As a full-time member of the PGA Tour, Paul Waring’s best finish has been a T47 at the 2025 Canadian Open. He has battled injury and his game, but on Thursday at the 2026 Houston Open, it all came together for the 41-year-old Englishman, who opened his tournament at Memorial Park with a bogey-free 7-under 63 to command the first-round lead.
Waring arrived in Houston this week with a medical extension. His rookie season on the PGA Tour was tough sledding with 10 missed cuts and a withdrawal across 12 tournaments as he tried to power through the pain of injury. His first three starts on the PGA Tour in 2026 produced the same — three straight missed cuts — but with missed cuts came a chance to find his game.
“To be fair, I found a little bit of momentum coming forward in the last few weeks,” Waring said. “I know [I] missed cuts at Valspar [Championship] and Cognizant [Classic], but [I] felt like my golf game was in a good spot. … I gave too many shots away in the first few weeks, where this week, a lot tidier, no bogeys and holed a good amount of footage today. I think I’ve just been told I holed over 160 feet of putts today, which is massive and gives you a massive advantage.”
Waring’s 63 was the best around Memorial Park by a stroke as Gary Woodland made birdie on three of his final four holes late in the evening to post his 64. Another man who is going through a fight of his own, Woodland revealed at The Players Championship that he has been battling post-traumatic stress disorder following his 2023 brain surgery.
Open and honest, Woodland shared that the emotional and mental toll from his operation has been crippling. The PGA Tour has brought in additional security measures for when Woodland plays, as he is engulfed with anxiety and hyper awareness — common traits associated with PTSD — and has felt a massive weight lifted off his shoulders since the interview.
“The response has been … big, and it’s also been big for me because I got a lot of relief,” Woodland said. “I literally feel like I got a thousand pounds off my back that day. It was hard to do. I was crying going into the interview, and I left feeling a thousand pounds lighter.
“I have a battle that I’m fighting, but it’s nice to not do that alone, I can tell you that. We’ll take it one day at a time and continue to get better. But the Tour out here is a family, and they’ve been amazing. The golf world’s been amazing, and I’m very thankful.”
Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler is fighting for more than just a trophy this week. Ranked No. 61 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Fowler needs a high finish to climb inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings and earn an invitation to the first major championship of the year.
“I had a great run last year, kind of second half of the year, and felt like I was in a good spot with my game,” Fowler said. “Was able to get some downtime to work on the body and get my shoulder in a better spot, where I wasn’t having to play through the pain. So, luckily, had played well through the summer. I had confidence knowing we could go out and kind of play some simple golf. Kind of picked up at AmEx and did a good job there of continuing that.
“A lot of it is on the mental side, not trying to do too much or anything special, trying to kind of let the rounds come to me and piece things together and kind of plot my way around.”
Fowler stands at 3 under with world No. 80 Sahith Theegala, who is also in need of a massive performance at the place he once called home. Former Texas Longhorn Pierceson Coody fired a 70 and will battle the cutline on Friday to get the finish he needs to go from outside the Masters bubble at world No. 51 to inside that magic number.
Leader
1. Paul Waring (-7): Waring spent 2008-24 on the DP World Tour and was able to make his way to the PGA Tour thanks to a win at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship during the postseason. He would be a fool not to jump at the opportunity to play stateside, but it has been a difficult go of things ever since. Despite this, Waring believes he is close to his 2024 form. While his putting proved to be the biggest difference maker, he still connected on 14 greens in regulation and hit 9 of 13 fairways in Round 1, showing the tee-to-green play is not far behind.
“It’s not a million miles away. That week [in Abu Dhabi in 2024], I felt like I was exceptional with the wedges, which was the reason I managed to score so low,” Waring said. “I was aggressive off the tee that week, gave myself all the chances. This golf course is quite nice for me. … I would say it’s wide off the tee, it’s quite forgiving off the tee, so it gives me a chance to move the body at speed and without any fear.
“So I could swing freely, I could and get myself into those wedge positions, especially on the par 5s. Again, all the work has been around what I did that sort of couple years ago to get myself sort of back in this place that I am now. So hopefully I can build on this today. See how the week goes.”
Contenders
2. Gary Woodland (-6)
T3. Sam Burns, Michael Brennan, Tom Hoge (-5)
T6. Marco Penge, Stephan Jaeger, Kurt Kitayama, Matt Wallace (-4)
It’s as cool as it gets. One week after Woodland opened up, he notched a top 15 finish at the Valspar Championship, and now, one week after that, he is in the mix at the Houston Open. This has been a happy hunting ground for the former U.S. Open champion in recent years with a runner-up performance a season ago to go along with finishes of T21 and T9.
Statistically, Woodland was awesome in Round 1. He ranked second in greens in regulation and top 10 in both ball striking categories as well as putting. That’s great on paper, but even more importantly, Woodland felt comfortable inside the ropes.
“At the end of the day, it’s confidence,” Woodland said. “I’ve had some good practice over the last couple of months and I hadn’t seen anything on the course, so it’s trying to stay patient. Last week, I started to see some signs on the course. Even when I got behind the 8-ball in a couple of rounds early last week, I fought back hard at the end. I was able to get off and running today, really just played solid. Felt good out there all day, that’s a big plus.”
2026 Houston Open updated odds, picks
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
- Sam Burns: 15/2
- Gary Woodland: 12-1
- Kurt Kitayama: 13-1
- Marco Penge: 15-1
- Min Woo Lee: 18-1
- Rickie Fowler: 21-1
- Michael Brennan: 23-1
- Adam Scott: 24-1
- Stephan Jaeger: 25-1
Theegala at 32-1 is still a great play. The former Houston resident did everything one is supposed to do Thursday as he made three birdies on the three par 5s, picked one up elsewhere and dropped only one shot. He gained strokes throughout the bag and should be able to give it a good go Friday afternoon after some much-needed rest following his TGL championship and an early Round 1 tee time.
