– Gary Woodland (-13) is firmly in control of the Texas Children’s Houston Open after two rounds. After the 64 he carded on Thursday he followed it today with a 63 and the veteran from Kansas now enjoys a three-shot lead over an Nicolai Hojgaard (-10) who was outstanding and posted the best score of the day (a 62), and a very deserving contender in Jackson Suber (-10). It has been nearly seven years since Woodland last won; that was the 2019 US Open at Pebble Beach. And it has been a year since the last time this player came very close to victory, which was at this same tournament and on this same course, the Memorial Park Golf course (he finished second last year, one shot behind the winner, Min Woo Lee).
– It’s inevitable: whenever Woodland is among the leaders, many will hope he completes the story successfully. Not only because of the kindness that surrounds him, highlighted and praised by his peers and, generally, by the travelling golf circus, but also to see whether such an outcome could help him in some way to leave behind the trauma caused by the brain tumour he suffered, which was removed in September 2023. As we said, most people feel this long journey of recovery deserves a happy ending, or at least a sweet interlude.
– No one, so far, is hitting the irons and wedges better than Woodland. No one is putting better than him either. It’s a winning combination, of course, but on this course and in such benign conditions the eventual winner will have to keep going very low, making lots of birdies. For the moment, aside from Hojgaard, Min Woo Lee (-9) and Jason Day (-8) also stand out as strong contenders, but there is still enough room for someone else to sneak in with a big Saturday card and even on Sunday.
– No, no one is going to give Woodland anything, as it should be. And perhaps this is Nicolai’s moment. The young Dane, who has not won a tournament for more than two years, is still chasing his first victory on the PGA Tour, a prize that will eventually ripen and fall, make no mistake. We’ll see whether it happens this week.
– Brooks Koepka (+4), for his part, has been unable to recover after the collapse in the first round. He has barely managed to card a 69, one under par. As the Floridian will not be at the Valero Texas Open next week, he has two weeks of hard work ahead to clear doubts and bad feelings before the Masters, because let us not forget that he arrived in Houston with the healthy intention of seeing himself on Sunday battling for the win, as he admitted in the days prior to the start of the tournament.
