Who Will Win The Shell Houston Open?

As all the attention has pretty much shifted towards The Masters and everything that surrounds that, lets not forget about the Shell Houston Open this week. Not only is it the final chance for some of the game’s best to fine tune their skills before Augusta, someone could use it to earn that final spot in the field. Matt Jones managed to do that last year when he shocked Matt Kuchar on the first playoff hole with a 42-yard chip in. Now that’s a way to earn a trip to your first Masters.

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Jones will need another win this week to earn a repeat trip, but with the field assembled this week that won’t be easy. We start with Jimmy Walker and Henrik Stenson who are no longer in the field. Stenson the world’s second ranked player backed out because of the flu and Walker who won last week in San Antonio is also under the weather.

"“Following my win at the Valero Texas Open, I went to Augusta in order to prepare for the Masters. Unfortunately, I soon realized that I was not feeling well and needed to get better before next week. I look forward to returning to Houston in future years.” (Golf Channel.com)"

This leaves Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia as the only top 10 ranked players left in the field. Spieth who was the runner-up to Walker last week has really been solid since November. Back-to-back wins at the Australian Open and the Hero World Challenged was backed up with five top ten finishes including a win. Spieth is a heavy favorite not only this week, but next week as well. Sergio nearly won at Riviera earlier this year and after a solid 2014 campaign that included a third place finish in Houston, he is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Patrick Reed lost to Spieth in a playoff at the Valspar and isn’t afraid to speak his mind like Garcia. He and Spieth have arguably been 1a and 1b when it comes to the best young guns on tour in 2015. Sorry Rickie Fowler. Having already won in Hawaii and nearly winning at the Honda and in Tampa, Reed has had a solid season. Unlike Spieth who has consistently been in the top ten all year, Reed has pretty much been a feast or famine player. His victory, his 7^th place finish at PGA National and the runner-up at the Valspar have been his only top 10 finishes this year. I’m curios to see how he’ll play this week but even more interested in seeing how he’ll do next week.

Then we get to Lee Westwood & Kuchar. Westwood is just a guy I root for, I’ve desperately wanted him to finally get that major that has alluded him, but as the years go by it just seems like he’ll be this generation’s Colin Montgomerie. His record in Houston is similar to the majors, some top tens but no victories. Kuchar nearly won the Houston last year but his game was in much better shape back then. His runner up finish was the second of four top fives in a row for Kuchar. This season after finishing in the top five at the Sony and Humana he’s be unable to crack the top 20 in his last four events.

The final few names that stick out to me are Phil Mickelson and Fowler but if you’re hedging your bets on these guys I’d have to say, buyer beware. Mickelson has been a mess for not just this season but the past two years. Other than his 2^nd place finish at the PGA he’s been a ghost. Fowler on the other hand had a great 2014 but has yet to get things going this year. It’s tough to gauge Rickie right now. He could bust out of this and play really great or continue this mini funk. Right now it’s just too difficult to call.

The easy pick this week would be Spieth but I’m thinking that he may have a little bit of an off week before cranking things back up at Augusta. That being said I’ll take the second ranked player in the field in Sergio Garcia. He’s flirted with winning for the past two years and I think he breaks out of the slump this week and goes into Augusta as one of the favorites.

Next: Tiger Woods Playing Augusta?

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