The Shell Houston Open gets underway on Thursday and it looks to be wide open with no one player standing out as hot favourite. It is a final chance for players to find some form ahead of next week's US Masters and Bet 365 bookmakers make Lee Westwood and Matt Kuchar joint favourites at odds of 14/1 at Redstone Golf Club in Texas, although Charl Schwartzel could provide value.
It is the final PGA Tour event before the US Masters and Westwood will be renewing his Masters duel with Phil Mickelson from last year this week. Westwood lost out by three shots to Mickelson at Augusta and will be keen to unleash revenge in Texas and at the very least play himself into some sort of form. The world number two has struggled in 2011 after hitting the heady heights of world number one as he has failed to finish in the top ten this year. His form has been going in the right direction of late though with three top twenties in his last four and his recent record at Redstone is decent with an 11th place in 2009 and tied 8th last year.
However, there has only been one European winner of the Houston Open in the last ten years and on current form Westwood will be happy to just find some touch ahead of Augusta. Mickelson has had similar troubles to Westwood, although his poor form extends to his Masters win in April of last year as he has failed to win a tournament since. He is still as short as 16/1 with B365 this week but a missed cut in 2009 and a 35th place finish here last year make him difficult to back.
His US compatriot Matt Kuchar has been 'Mr Consistent' this year as he has finished in the top five in his last seven events. He looks the most likely contender of the 'big guns' on show and the world number nine tied 8th with Westwood last year. He finished fifth at Doral last time out in the WGC-CA Championship to make it four top ten finishes from four and his consistent approach could suit the Redstone course.
Meanwhile, the Texas born Hunter Mahan can be backed at odds of 16/1 and the world number 18 has had a decent 2011 so far with five top ten finishes in his last nine. That includes a Phoenix Open win, although he has had a mixed bag at Redstone - missing the cut last year and tying for 6th in 2009.
The South African Charl Schwartzel could provide some value for the punter as he is available at odds of 25/1 with Bet365.com to win outright or 9/2 to place and has finished in the top 25 in nine of his last ten tournaments. That may not seem too impressive but he was also the Joburg Open winner earlier this year and despite his form tailing away of late he could well be set for a return to the head of the leaderboard after finishing third at Redstone last year.
Elsewhere, Australians have fared well in the Houston Open with Stuart Appleby a two time winner and available at odds of 45/1, although Marc Leishman could be the man from down under to back. Leishman was tied third in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and is available at odds of 35/1 this week. Finally, last year's Houston Open play-off winner Anthony Kim is 35/1 and back to defend his crown.
Shell Houston Open Tips
Tip #1: Matt Kuchar to win outright @ 14/1with Bet365.com
Tip #2: Charl Schwartzel to place @ 9/2 with Bet365.com
14/1 Matt Kuchar
14/1 Lee Westwood
16/1 Hunter Mahan
16/1 Phil Mickelson
18/1 Steve Stricker
25/1 Charl Schwartzel
28/1 Francesco Molinari
33/1 Padraig Harrington
33/1 Steve Marino
33/1 Retief Goosen
33/1 YE Yang
35/1 JB Holmes
35/1 Marc Leishman
35/1 Ernie Els
45/1 BAR
Odds supplied by Bet365.com, bookmakers, who provide a variety of betting markets for the Shell Houston Open.
Posted: Tuesday, 29th March 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: pga tour, charl schwartzel, matt kuchar, lee westwood, bet365,
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