PGA Tour: Danny Walker, Karl Vilips lead First Coast players in the Houston Open field

The PGA Tour is done in Florida for the season with four close finishes, a first-time winner in Joe Highsmith at the Cognizant Classic and three veterans adding to their resumes, Russell Henley at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy at The Players Championship and Viktor Hovland in the Valspar Championship. 

Highsmith made the cut on the number, then shot 64-64 on the weekend to win by two at PGA National. Henley chipped in for eagle on the 16th hole at Bay Hill and beat Collin Morikawa by one shot. McIlroy topped J.J. Spaun at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in the second three-hole playoff in the history of The Players. And Hovland birdied three of four holes late to pass Justin Thomas to win at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course. 

For good measure, Karl Vilips, a recent Jacksonville transplant, won in Puerto Rico for his first Tour victory. 

The Tour now goes to Texas for a two-tournament swing as the run-up to the season’s first major, the Masters Tournament April 10-13 at Augusta National. It starts this week with the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park and then goes to the TPC San Antonio next week for the Valero Texas Open. 

One running storyline for the next two weeks is that the last way to get into the Masters field is to win in Houston or San Antonio.  

This week, 134 players in the 156-man field are not in the Masters.

Who's got next?

Who are the area players in the Texas Children’s Houston Open field? 

First Coast: Derek Bard, Ricky Castillo, Vince Covello, Nico Echavarria, Lanto Griffin, Philip Knowles, Aaron Rai, Sam Ryder, Alejandro Tosti, Karl Vilips, Danny Walker. 

Golden Isles: Harris English, Will Gordo, Ben Griffin, Zach Johnson, Patton Kizzire, Keith Mitchell, Andew Novak, Paul Peterson, Greyson Sigg, Davis Thompson. 

Purse: $9.5 million ($1,710,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner). 

Defending champion: Stephan Jaeger. 

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m.); NBC (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.). 

What other Tours are playing this week? 

LPGA 

Event: Ford Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Whirlwind Golf Club, Chandler, Ariz. 

Purse: $2.2 million ($337,500 to the winner).  

Defending champion: Nelly Korda. 

Area players: Auston Kim. 

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 7-9 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 6-9 p.m.) 

PGA Tour Champions 

Event: Galleri Classic, Friday-Sunday, Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, Calif. 

Purse: $2.2 million ($396,000 to the winner). 

Defending champion: Retief Goosen. 

Area players: David Duval, Fred Funk, Vijay Singh. 

TV: Golf Channel (Friday, 4-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).