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Tournament Stats:
March 29 - April 1, 2007
Redstone GC Tournament Course
Humble, Texas
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,457 yards
Purse: $5.5 million with $990,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: Stuart Appleby
Results & Scores 2006 Shell Houston
Box Score of 2006 Shell Houston Open
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:266 (Vijay Singh in 2002 - at TPC Woodlands)
54-Hole Record:
195 (Curtis Strange in 1980 - at Woodlands)
36-Hole Record:
129 (Curtis Strange in 1980 - at Woodlands, Blaine McCallister - TPC Woodlands)
Low round of tournament:
62 (Ron Streck, 3rd round in 1981 - Woodlands & Fred Funk, 3rd round, 1992 - TPC Woodlands)
Best score at Tournament Course at Redstone - 65 by Greg Owen in 2nd round last year
Tournament information:
This will be the 60th edition of the Shell Houston Open, which was formerly called the Houston Open. This is the second year of the events permanent home, the Tournament Course at Redstone. This course was made especially with the Shell Houston Open in mind. The previous 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. Before that the West course at the Woodlands was home since 1975. Before that 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. have also hosted the event. The first Shell Houston Open was played in 1946 and was called the Tournament of Champions. It was played at River Oaks with Byron Nelson beating Ben Hogan by two strokes.
Course information:
Redstone Golf Club is 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 open to the public that hosts a PGA Tour event. The course features Mini Verdie greens and Tif Sport fairways and tees, 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 something that sticks out is the short par 4s. Four of them are under 400 yards but that doesn't mean there won't be any long holes, because four holes are over 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 over the average on the PGA Tour. Course has 50 bunkers and water comes into play on ten of the 18 holes.
For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this Course Overview done by PGA Tour.Com
The Buzz:
The big change this year is in the date, it's being played one month earlier. For the tournament that is good news and bad. The good is that it will be played before the seasonal spring storms which in past years have taken a toll on the tournament in the form of bad weather. The organizers had hope for this change which will make it more user friendly. Also being played the week before the Masters they will get a lot of different Europeans that are trying to get ready for the Masters. The bad news is the fact that many of the top-players will not be present, yes the tournament will probably never see Tiger Woods but it had to be a disappointment when Phil Mickelson decided not to play along with Vijay Singh, who has won this event three times in the last six years.
| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Now of course the rap on this tournament was the fact that it's totally different than Augusta National and doesn't give the players a true test in getting ready for the Masters. Yes, TPC at Sugarloaf, the site of the BellSouth did have the same grass as Augusta National and a lot of sloping greens but the folks at Houston Golf Association decided to do there best to make it as close as Augusta National as humanely possible. They are getting the greens to role to a 12 on the Stimpmeter and have shaved the banks alongside the greens and water hazards, just like at Augusta. The rough and fairways will be cut in the same manner as Augusta, so maybe, just maybe the players will appreciate the try. Still it will be hard to come close to what Augusta National is.
Here are some things to look for this week:
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It's so hard after just a year's play to determine what it takes to win on a certain golf course. Because of conditions and the time of year things could be drastically different from last year to this. As for the course it's pretty much the same, it's a lot greener and firm than last year but still the same characteristics should be the same.
Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Shell Houston Open:
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Key stat for the winner:
Important to read into the fact that last year's winner, Stuart Appleby, hit 56 of the 72 greens and that was the 2nd best. Hitting lots of greens is always good and unless you are really poor with the putter should get you a high finish. - Unimportant stat: Hitting lots of fairways, only one player in the top-ten were in the top-ten in fairways hit, so hitting straight is not a premium here. Also the same goes for hitting it long, only two of the top-ten were in the top-ten of driving distance which means that medium length drivers can win.
- Playing well on the par 4s, Appleby was 13 under on them, it's a rare fact in which players are lower in par 4s than par 5s but that is the case. You can't overpower the par 5s here because the shortest is 557. On the back nine the two are 590 and 608 yards in length so getting it home in two is near impossible on two of the four par 5s.
- All the par 5s are within reach of the average player and even though the course is over 7,200 yards this won't present much of a problem, look for lots of greens to be hit.
- Since the tournament started in 1946 13 of the winners have been first time winners on the Shell Houston Open. In the 90s this was the hot spot for those looking for there first win as between 1990 and 1994 all the winners were first timers. Now with a limited amount of marquee names and a lot of Europeans look for a possible first-timer this year.
- Again, with a new course coming into play nobody has the advantage of knowing the course, with the except of David Toms, who was the player consulted on the project.
