If there is a Houston Open golf tournament next year, and that is likely to be determined within the next couple of weeks, it’s a good bet Astros owner Jim Crane will be the guy who rode to the rescue when nobody else could.

A PGA Tour fixture in Houston since 1946, the tournament in the past year has lost its longtime title sponsor (Shell), its prime calendar date leading into the Masters and its venue — the Golf Club of Houston. Its mere existence apparently hangs in the balance.

Crane, an avid golfer who owns an upscale course — The Floridian — has not only delivered the city’s first World Series title, he stepped up big in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. He clearly understands professional golf’s value to the city and is working behind the scenes to help find a sponsor.

“This is a big golf town and the tournament is important to Houston,” Crane told the Houston Chronicle in early May. “It has been here a long time. It would be bad for the town and bad for golf if we lost it.”

In addition to finding a title sponsor willing to pony up in the range of $12 million per year for at least three years, a new venue must be part of the package. Houston mayor Sylvester Turner is pushing to bring the event back within the city limits, and is lobbying intensely for Memorial Park.

The PGA Tour, for its part, would prefer not to lose a city like Houston. But this is more about business than sentiment. Chicago, for instance, lost its regular tour stop a few years ago.

Should the Houston Open survive, possible dates that have been floated are mid-May, mid June or in the fall. The May date would probably lead into the PGA Championship, which is being moved from August. The June date would probably be the week before the U.S. Open.

Neither of the two would help attract top players, but Houston doesn’t appear to have much leverage. On the other hand, Jim Crane has established himself as a guy with the clout to make good things happen.

Don’t be surprised if he gets a deal done.

CHIP SHOTS

The guy who writes this column authored something even better on Memorial Day — a hole-in-one. Ace No. 4 came from 122-yards with a 9-iron on the seventh hole at Babe Zaharias. Witnesses were Bob Byerly, Don Duplan and Pete Reobroi.

With four holes in one, I’m now halfway to the total of eight recorded by my dad, Roy West. Time is not on my side to catch him, but you never know. On the final hole Monday, the par 3, 15th, my 9-iron missed a second ace of the day by eight inches …

Much has been written about the triumphs of the past year by the Pea Patch trio of Chris Stroud, Andrew Landry and Braden Bailey. What happened the past few days shows the fickle nature of golf.

Stroud, after shooting a one-under-par 69 the first day of the Fort Worth Invitational, withdrew on the seventh hole of the second round with a knee injury. The knee had been an annoying ongoing problem, requiring frequent icing, but it went to a new level when he heard a pop after a shot out of a sand trap.

The Port Neches-Groves ex has been told to stay off the knee for three weeks. He is not expected to play again until after the U.S. Open.

Landry, who won his first PGA tournament a little over a month ago, shot 70-77 in Fort Worth and missed the cut. He will try to rebound this week in Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament near Columbus, Ohio.

Bailey, after a two-under-par 70 in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Stillwater, Oklahoma, followed up with an 80 and wound up finishing tied for 90th at the 54-hole cut with a 226. Bailey’s Baylor Bears, ranked as high as No. 5 earlier in the year, finished 30th out of 30 teams.

Next stop for Braden is Monday’s 36-hole U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier at Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Richmond. He earned a spot in the field by finishing second in local qualifying three weeks ago in Dallas …

There were two-way ties on both the front and back nines in Monday’s Senior 50 Plus 2-ball at Babe Zaharias. Posting two under on the front was the team of Dwayne Morvant, Troy Touchet, Lee Bertrand and Wayne McBride. Also at minus-2 was the foursome of Bob West, Byerly, Duplan and Reobroi.

Minus-2 was also the winning score on the back for the fivesome of Russ Gloede, Bob Luttrell, James Trahan, Dan Flood and Paul Brown and the foursome of Ed Holley, Larry Foster, Keith Marshall and Paul Duplantis …

The Friday Senior 2-ball saw the team of Craig Geoffroy, Gary Fontenot, Bill Jones and Wes McGuire win the front in minus-3.

On the back, there was a tie at even par bettween the team of Earl Richard, Sharpe, Ron Mistrot and a ghost player, and the foursome of West, Don MacNeil, Reobroi and Roger Baumer …

Format for the Thursday Seniors at Zaharias was stroke play with handicap.

Rick Pritchett won First Flight with a 70, edging Benny Sharpe by one stroke. In Second Flight there was a tie at 70 between Ben Thornton and Duplantis.

Closest to the pin winners were Joe Gongora (No. 2) and Kenny Robbins (No. 7) …

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