After four events on the east coast in Florida we head inland to the second largest U.S state, Texas for the Shell Houston Open. The tournament is again being played on the Tournament course at the Redstone Golf Club in Humble.
This event was established in 1946 and has been played in and around the Houston area at several venues. It made its home at Redstone in 2003 where it was played on the Members course until it moved across the road to the Tournament course in 2006, where it has been played ever since.
The inaugural event was won by Byron Nelson who defeated Ben Hogan by 2 shots. The winner received US$2,000. Other famous names to win have been Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Bob Charles, Raymond Floyd and Payne Stewart. And more recently by Vijay Singh, Fred Couples, Adam Scott and Paul casey.
This week the event has a Purse of US$6 million with the winner taking home US$1,062,000.
The Course is a Par 72, measuring 7,457 yards with 60 sand bunkers and 13 water hazards. The course was rated 29th in difficulty from 51 courses played on the PGA Tour in 2011. Over the last 6 years the course has played at an average of -16 so expect much the same this week.
Much like early events on the Tour this year look out for the Par 4, 488 yard 18th hole to cause a few problems for anyone that tries to go for glory. The whole left hand side of the hole runs along the side of a lake and players will try to carry that as much as possible. There is a lot of risk involved however the reward can be good. The second shot to the green is also a tricky one with water on the left side of the green and a bunker on the right.
With the Masters being played next week, several big name players tend to stay at home to practise however many others like to use Redstone as a good lead in to the event to fine tune their game. This week we will get to watch players of the calibre of Defending Champion Phil Mickelson, Masters Champ Charl Schwartzel, Open Champ Darren Clarke, WGC Accenture Match Play Winner Hunter Mahan, FedEx Cup Leader Johnson Wagner and World No.3 Lee Westwood to name a few.
Looking at past winners of this event we need to pay close attention to guys who hit a lot of greens. This stat stands out above the rest as one of the most important. We also need to look at good scramblers as they have always done well here. With four Par 5’s on the course look at players with good Par 5 records as well. Accuracy off the tee is not as important as Distance off the tee this week as a good scrambler can negate the rough.
Taking these stats into consideration we have two players who should fair very well this week at Redstone.
Steve Striker
Odds: $17.00
World No.5 Steve ticks a lot of boxes this week. He had a great start to 2012 by winning the Hyundai Tournament of Champions with a score of -23 beating Martin Laird by 3 shots. The following week in Hawaii he was T38th in the Sony Open. He then played the one event in February being the WGC Accenture Match Play where he was T9th. He then backed that up with a T8th in the WGC Cadillac Championship. His course form is also very good. He was T4th at Redstone last year with a -13. In 2009 he missed the Cut, 2008 saw a T11th, 2007 was a T9th and 2006 was a 3rd. So we know he plays well here. Add to that his current performance stats of 5th in GIR’s, 1st in Birdie average, 4th in Par 5 birdie or better average and 2nd in Scrambling and we know we have a guy who is ready to show his best at a course he really enjoys. With his wife as his caddy lets hope we see some great team work over the weekend to post his 13th career victory!
Bryce Molder
Odds: $51.00
This Georgia Tech graduate was a four-time first-team All-American golfer and was named the National Collegiate Golfer for 2000-2001. At Georgia Tech he played with current PGA Tour players Troy Matteson and Matt Kuchar. He turned Pro in 2001 and won his first tournament in 2006 on the Nationwide Tour. He played on the PGA tour in 2009 and managed 3 Top 6 finishes. Last year in October he won the Frys.com Open with a score of -17 defeating Briny Baird in a Play-Off. He made the cut in his last 10 events on the tour and finished up the season with 6 Top 10 finishes. He was also 40th on the money list.
This season he has gone from strength to strength. He has had 7 starts and made 6 cuts which include T7th Hyundai, T13th Farmers Insurance, T15th Phoenix Open, T17th Northern Trust and T20th Transitions Championship. Bryce has had two starts at Redstone for a T8th in 2010 and a missed cut last year. His current stats read very well for a good showing this week. He is 8th n GIR’s, 15th in strokes gained putting, 4th in Scrambling, 5th in GIR from 100+ yards and 7th in GIR from other than the fairway.
For a guy who was born with no left pectoral muscle and has Poland Syndrome which is a rare defect which made his left hand much smaller than his right, he has shown no signs of weakness, and his game continues to improve each week.
Last Week:
It was great to see Tiger Woods claim his 7th Arnold Palmer Invitational on the weekend. He won by 5 shots from Graeme McDowell with Ian Poulter a further 2 shots back. It looks like Tiger is back with a vengeance and ready to show the world once again how good he can play. His victory saw him climb to 6th in the World Golf Rankings. Our selections of Ernie Els (T4th) and Sergio Garcia (T33rd) had their chances. It’s good to see Ernie back to his best. I am sure a victory is not too far away for him.
Next Week:
Our first Major of the year!! We are off to Augusta National for the Masters. We will be bringing you a full in depth view of the Course and Players.
