Houston Open Round 1: Paul Waring Fires 63, Gary Woodland Is Back, and Rickie Fowler's Masters Dream Is Alive

A 41-year-old Englishman on a medical exemption who’s missed 13 of his last 15 cuts just shot the best round of his PGA Tour career. Golf is stupid and I love it.

Paul Waring Owns Memorial Park

Paul Waring posted a bogey-free 7-under 63 on Thursday to grab the first-round lead at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, and if you’re thinking “who?” — you’re not alone. Waring spent 16 years grinding on the DP World Tour before earning his PGA Tour card through a win at the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. His American adventure has been… rough. Ten missed cuts and a withdrawal in his rookie season. Three more missed cuts to start 2026.

But here’s the thing about golf — form is temporary, class is permanent. Waring hit 14 greens in regulation, found 9 of 13 fairways, and poured in over 160 feet of putts. One hundred and sixty feet. That’s not a hot putter, that’s a putter that’s on fire and someone called the wrong fire department.

“I felt like my golf game was in a good spot,” Waring said. “A lot tidier, no bogeys.” Understatement of the century. He has six starts left on his medical exemption. If this is what “finding momentum” looks like, sign him up for six more.

Gary Woodland’s Comeback Hit Different

One shot back at 6-under 64, Gary Woodland made birdie on three of his final four holes to finish the day as the second-best player on the course. But the scorecard barely scratches the surface of what’s happening here.

At The Players Championship two weeks ago, Woodland opened up publicly about battling PTSD following his 2023 brain surgery. The anxiety, the hyper-awareness, the emotional toll — all of it laid bare in an interview that left him crying before and a thousand pounds lighter after.

“The golf world’s been amazing, and I’m very thankful,” Woodland said Thursday. “I have a battle that I’m fighting, but it’s nice to not do that alone.”

The PGA Tour has added extra security measures for Woodland at tournaments, and the response from players and fans has been overwhelming. Watching him go low on Thursday at Memorial Park isn’t just a good golf story — it’s a human story. And those are the ones that matter.

Rickie Fowler Is Running Out of Runway

Fowler opened with a 3-under 67, which is fine — but “fine” might not cut it. Currently ranked 61st in the world, the 37-year-old needs roughly a top-5 finish this week to crack the OWGR top 50 and earn a Masters invite. He’s made it to Augusta just once in the last five years.

“A lot of it is on the mental side, not trying to do too much or anything special,” Fowler said. Four back of Waring through 18 holes isn’t panic territory, but it’s not comfortable either. This is a $9.9 million tournament, but for Fowler, it’s worth infinitely more. Three more rounds to play his way into the most iconic tournament in golf.

We wrote about Fowler’s predicament earlier this week — the OWGR system is punishing him despite genuinely solid play. A 67 in Round 1 is a start. Now he needs to go lower.

The Rest of the Leaderboard

• Cole Hammer made a hole-in-one on the par-3 15th. Local kid from Houston. The crowd went ballistic.
• Brooks Koepka posted another solid round, continuing three straight top-20 finishes. His comeback story keeps getting better.
• Chris Gotterup, the highest-ranked player in the field, buried a 72-footer for birdie on his ninth hole to turn in 1-under. Still finding his feet.
• Sahith Theegala matched Fowler at 3-under, another guy who needs a big week.
• Wyndham Clark holed out from the fairway for eagle on 13 after back-to-back bogeys. Classic Clark chaos.
• Pierceson Coody shot 70 and will need to go low Friday. He’s on the Masters bubble at world No. 51.

What to Watch Friday

The cut is going to be interesting. The afternoon wave struggled with tougher conditions, so expect some movement. Keep your eyes on:

1. Fowler — needs to stay in the top 5 conversation
2. Woodland — if he keeps this up, the storyline writes itself
3. Waring — can he back it up, or was Thursday a one-off?

The $9.9 million purse is nice, but with the Masters less than two weeks away, this tournament means more than money. For guys like Fowler, Theegala, and Coody, it might be the difference between playing Augusta and watching on TV.

Round 2 coverage continues Friday at 3 PM ET on Golf Channel.