Coody twins make history, Davis Riley's swing fix among things to know from opening round of 2024 Houston Open

HOUSTON — Guess who's near the top of the leaderboard again? Yup, it's the World No. 1.

Scottie Scheffler is tied for third after the first day of play at the 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course. Scheffler, who won his last two starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, opened with a bogey-free 5-under 65 and had his 28th straight round under par, breaking a PGA Tour record.

All in a day's work for Scheffler. He trails only Taylor Moore, who shot 6-under 64 after a bogey on his first hole, and Wilson Furr, who tied Moore on top with a 20-foot birdie putt on his final hole.

The top of the leaderboard has plenty of PGA Tour winners while it also boasts a good mix of rookies. With the change from a fall event to the spring, the golf course is completely different than it has played in the past, but pros are raving about it. And plenty of golfers took advantage of scorable conditions on a perfect Thursday.

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Here's what you need to know from the opening round of the 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open:

Coody twins make history

Twins Parker and Pierceson Coody, both PGA Tour rookies, made history Thursday when they teed off Thursday morning.

They became the first twin Tour professionals to play in the same pairing. The duo did so once last year on the Korn Ferry Tour, but the Texans own some PGA Tour history after their opening rounds. Pierceson shot 2-under 68 while Parker carded a even-par 70.

"It was interesting," Parker said. "We were actually playing a practice round together, he read the tee time. I was like, like in my mind I thought it was going to be wrong just because we've never been like first two rounds paired together in any junior event, amateur event. We've been paired together like on the weekend in Omaha, but..."

Added Pierceson: "It was definitely a little more weird until the round started. Once the round started, it felt very normal. Yeah, definitely thought it was a typo."

Last year at the RSM Classic, amateurs David and Maxwell Ford, juniors on the North Carolina golf team, played together, but Parker and Pierceson are the first pros to achieve the feat.

The Coodys are well known in the golf realm. Their grandfather, Charles, won the 1971 Masters, beating Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus by two shots. The twins played collegiately at Texas, winning a national title in 2022. Last year, they played on the Korn Ferry Tour before earning their cards.

Scheffler joked Thursday he still has a hard time telling the Coodys apart after having them over for dinner a couple months ago. Nevertheless, they have another round together Friday.

"It was a little more serious or less talkative (than a practice round), but we still talked, and our caddies are good friends," Parker said. "Luckily we played with Jacob (Bridgeman), who we've known for a pretty long time now and his caddie as well. It was pretty laid back still. Definitely a little more tense than a practice round, though."

Davis Riley's swing fix

Sometimes, all it takes it one swing.

That's the case for Davis Riley. It happened Saturday during the third round of the Players Championship, when he was working with instructor Jeff Smith on the back of the range at TPC Sawgrass. The duo spent two or three hours after Riley missed the cut working on his swing.

Last week at the Valspar Championship, Riley said he knew the changes were paying off, even though he missed the cut. This week, it translated to the course.

Riley is tied for third with Scheffler and Joe Highsmith at 5-under 65, and it's a welcome sign for Riley after a terrible start to the year. He has made only one cut this season (he finished T-52 at The Sentry and 78th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, both events with no cut) and missed the weekend in six of his starts.

His weekend plans look to involve plenty of golf.

"For me, just I have a tendency to kind of get low and shut, and I never get it back out in front of me and then I'm kind of protecting a left miss," Riley said. "So just trying to keep the club more in front of me going back and then from there it's kind of a domino effect, everything starts to line up a lot better."

Riley's highlight came when he made eagle on the par-5 16th, but he also had five birdies on his final nine holes, the front side at Memorial Park, to come home in 4-under 31.

He won the Zurich Classic last year for his first Tour victory, but this year has been a struggle. That's why it was a sigh of relief when his swing finally clicked.

"That's why golf is the crazy game it is because we always think it's some science project and it's usually something as simple as, 'all right, let's just take the club straighter away or let's just keep the club in front of us,'" Riley said. "That's why we're all crazy people out here pulling our hair out."

Checking in on the defending champ

Tony Finau had a roller coaster start to his title defense in Houston.

He shot 1-under 69 in a round that included four birdies and three bogeys. He was terrific of the tee and approaching the green, gaining nearly five strokes combined in those categories on the field. However, around and on the putting surfaces was a different story.

Finau lost nearly two strokes around the greens and nearly three on them, one of the worst marks in the field. He missed only two greens all day but took 34 putts.

After turning in his scorecard, Finau immediately went to the putting green for some extra practice.

Wyndham Clark struggles late

Wyndham Clark doesn't want to make excuses, but he has every reason to.

He injured his back Monday and wasn't able to fully swing a club until Wednesday. Through his first 10 holes Thursday when he was 3 under, it seemed as if he was again set to position himself near the top of the leaderboard.

However, Clark crumbled late. He bogeyed Nos. 14, 16 and 18 to card an even-par 70 in the opening round. He hit his approach shot on the par-5 16th into the water and was unable to salvage par. He failed to scramble on No. 14 and 16.

But he's not blaming his injury.

"I mean, I felt like I had most of my speed," Clark said. "I definitely felt it all day, but no excuse for how I played. I was playing honestly pretty good, just missed that short putt on the 13th and another one on the 14th and that kind of put me into a lull."

Ultimately, Clark called it a good day. But after runner-up finishes in his previous two starts, it's likely the World No. 4 will try to make a strong push early Friday with his quick turnaround.

Tosti time

Last week at the Valspar Championship, Alejandro Tosti opened with a 68 before progressively getting worse every round: 73. 76. 77.

So he made a change. He switched the grip on his putter. He wanted something that felt softer.

The switch is working thus far. Tosti had eight birdies in the opening round, and the Tour rookie sits at 4 under after Thursday's action.

"I changed a couple settings in my putting and definitely feels better, but still needs some work to do," Tosti said.

Before last week's T-75 finish, Tosti missed the cut in his previous three starts. It has been a rough start to his rookie year, his best finish being a T-43 at the Farmers Insurance Open.