Rory McIlroy is the man to beat at the Houston Open but England’s Aaron Rai is the value bet
Rory is too short to back.
Aaron Rai wanted to be a Formula One driver growing up as a kid in Wolverhampton but now he’s a rising star on the PGA Tour and on the right track to the top.
Winner of the Wyndham Championship last August, his first tournament success outside of the United States was at the Kenya Open with his mum watching him play for the first time as a professional on Mother’s Day way back in 2017. How cool is that?
Since then, Rai has made steady progress, taking the Hong Kong and Scottish Opens and he is getting better all the time.
The 30-year-old now resides in Jacksonville in Florida and hones his skills at nearby Sawgrass so it was no surprise when he finished tied 14th at the Players’ Championship a fortnight ago.
That followed a T11 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a T4 at the Mexico Open and he has also finished T15 at the Sentryin Hawaii to kick off the 2025 season.
He’s ready to be a regular challenger to finish at the top of the leaderboard on Sundays and a pair of T7 efforts on his last two visits to Memorial Park suggest he’s ready to put up a strong showing at this week’s Houston Open.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy look the most likely to win but Rai is fantastic each-way value at 20/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral who are paying out on ten places.
Stephan Jaeger cashed the e/w part of our bet on him at the Valspar on Sunday at 55/1 when he was tied eighth with Lucas Glover, who boosted our account in similar fashion at 60/1.
Jaeger is 33/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral this week but Glover is having a break so our other each-ways, with the same betting outlets, are Tony Finau, who is 25/1 and new dad Adam Schenk at 175/1.
Finau set a course record at this event when winning two years ago and was a T2 last year while Schenk has been in poor form since a T6 at the Sentry at the start of the year but is a decent golfer and will be one of the many to experience the baby boost following the arrival of Connor, who was born two weeks ago.
Jess to strong for Emma
Emma Raducanu played some excellent tennis to beat Amanda Anismova in straight sets at the Miami Open and reach her first Masters 1000 quarter-final.
But it has to be noted that her previous match finished early because her opponent was forced to retire while Anismova was involved in a gruelling late-night affair against the red-hot Mirra Andreeva.
Former US Open champion Raducanu now faces a tough battle against Jessica Pegula in the last eight and though she will give her all, the best bet is for the American to win in three sets at 16/5 with Ladbrokes and Coral.
• Stick the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers in a Lucky 15 to win their respective divisions at the end of the new Major League Baseball season.
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