Golf: Shell Houston Open

[Crouch Potato]

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.

[Jonesy Knows]

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