Augusta awaits but first Houston

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 Shell Houston Open | Preview | 30 Mar 2011

With just one last chance to have their games in shape for next week’s first major championship of the year at Augusta National, many in this week’s Shell Houston Open field will use the event as a final hit-out before they head back east for the Masters.

It also offers one last chance for those not already qualified for Augusta National to earn their right to be amongst next week’s elite field. The winner is assured of teeing it up next Thursday.

This week’s event will again be played at its home since 2006, the Tournament Course at the Redstone Golf Club in Humble near Houston. The Tournament Course is a Rees Jones designed layout along with the assistance of David Toms. It was opened in 2005 and was almost immediately put into play for this tournament.

The golf courses has been set up in such a way that although played on Bermuda greens and in a very different setting to Augusta National it provides a much more Augusta feel than was the case in earlier years. It needed to be in order to capture the sort of field they have this year.

The defending champion in 2011 will be Anthony Kim who destroyed Vaughn Taylor’s hopes of getting to Augusta National the following week by beating him in a playoff last year.

No player has gone on to win the Masters following the Houston Open but there are several in this week’s field who might change that statistic in twelve days time. Matt Kuchar had a horrible time in this event until last year when he finished 8th.

Since then Kuchar has gone on to become one of the game’s most consistent performers and with five top tens in seven starts this season he deserves to be the favourite despite the quality of those he is up against this week.

World number two Lee Westwood is in the field although perhaps not at his peak of late he is playing well enough to be a factor. He finished in a share of 8th last year prior to finishing runner-up to Mickelson at the Masters and so clearly sees this as a good lead in.

Phil Mickelson has often used the week before a major to fine tune his game for the battle ahead and he will again do so this week. Mickelson does not have a good record over this layout nor, for that matter, is he in particularly great form. His form however is not a lot different to that it was twelve months ago and while a win this week might be a stretch he is no doubt keen to repeat his Masters win and as a preparation this is a proven success.

Surely Steve Marino’s time must come soon. He has gone so close so often and provided he has not been scarred too much by last week’s missed opportunity he could do well. He has improved in each of his four starts on this course to the point where he finished 14th last year.

Foreigners have often done well in this event and Francesco Molinari might be another. The Italian finished third at the recent WGC event at Doral and although this is his first time to this event he has become such a class player that he must be considered.

So too must Hunter Mahan who admittedly has had mixed fortunes in this event with two missed cuts and two top tens but with four top ten finishes in seven starts this season he is playing well enough to be a serious contender.

Australians have often played this event well with Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby being previous winners over this layout. Surprisingly Scott is not in the field but Appleby is and despite narrowly missing the cut last week in Orlando he has been playing well enough this season for him to be keen on his chances.

Marc Leishman went oh so close last week to winning his first PGA Tour title. Leishman has played this event just the once, that coming in his rookie season when he made the cut but finished only midfield. He is very much the quiet achiever of the Australian contingent on the PGA Tour missing one of only eight cuts this season.

Jason Day, Michael Sim, Steven Bowditch, Marc Leishman, Jarrod Lyle, Aaron Baddeley, Matt Jones, Nathan Green, Greg Chalmers, Robert Allenby, Nick O’Hern, John Senden and Steve Elkington make up the balance of Australians in the field.

Appleby, Allenby, Baddeley and Jason Day will head to Augusta next week and so it is a case of whether another Australian can make it seven Australians all up including Scott and Ogilvy in the quest for Australia’s first ever Masters Champion.