Shell Houston Open tees off at new home
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2006 Shell Houston Open | Preview | 19 Apr 2006
The Shell Houston Open will be played over a new layout in 2006 although the event will stay at the Redstone Golf Club in Humble Texas on the outskirts of Houston.
The Tournament course, as it will be known, was opened in August of 2005 and will replace the adjacent Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy designed layout, which has been the tournament home for the past three years. This new layout is a public facility and was designed by the Rees Jones in conjunction with current world number eight player, David Toms. The layout was routed through mature Oak-pine and Cypress trees suggesting a premium on accuracy. The previous layout used at Redstone has become a private facility.
The tournament will be played in this time slot for the last time in 2006 as in 2007 it moves forward in the calendar to the week preceding the Masters. It will be interesting to see what impact that such a move has on the field as there are several players who prefer not to play the week before a major although the tournament’s dominant figure in recent years, Vijay Singh, often does.
This year Vijay Singh will defend a championship that he won in a playoff last season over John Daly. Singh also won this event in 2002 (at the TPC at Woodlands) and 2004 but with this being a new venue there will be much interest in how it plays and who handles it best.
With little previous form to go on, the best indication of just who might go well this week will be those who are currently in good form and of course Singh, with eight top tens in his last eleven events in 2006, fits very much into that category. He is not perhaps at the peak he was when winning here last year but he might not need to be.
David Toms will be under pressure to perform given his involvement with the design of the course and there will be plenty of onlookers this week reminding him that he should know how to play the course because he assisted in its design. His most recent form has been poor, missing two out of the last three cuts, but prior to that he played well early in the Florida swing and of course won in Hawaii in January suggesting that the Bermuda Mini Verde Greens won’t be an issue.
Darren Clarke has played this event just twice but has been inside the top five on both occasions. His form has been solid enough of late to see yet another good week here.
Mike Weir seems to be getting back to some good form in recent weeks after a horror run earlier in the year and for much of 2005. He has seldom played here but his first win in more than two years may not be that far away.
Padraig Harrington has been neither good not bad in recent weeks. It is his first time in this event but given that this is a new venue he will not suffer in that regard.
Camilo Villegas missed the cut last week but his form prior was superb for the first season player and he could do well her on the Bermuda greens he became so familiar with while at college in Florida.
The Australians are headed by Stuart Appleby, in terms of world ranking at least. Since his great start to the year Appleby has hardly been in great form but as a previous winner and runner up in this event, albeit at different venues, then he might be inspired into better things here in Texas.
Aaron Baddeley might find it difficult to back up from such a significant week last week but he might also be buoyed by such an impressive win. Nathan Green, John Senden, Mathew Goggin, Gavin Coles, who played well in this event last year, the improving Stephen Leaney, Greg Chalmers, Steve Bowditch, Phil Tataurangi and Craig Perks make up the Australasians in the field for the US$5.3 million event.
