Astros owner to run Houston Open
- by Rene Duval
- in Sport
- — Juin 15, 2018
The tournament will move to the fall portion of the season, with its next iteration coming in the fall of 2019 during the 2019-20 PGA Tour campaign.
Undated- The Houston Open is moving to the fall on the PGA Tour under the guidance of Houston Astros owner Jim Crane. The Houston Golf Association ran it without a title sponsor this year, and the tour struggled to find a replacement. The date of the tournament was not announced. The prize money will be $7.5 million.
The commitment to the Houston Open from the Astros Foundation, with the support of a consortium of local sponsors, is in place through 2023.
The news appeared grimmer, too, when Detroit was announced as a future PGA Tour site, and reports surfaced as well that Minnesota would be getting a Tour event as well.
Once his agreement with the PGA Tour is official, it is expected that Crane will have the tournament played at the Golf Club of Houston for at least two more years.
Still to be determined is the schedule between the PGA Championship in May through the British Open in July.
That means the Houston Open will not be on the schedule for next season, which starts in October.
"We'll make adjustments going forward", Timms said.
"I think it would be great for Minnesota, golf in Minnesota and fans in Minnesota", PGA player Tim Herron, who lives in the Twin Cities, said when asked earlier this month by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS about a possible stop in his home state.
The Houston Open dates to 1946 when Byron Nelson won at River Oaks Country Club.
The links course now plays host to the 3M Championships - part of the PGA Champions (Senior) Tour - in late July and early August which has been in Minnesota since the early 1990s. The Houston event had been tentatively booked for June 6-9 next year, one week before the U.S. Open. "The event has always made a significant charitable impact by virtue of tremendous partners and outstanding community support, and thanks to the Astros Foundation and Jim Crane, these works including support of The First Tee of Greater Houston will continue".
