LATE WITHDRAWALS: Tim Petrovic, Will MacKenzie (as of Tuesday at 4:15 p.m.)
What a weird weekend. Only in New Orleans, I tell ya. Voodoo at its finest.
Firstly, Bubba Watson yells at Steve Elkington of all people on Friday for moving while the big man is getting ready to hit. Watson apologizes but then takes what I think was a shot about Elk's choice in shoes and fashion in a post-round interview.
Then, on Sunday morning, one of my picks, Stewart Cink, goes and DQs himself. While discussing some of the more ridiculous golf rules with Zach Johnson, Cink suddenly realized he had broken one of them during Saturday’s third round. Basically, he stood in a fairway bunker to play a ball that was just outside of the bunker, but then hit that ball into a greenside bunker. His error was that he raked the fairway bunker before playing the other ball, therefore 'testing' the sand. Raking a bunker tells you more about sand than standing in it, apparently.
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Stuart Appleby is a two-time winner in Houston but has struggled of late.
(Getty Images)
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Finally, the PGA Tour decides not to re-do the pairings for the final round so that we wouldn't have a repeat of the Monday finish at the CA Championship. It would have been a smart decision if not for the fact that your eventual winner,
Andres Romero, finished hours before his nearest competitors,
Woody Austin and
Peter Lonard, and didn't have to play under any real type of pressure.
So after all that, the 1,006 people who picked Romero were happy; the 3,886 people who picked Cink were not; and all 34,859 folks who played last week had a good laugh at the Watson/Elk situation.
I didn't have one of my better weeks in the Big Easy, with only four guys earning money. However, I am up to 3,625th in the overall standings; Paddy Harrington and John Merrick did help me out with top-10 finishes; and Romero made me look good by finishing T11 in putting and T7 in greens -- two keys I pointed out in last week's column. All three of those guys are entered again this week as Romero and Harrington get ready for the Masters, while Merrick looks for a fifth top-10 in his last six starts.
Speaking of the Masters, 27 players playing this week in Texas are also entered at Augusta: Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Aaron Baddeley, Angel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, K.J. Choi, Ben Curtis, Anders Hansen, Harrington, Charles Howell III, Trevor Immelman, Justin Leonard, Lonard, Hunter Mahan, Shaun Micheel, Phil Mickelson, Nick O'Hern, Geoff Ogilvy, Jose Maria Olazabal, John Rollins, Romero, Adam Scott, Jeev M. Singh, Steve Stricker, Vaughn Taylor, Watson and Brett Wetterich.
While you might not want to read too much into guys playing the week before the Masters, you have to think that some will have their minds firmly on Augusta and not totally on winning in Houston. Of course, your job will be to figure out who those guys might be, and I likely won't be much help in that department, but I promise I'll try!
So, this week we get our first of four visits to the Lone Star State this season as the Shell Houston Open will be held on the Redstone Country Club's Tournament course in Humble. The 7,457-yard, par-72 layout is a public facility that opened in 2005 and was designed by Rees Jones along with some help from David Toms, who is not playing this week.
Also not in the field this week is Vijay Singh, who has won three of the last six Houston Opens. Last year's winner, Scott, and two-time champion Appleby, will make the trip, though.
While we trend folks are limited again this week with only two years of tournament play on this course, Redstone did host the previous three Houston Opens on their Fall Creek course, so I'm looking back at a five-year history for this event.
Just like it has been in recent weeks, hitting greens is a lot more crucial than making putts at Redstone. All five winners finished in the top 10 in GIR, while only two finished better than T20 in putting. Length helped Singh to two titles and Scott to one, but Appleby ('06) and Couples ('03) aren't known for their distance off the tee, so that's pretty much a wash. The par-5s can be had on the Tournament Course, however, so length will help a little.
So, this week, look for someone who has their ball striking game going nicely and is just generally playing well. I would suggest avoiding the Masters guys, but the two times this event has been held right before the first major of the year, both winners (Scott in 2007 and Singh in 2002) were playing that next week in Augusta.
The Cowboys ($200,000 and up)
Steve Stricker ($296,750) -- Stricker severely disappointed 4,194 people last week by missing the cut in New Orleans, but I don't see him doing that again this week in Houston, where he had a third last year and a T9 in 2006. His iron play has been stellar so far in 2008 (he's 12th in GIR), but amazingly he has produced three top-10s despite only being 94th in putting average. That combo of stats should serve him well this week.
Adam Scott ($293,500) -- The defending champ has only played in two stroke play events on the PGA Tour this season, producing a T14 and a T9, so he should be well rested for this week. He hits it long and makes enough putts to be a contender almost every week, and will be focused on getting things sorted out for Augusta, where he hasn't had a top 10 since 2002.
Stuart Appleby ($270,750) -- It's amazing I haven't picked this Aussie yet this season after he opened up with five straight top-10 finishes. A two-time winner in Houston, Appleby finished T2 here last season, but isn't playing great golf right now with only one of his last eight rounds in the 60s. Hopefully a week off will have helped cure what ails him and he can make it a hat trick of wins in this event.
The Horses ($75,001-$199,999)
Jose Maria Olazabal ($163,500) -- Ollie makes his first 2008 PGA Tour appearance this week and his fifth trip to Houston. He missed the cut here last year, but had third-place finishes in both 2002 and 2005. When his game and mind are on, we all know what Olazabal is capable of, but no one knows exactly what kind of shape either are in coming into this week, which makes him a high risk/reward kind of guy.
Ben Curtis ($114,750) -- When Curtis won the British Open in 2003, I honestly never thought I would hear from the dude again. Of course, he's won twice since then to really legitimize his major title. Despite a T15 in Puerto Rico earlier this month, Curtis isn't playing great golf this season yet, but neither are many other people in this price range for some reason.
Briny Baird ($92,000) -- I'm going third time lucky with B.B. this season and hoping he can find me a top-25 in Houston. He is coming off a T12 in New Orleans and a T4 in Puerto Rico, but isn't having a great year statistically. He is making birdies at a nice clip, however, (he's eighth on tour), and we all know how critical those things are. I think Baird will give it one last shot at a Masters invite and do well this week.
The Cows ($75,000)
John Merrick -- Those of you who read my column frequently know I like to go with the hot hand when it comes to $75k guys. Merrick, with four top-15s in his last five starts, is as hot as they come and my oven gloves are not being removed just yet.
Jon Mills -- I knew it was only a matter of time before Mills turned his game around, and he comes into Houston with back-to-back top-20s. He has 16 top-25s in 27 events on the Nationwide Tour last season and his putting and ball striking are nowhere near as bad as his stats make them out to be.
John Riegger -- I'm only picking Riegger here so I can complete a hat trick of Johns/Jons. There's no reason you should be starting three $75k guys anyway, so I'm allowed. Oh, and it's my column.
My Fantasy Golf Challenge Lineup
Stricker, $296,750; Scott, $293,500; Baird, $92,000; Mills, $75,000; Merrick, $75,000.
Last Week
Harrington (T4) $256,266.67; Cink (DQ) $0; Kresge (MC) $0; Merrick (T7) $ 193,233.33; Marino (MC) $0. Total -- $661,651 (1,825th). Overall -- $7,819,946 (3,625th).
Congrats to 'gunslingers', whose lineup of Romero (won), Lonard (second), Harrington (T4), Cink (DQ) and J.L. Lewis (MC) was good enough for $2,041,866 and a win over 'why I got no time' by virtue of setting his lineup earlier.
With one week left in Segment One, 'Furyk’s Army' has a $904,858 lead that will be very hard to beat unless one of his chasers hits the jackpot with a winner in Houston. Good luck to all!
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