed in third at 6-under by Belgium’s Thomas Detry.

American World number 1 Scottie Scheffler ended his streak of 28 rounds under par after missing a 22-inch putt on the par-4 final hole and closing with a double-bogey for a 70 and a share of fourth place at 5-under.

“I felt like I battled pretty hard today,” said Scheffler. “I think the conditions were extremely challenging. The wind was blowing very, very hard and the tough part was how gusty it was. If you took an average wind speed it probably wouldn’t have been that crazy, but when it’s gusting from 10 to 30 all day it makes everything you’re doing out there pretty challenging.

“Frustrating lapse in judgment [at the 18th]. You never really know what’s going to be up there around the cup on 18. Just hit something and knocked the second one offline. Felt like I hit a good putt on the first one, maybe went just barely through the break so obviously it was a bit frustrating hitting a good putt and it not going in. Second one I guess just hit a little fast and didn’t see a spike mark there.

Fellow Americans Chad Ramey (66), Taylor Moore (71), Akshay Bhatia (68), Joe Highsmith (70) and German Stephan Jaeger (66) are all tied alongside Scheffler in fourth place.

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1R2Total
1Tony Finau-96962131
2Alejandro Tosti-76667133
3Thomas Detry-67064134
T4Chad Ramey-56966135
T4Stephan Jaeger-56966135
T4Scottie Scheffler-56570135
T4Taylor Moore-56471135
T4Akshay Bhatia-56768135
T4Joe Highsmith-56570135
T10Davis Riley-46571136
T10Aaron Rai-46670136
T10David Skinns-46769136
T10Max Greyserman-46769136
T14Matti Schmid-36869137
T14J.J. Spaun-36869137
T14Tom Hoge-37166137
T14Tyson Alexander-37067137
T14Kevin Dougherty-36869137
T14Mark Hubbard-36968137
T20Callum Tarren-27068138
T20Wyndham Clark-27068138
T20Cameron Champ-27068138
T20Mackenzie Hughes-26672138
T20Ben Silverman-27068138
T20Victor Perez-26870138
T20Chan Kim-27167138
T20Garrick Higgo-26870138
T28Ryan Palmer-16970139
T28Roger Sloan-16871139
T28Si Woo Kim-16970139
T28Vincent Norrman-16871139
T28Billy Horschel-17168139
T28Sam Ryder-16970139
T28Wilson Furr-16475139
T28Raul Pereda-17168139
T28Beau Hossler-16673139
T28Cam Davis-16871139
T28James Hahn-17069139
T28Justin Lower-17267139
T28Adam Svensson-16673139
T28Nick Dunlap-16871139
T28Gary Woodland-16970139
T28Lanto Griffin-17168139
T28Andrew Novak-16871139
T45S.H. KimPar6872140
T45Pierceson CoodyPar6971140
T45Jacob BridgemanPar7169140
T45K.H. LeePar6872140
T45Ben GriffinPar7268140
T45Martin LairdPar6971140
T45Erik BarnesPar7268140
T45Harry HallPar6971140
T45Dylan WuPar7169140
T45Adam LongPar7367140
T45Alex NorenPar6971140
T45Nate LashleyPar7268140
T45Scott GutschewskiPar7070140
T45Daniel BergerPar7070140
T45Sahith TheegalaPar7070140
T45Davis ThompsonPar6872140
T61Greyson Sigg+16873141
T61Sam Bennett+16972141
T61Ryan Brehm+17071141
T61Austin Cook+17071141
T61Taylor Pendrith+16873141
T61Peter Malnati+16873141
T61Will Zalatoris+17467141
T61Nick Hardy+17170141
T61Ryan Fox+17170141
T61Aaron Baddeley+17269141
T61Sam Stevens+17368141
T61Adrien Dumont de Chassart+16972141
T61Harrison Endycott+16972141
T61Emilio Gonzalez+17368141
T61Jhonattan Vegas+17170141
T61Chandler Phillips+17467141
T61Chris Gotterup+16774141
T61Ryan Moore+17071141
T61Kurt Kitayama+17368141
T61Patrick Rodgers+16774141
T61Michael Kim+17170141
T61Bud Cauley+17071141
T61Joseph Bramlett+17170141
CUTJason Day+27270142
CUTCallum McNeill+27072142
CUTKeith Mitchell+27171142
CUTPaul Barjon+27171142
CUTCarl Yuan+27270142
CUTParker Coody+27072142
CUTHayden Springer+27072142
CUTNicholas Lindheim+27072142
CUTBronson Burgoon+27369142
CUTPatrick Fishburn+27171142
CUTChesson Hadley+37469143
CUTJ.B. Holmes+37073143
CUTChez Reavie+36974143
CUTRhein Gibson+37271143
CUTCole Hammer+37271143
CUTMatt NeSmith+37073143
CUTTaylor Montgomery+37469143
CUTDoug Ghim+37172143
CUTMac Meissner+36875143
CUTKevin Kisner+36974143
CUTPadraig Harrington+47074144
CUTMartin Trainer+47272144
CUTJoel Dahmen+46975144
CUTRico Hoey+47074144
CUTJorge Campillo+47074144
CUTLuke List+57174145
CUTTrace Crowe+57174145
CUTPatton Kizzire+57174145
CUTJosh Teater+56976145
CUTJake Knapp+57471145
CUTBen Taylor+56877145
CUTJustin Suh+67373146
CUTAlex Smalley+67472146
CUTSung Kang+67274146
CUTZac Blair+67373146
CUTVince Whaley+67274146
CUTAlexander Björk+67472146
CUTTom Whitney+66779146
CUTStewart Cink+67175146
CUTBlaine Hale, Jr.+77572147
CUTRichy Werenski+77473147
CUTKris Ventura+77374147
CUTBrandt Snedeker+87375148
CUTRobert MacIntyre+87474148
CUTDavid Lipsky+87672148
CUTNorman Xiong+87078148
CUTCarson Young+87375148
CUTHenrik Norlander+87078148
CUTMatt Wallace+87474148
CUTCody Gribble+97673149
CUTThorbjørn Olesen+97475149
CUTRobby Shelton+107476150
CUTBrandon Wu+107377150
CUTDawie van der Walt+107674150
CUTRafael Campos+117873151
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CUTHayden Buckley+127577152
CUTRyan McCormick+127181152
CUTJimmy Walker+137875153
CUTJesse Droemer+187682158
W/DScott Stallings-72-72
Updated: March 30, 2024
Texas Children’s Houston Open 2024
Date: 28th March - 31st March, 2024
Location: Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston, Texas
Purse: $9,100,000