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Golf: Shell Houston Open


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Stuart Appleby @ 41 (E/W 1/4, 1-2-3-4-5) Sportingbet Australia Stuart Appleby has played @ Redstone 4 times previously, coming away with 1 win and 2x 2nd place finishes. If you take away a poor 3rd round last week he would have been well in contention and he had an 8th place the tournament prior, so his form is building. A man coming into form playing at a course he has done exceptionally well on should give him a pyschological lift that could well see him at the point end come Sunday.

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open The Shell Houston Open April 2 - 5, 2009 Redstone GC Tournament Course Humble, Texas Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,457 yards Purse: $5.6 million with $1,008,000 going to the winner Defending Champions: Johnson Wagner This will be the 62nd edition of the Shell Houston Open, which was formerly called the Houston Open. This is its fourth year at The Tournament Course at Redstone. This course was created especially with the Shell Houston Open in mind. In prior years the tournament was held across the street at the Members Course at Redstone. Before that, the TPC at the Woodlands had been the site between 1985 and 2002. Courses used before 1985 include the West course at the Woodlands, River Oaks C.C., Memorial Park G.C., Pine Forest C.C., Brae Burn C.C., Sharpstown C.C., Champions G.C., Westwood G.C. and Quail Valley G.C. The first Shell Houston Open was played in 1946 and was called the Tournament of Champions. Byron Nelson beating Ben Hogan by two strokes at River Oaks. Redstone Golf Club is an anomaly. It's a relatively new course with a history, located on the site of the former El Dorado Country Club. Designed by Jay Riviere, El Dorado Country Club opened in the 1960s but was closed in the early 1990s as a victim of a suffering Houston economy following the oil bust. Redstone Golf Club's Tournament Course is one of only 11 courses in the country that are open to the public and host a PGA Tour event. The course features Mini Verdie greens and Tif Sport fairways and tees. It was designed by Rees Jones with PGA Tour Professional David Toms serving as course design consultant. The course has a variation of different holes, but what sticks out are the short par 4s. Four of them are under 400 yards but they're offset by four par 4s that are longer than 460 yards. It also has a killer finish with the par 3, 16th hole playing at 204 yards and the final two holes playing at 489 and 488 yards. The last hole was the hardest hole on the course last year playing to a 4.367 average The average green size at Redstone is 6,500 square feet, which is a little larger than average on the PGA Tour. The course has 50 bunkers and water comes into play on 10 holes. The effort to make course conditions at Redstone resemble those of Augusta National has had its desired effect. Eight of the top 10 players in the world are in the field this week, including No. 2 Phil Mickelson and No. 3 Sergio Garcia, who is making only his fourth PGA Tour start of the season. The star-studded field also includes Vijay Singh, a three-time winner in Houston; Padraig Harrington, who slowly is regaining form after winning the last two majors of 2008; and rapidly ascending Geoff Ogilvy. Another big name who will be watched is Davis Love III. He needs to win this tournament in order to qualify for the Masters. In the 29 years the Masters has extended invitations to all PGA Tour winners during the preceding 52 weeks, only nine players have earned the 11th-hour invite by winning the week before. Love is among them, having pulled off the feat in 1995 at the Freeport-McMoran Classic. Houston has become a desirable Masters tune-up venue, thanks to its successful imitation of Augusta National's fast greens and shaved banks. The rough and fairways at Redstone will be cut in the same manner as Augusta, too. In addition to everyone in the top 10 except Tiger Woods and Kenny Perry being on hand, the field includes Ernie Els, Anthony Kim and Justin Leonard. Greg Norman and Rory McIlroy will represent both ends of the age spectrum. Expect the freakishly long Alvaro Quiros to turn heads, as well.

Players that have won the week before, then won the Masters:
Player Year/Tournament
Phil Mickelson 2006 BellSouth Classic
Sandy Lyle 1988 Greensboro Open
Art Wall 1959 Azalea Open
Sam Snead 1949 Greensboro Open
Ralph Guldahl 1939 Greenboro Open
Talking about Mickelson, this chart right shows Phil is not afraid of winning the week before a major. But for others, such as Davis Love III, this week is very important. Love hasn't missed a major since the 1990 U.S. Open, a run of 70 in a row. That streak is in jeopardy because if Love doesn't win this week in Houston he will miss the Masters. The odds of a Love victory aren't good. He has made seven starts this season and his best finish is T24 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Nevertheless, Love would love to do the deed again; he was in this same position in 1995 and won in New Orleans. He finished second to Ben Crenshaw the following week at the Masters. (Source Golf Observer) Predictions: P Mickelson @8.50 EW Paddypower Mickelson hasn't played in Houston a ton, but there's a reason he chose to play here this week and skip Bay Hill last week: It will get his game ready for the Masters. With a win at Doral under his belt, he has proven that playing the week before the Masters is no hindrance to him having achieved wins back to back in 2006 of The BellSouth Classic & The Masters. It is also time for him to make a statement in that Tiger will not have it all his own way next week at Augusta! G Ogilvy @16.00 EW Paddypower He's already won twice in 09 and came close here last year finishing runner up! With the Course configuration set up to resemble Augusta National like last year Ogilvy should be up there come sunday! V Singh @46.00 EW Totesport Vijay has suffered since coming back from surgery and it was inevitable that due to his age he would not be competitive for awhile! Last week he showed he is about to comeback with a decent showing sooner rather than later when closing with a 69 at Bay Hill. His record here at Houston is great having won this tournament twice since it moved to Redstone and three times overall. Go back a year or so ago and Vijay would be half these odds in any Tournament he turned up to! D Love @67.00 EW Coral Last chance saloon for Davis here because he needs to win this to get into the field for next week's Masters! He's done it before by winning in New Orleans in 1995 to get into the Masters field and duely finished runer up to Ben Crenshaw! A man with a mission and I think his odds are massive as he'll be trying his hardest to book his ticket! Most Bookmakers go 1/4 odds 1,2,3,4,5 places! :ok
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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open 2 outrights for me. 2pts KJ.Choi to finish in the Top 10 7/2 Stan James KJ Choi is a very consistent performer and sets up well for this course. Similar in make up to Augusta, another course which the Korean does well on, KJ has all the weapons to succeed here. In his last 4 outings in this event he hasn't been out of the top 10 and with the field this week not the strongest around then this looks a good chance for Choi to pick up another top 10 on the tour. 2pts S.Appleby to finish in the Top 10 7/2 Bet365 Since this tournament moved to Redstone, Stuart Appleby, another who enjoys it around Augusta, has a win and a 2nd to his name. He also has another win and 2nd place in the event before it moved here so this is clearly an event he takes seriously and one he excels in. The Aussie has been clicking in form nicely in the last couple of weeks and looks like his game could be peaking at the right time with Augusta only a week away. Appleby has 4 top 10's in 8 attempts in this and looks a decent price for another here.

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open And now 2 3-balls on the opening day. 3pts B.Estes to beat J.Durant & N.O'Hern 11/8 Boylesports Match tees off at 14.30 BST. Bob Estes is another one with a cracking record in this event. He's finished in the top 10 here in each of the last 3 seasons with a best of 2nd in 2006. He comes into this week off the back of a decent week last week which would've been a lot better but for a poor 1st round. He came back with 3 solid rounds on a very tricky course and that should set him up nicely here. The course is fairly long for a par 72 and neither of his opponents in this match are particularly long off the tee. Nor do they have particularly good records around here. Estes is hitting the ball well and I think he'll take all the beating in this match. 3pts L.Glover to beat S.McCarron & J.Maggert 11/10 Expekt Match tees off at 14.40 BST. Lucas Glover is very good around here and he's another coming into this event off the back of a good week last week. He takes on two veterans in this match and once again the extra length of the course could well catch them out. Jeff Maggert's good showings in this event have come mostly away from here while Scott McCarron's record in this event is particularly poor. Both will have gained some momentum on the Champions Tour but the Australian, Glover, looks a solid bet to me here.

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open Good luck Kev, they look decent bets mate:ok Despite the horrible luck last week, I'm on 2 opening round 3-balls in: A.Romero to beat S.Stricker & D.Love III (5/2 Totesport) Tee time: 14.10 This is just too big a price, despite the tough opposition. Andres Romero is a very nice golfer who is always capable of shooting a low score. Won his only event last term at this time of year so hopeful of a repeat. Performed well 2 weeks ago, only his 3rd round put him out of the running. On this track, we need a player who hits the ball a long way and this guy is more than capable of 350yd+ drives. Stricker is clearly fancied for this and goes well here but I'm hoping the expectation on him takes its toll whilst Love needs to go well to qualify for the Masters. With the pressure off, I'll be taking Romero to get off to a great start. D.Johnson to beat C.Villegas & M.Calcavecchia (9/4 VC) Tee time: 18.50 I can't be having the veteran Calcavecchia here and feel this is a straight 2 way battle. Johnson can certainly strike the ball and will relish this course. Didn't really perform here last term but is getting better with experience and I expect a vastly improved performance here. Is good off the fairway too, with excellent GIR stats, and hot with the putter too. Villegas is clearly a massive danger but, over 18 holes of golf, the 9/4 on Johnson is well worth taking.

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open Sport Golf Event Shell Houston Open Selection Lowest Round of Tournament - Mathew Goggin Strength 2/10 Date 05/04/2009 Bookmaker/Price Sportingbet @ 67.00 (Back) Reasoning This is with Australian Sportingbet To clarify, this bet is to have the lowest scoring round of the tournament. It does not matter which round this score is shot in, it just has to be the lowest scoring round of the event, A recurring pattern for the past 6 months or so is that Mathew Goggin will often have a very low scoring round but mix it up with some more average rounds. In fact this was the case last year @ the Houston open when Goggin fired an -8 64 in between scores of 71, 72 and 74. At odds of 67 I think this market and selection offers good value, certainly more so than his current win odds.

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open It looks like this weekend could be a real slog for the players and it could have a detremental effect on performances next week in The Masters having to cram in so much golf in such a short space of time! Houston Open halted by high winds

_45629462_west_226_get.jpg Westwood had been leading before play was halted
Play at the Houston Open has been suspended due to high winds with the first round set to resume on Friday. Half of the 72-player field teed off before play was halted for the day in mid-afternoon. Earlier, a morning thunderstorm had delayed the start of the tournament by two-and-a-half hours. England's Lee Westwood was leading after firing a four-under 32 on the front nine before horns sounded across the course in Texas. The tournament at the Redstone Golf Club is the last event before the Masters at Augusta later this month.
o.gif 606: DEBATE Have your say on the action in Houston
Although world number one Tiger Woods is absent, eight of the world's top 10 golfers including American Phil Mickelson (ranked second), Spaniard Sergio Garcia (third), Australian Geoff Ogilvy (fourth) and Irishman Padraig Harrington (fifth) are in action. Westwood sank 18-foot birdie putts on the first two holes, then sank a 45-footer on the par-three ninth. (Source BCC Sportwebsite)
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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open Mickelson (+3) is way off the pace due to some horrific high winds yesterday and sits 7 shots off the leader Lee Westwood (-4) after only 8 holes! Could be a time to look at pacesetters here due to there advantage of having played at least part of their 1st round. People off the pace who have part started their 1st round have an uphill task to make headway and then players who have not yet started their rounds will have to cram in their 1st round which could have a tiring effect on their game! Totesport are still going 1/4 odds for 1,2,3,4,5 places so worth getting an in running bet on now! In running Predictions: Bob Estes @29.00 EW Totesport Estes sits in with a clutch of players in 2nd place on -2 after 6 holes. He hails from these parts and knows this tournament well having finished 6th in 2008 - 9th in 2007 - 2nd in 2006 - 39th in 2005. He could capitalise here knowing the top players have an eye on next week and with best part of the field having a real problem in getting in contention here with players having to fit a lot of golf in a short space of time this weekend. Fred Couples @81.00 EW Totesport Another Guy who sits just behind the leader on -1 after 7 holes. Fred has form here too and is a past winner of this tournament in 2003. He finished 4th here last year and 3rd in 1998 so again at a massive price he has to be seriously considered a good each way shot! James Nitties @101.00 EW Totesport Considering this is his 1st year on the PGA Tour, this Aussie has impressed with his performances so far this year! 4th at The FBR, 6th in The Mayakoba, 22nd at The Honda and 22nd last week in The Arnold Palmer Invitational. He sits just on the fringes on -1 after 3 holes and it's better to have some sort of headstart than nothing! As I say I have been impressed with this Guy for a 1st season rookie on the PGA Tour and I feel at the odds he represents another massive each way chance! :ok

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open Casey seizes lead at Houston Open

_45633729_casey226.jpg Casey was one of only five players to complete the second round
Paul Casey shot a two-under-par 70 to take the clubhouse lead at eight under during the suspended second round of the Houston Open. The Englishman was one of only five players to complete two rounds after high winds suspended play on Thursday. He is level with Australian pair Geoff Ogilvy and John Senden, who both failed to finish their rounds on Friday. Rory McIlroy is well placed on five under after 11, while Justin Rose is at three under following his 15 holes. Ogilvy and Casey were two of the 72 players who had their first-round tee times pushed back to Friday. Casey shot a six-under 66 in his first round, then raced the sun to finish a second-round 70.
o.gif 606: DEBATE Have your say on the action in Houston
Ogilvy and Casey are two of the 15 top-20 players at the Redstone Golf Club in Texas this week to prepare for the Masters later this month. "I didn't think we'd get done," Casey said, "but we did. That was great." After two-putting for par on 17, he ran to the 18th tee and hit a 318-yard drive into the fairway just before the round was officially suspended, allowing him to finish the hole Friday. "I figured it was worth it," Casey said. "There's something to be said about saving energy. It's turning into a long week. If I had to get up early (Saturday), that could have been very detrimental. I took a chance, ran for the tee." ROUND 2 Leaderboard Leading Players Saturday, 04 April 2009
COUNTRY ROUND 2 SCORE AFTER
1 Casey Eng 70 -8 18
1 Ogilvy Aus -8 14
1 Senden Aus -8 10
4 Van Pelt US 67 -7 18
4 Byrd US -7 16
4 Stenson Swe -7 13
4 T Armour III US -7 11
4 Knost US -7 8
9 Baird US -6 16
9 Appleby Aus -6 14
9 Villegas Col -6 14
9 Piercy US -6 11
9 Points US -6 10
9 Dufner US -6 9
9 Nitties Aus -6
16 C Taylor US -5 17
16 Verplank US -5 13
16 Bohn US -5 12
16 McIlroy NI -5 11
20 Davis Eng 69 -4 18
(Source BBC Sportwebsite)
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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open A good chance today to make some money on the 3 balls today! Phil Mickelson finished his 1st round on +5 and the leaders are 13 shots clear on -8. It's The Masters next week and he'll have to play at least -5 on his 2nd round to avoid missing the cut! Then he will in all probablity have to play part of his 3rd round today or all if he manages to survive the cut! Now it doesn't take Einstein to know that if he wants to go far here he'll have to tire himself out to do so! and with The Masters a week away I'm a pretty certain he won't be playing to survive the cut! He lines up against Charles Howell (-1) & Justin Leonard (-4) Howell is the more in form man he finished runner up in The Transitions 2 weeks ago and finished 4th in the season opening Sony Open. He has managed to miss one cut in 9 so far this year! Leonard on the other hand has been in some sort of form finishing 5th at The Mercedes & 9th at The World Golf which was his last event before this one back on 15th March which would say to me that he has some sort of problem in not playing over the last couple of weeks. Leonard also has an annoying habit at The Shell Houston of opening well and putting in a very mediocre 2nd round: 2008 - shot a 68 then a 76 2007 - shot a 67 then a 73 2006 - shot a 73 then a 74 There is pattern here for Leonard on his 2nd round and also added to the fact I think a possible problem in not playing for the past 2 weeks says that Howell is the pick for the 3 ball. Prediction: 3 Ball Match - Mickelson v Leonard v Howell Howell @3.25 Paddypower ***** :ok

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open My outrights thus far: Ogilvy -8 finished his 2nd round Nitties -6 with 2nd round to play Couples -4 with 2nd round to play Estes -2 with 2nd round to play Love +1 with 2nd round to play Singh +3 on the 15th hole of his 2nd round Mickelson +5 with 2nd round to play Not bad shape with possibly Singh & Mickelson missing the cut! Love needs to get at least -1 for his 2nd round to make the cut which he'll be playing his damndest to try and make inroads on an improbable win to qualify for next weeks Masters!

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open As predicted Mickelson not wanting to break too much sweat and ends up on +4 for the round. Leonard improves his 2nd round scoring at this event finishing on -2 for the round. Howell comes up trumps with -4 for his 2nd round! Jobs a good'un... :ok

A good chance today to make some money on the 3 balls today! Phil Mickelson finished his 1st round on +5 and the leaders are 13 shots clear on -8. It's The Masters next week and he'll have to play at least -5 on his 2nd round to avoid missing the cut! Then he will in all probablity have to play part of his 3rd round today or all if he manages to survive the cut! Now it doesn't take Einstein to know that if he wants to go far here he'll have to tire himself out to do so! and with The Masters a week away I'm a pretty certain he won't be playing to survive the cut! He lines up against Charles Howell (-1) & Justin Leonard (-4) Howell is the more in form man he finished runner up in The Transitions 2 weeks ago and finished 4th in the season opening Sony Open. He has managed to miss one cut in 9 so far this year! Leonard on the other hand has been in some sort of form finishing 5th at The Mercedes & 9th at The World Golf which was his last event before this one back on 15th March which would say to me that he has some sort of problem in not playing over the last couple of weeks. Leonard also has an annoying habit at The Shell Houston of opening well and putting in a very mediocre 2nd round: 2008 - shot a 68 then a 76 2007 - shot a 67 then a 73 2006 - shot a 73 then a 74 There is pattern here for Leonard on his 2nd round and also added to the fact I think a possible problem in not playing for the past 2 weeks says that Howell is the pick for the 3 ball. Prediction: 3 Ball Match - Mickelson v Leonard v Howell Howell @3.25 Paddypower ***** :ok
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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open O'Hern beats Estes :@ still a profit shown from Howell bet :ok

2nd Round - 3 Ball Durant (+3) v Estes (-2) v O'Hern (Ev) Prediction: Estes @2.25 Paddypower ***** Estes has a good record here as previously advised in my in running predictions above and is local. His 1st round was better than his competitors in this 3 ball. Should be a safe bet :hope
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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open April 04, 2009


Shell Houston Open play schedule for Sunday
The 79 players who made the cut played until 7:34 PM on Saturday. Those who did not complete their third round will be in position at approximately 7:30 AM on Sunday to finish third-round play. Fourth round tee times are scheduled to begin at approximately 9:30 AM and run through 11:40 AM on Sunday. Players will not be re-paired and will return to the course in the same groups in which they played during the third round. When play was suspended here is what the leaderboard looked like: Bo Van Pelt was 11-under through 8, Fred Couples 10-under through 10, Tommy Armour III 10-under through 8, Colt Knost 10-under through 8, Paul Casey 10-under through 8, Robert Karlsson 9-under through 17, Jason Bohn 9-under through 16, Lee Westwood 9-under through 12, Ryan Moore 9-under through 12, Jonathan Byrd 9-under through 10 and Geoff Ogilvy 9-under through 8. It took a score of 1-under-par 143 to make the 36-hole cut.
(Source: Shellhoustonopen.com)
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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open I'm predicting that they won't want this tournament to go into Monday because a lot of players will want this finished today to be able to prepare for next weeks Masters. The players are at least half way through their 3rd rounds with them to finish and then straight back out to complete their final round. The leaderboard is quite condensed with the leader Van Pelt on -11 and a host of players either a shot or few shots off the pace, so there is no firm favourite here! Most Bookmakers go 1/5 odds now 1,2,3,4 places so looking at positions as they stand there could be further opportunities of decent each way bets. In Running Prediction: Henrik Stenson @29.00 EW Totesport Henrik has been a top player on the European Tour the last couple of years and represents value to me to see him currently on -8 - 3 off the lead with a start on the 10th hole of his 3rd round. Looking so far at his card he's been playing the back nine better than the front 9: 1st round - front 9 level - back 9 -2 2nd round - front 9 -1 - back 9 -4 3rd round - front 9 -1 - back 9 yet to play! What I see here is he could be playing in the last sets of players going out to complete his 4th round and thus earning a degree of rest. If he can play his back 9 on his 3rd round as well as he has his 2 previous rounds then I see no reason why he should be finishing 11 or 12 under par going out for his final round! His odds look massive to me and thus he is a very good bet for each way betting! :ok

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open Fred Couples @81.00 EW Totesport Another Guy who sits just behind the leader on -1 after 7 holes. Fred has form here too and is a past winner of this tournament in 2003. He finished 4th here last year and 3rd in 1998 so again at a massive price he has to be seriously considered a good each way shot! Nice shout, bit unlukky after a poor final round but a nice return with him and stenson finishing in the top 5. Sure it will make up a little, for uniteds late show yesterday. :)

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open Yep Freddie Couples effectively 20/1 for the place. Stenson effectively 5/2 shot for the place due to tieing for 3rd & 4th places. Good to see Casey finally win on the PGA Tour :clap something that was like a lead weight on his shoulders and now he's done it I would envisage more to come! The Big One "The Masters" next up! and it'll be interesting to see the layout this year. I've had some Ante Post bets burning a hole in my pocket for a few weeks now. I'll do a write up maybe going into it with a bit more information as it is the tournament I look forward to each year! Probably one of my best wins on Golf was The Masters when Ben Crenshaw won it in 1995. I heard a story about a week before the event that Crenshaw's trainer & mentor had died and I just knew Crenshaw would be trying his damndest to win it in honour of him. 66/1 I had a £10 each way on him!!!

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Re: Golf: Shell Houston Open

Yep Freddie Couples effectively 20/1 for the place. Stenson effectively 5/2 shot for the place due to tieing for 3rd & 4th places. Couples and stenson both finished on 9 under, so i think youve got this wrong jonesy. You'll get 20s for couples place side of the bet, and 7s for stenson's place side of the bet. They were both tied for third with another player remember, so with only 5 players filling the first 5 places (including ties which is the cruciual point) then you should be paid out at the full quarter odds. Pretty sure off this, but ready to be shot down if not.:)
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