Shell Houston Open

Aidric

Ah balls. There goes the Mahan bet.

Mickelson birdies 17 to go to -20, -7 for his final round, amazing stuff after yesterdays brilliance.

abouttobebanned

Superb alright. Even at 7-1 he could be value for the masters.

Aidric

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Superb alright. Even at 7-1 he could be value for the masters.

For sure. He'll be one of my picks anyways.

SSK

Hard to see him not contending in this form anyway

Aidric

3 shot lead going the last. Must be a nice feeling.

doomed

KKmanok wrote: »

His stated aim this week was to get into contention in Rd 4 to prepare him for next week so I guess thats mission accomplished, but I hope he finishes well as he could do with making some moves up the world ranking

Dead on. This is exactly the preparation he needed. No pressure of being in contention to win (he would have needed to shoot 60 the way Mickelson is going) but a good top 10. Look at his GIR stats - they are really good. He will have chances in Augusta. Even if you miss a few fairways you still have a chance and he is hitting it really long which makes the par 5s a real target.

KKmanok

doomed wrote: »

Dead on. This is exactly the preparation he needed. No pressure of being in contention to win (he would have needed to shoot 60 the way Mickelson is going) but a good top 10. Look at his GIR stats - they are really good. He will have chances in Augusta. Even if you miss a few fairways you still have a chance and he is hitting it really long which makes the par 5s a real target.

Yes I really hope he can stay mentally focused and if he does he really has the game to go close - bar a few silly misses I thought his putting was back to what you would expect from him, he just needs to keep the double bogies at bay (which he did this week) Congrats to phil btw what a awesome final 2 rounds

madds

KKmanok wrote: »

Yes I really hope he can stay mentally focused and if he does he really has the game to go close - bar a few silly misses I thought his putting was back to what you would expect from him, he just needs to keep the double bogies at bay (which he did this week) Congrats to phil btw what a awesome final 2 rounds

I'd love to share your optimism (God knows I would) but Roundstone was said to be a really open course which probably explains why PH contended this week, i.e. he could afford to miss from the tee and still have a shot into the green. He won't be afforded that luxury next week and for that reason will struggle if his driver is not behaving itself.

abouttobebanned

madds wrote: »

I'd love to share your optimism (God knows I would) but Roundstone was said to be a really open course which probably explains why PH contended this week, i.e. he could afford to miss from the tee and still have a shot into the green. He won't be afforded that luxury next week and for that reason will struggle if his driver is not behaving itself.

Spot on.

heavyballs

madds wrote: »

I'd love to share your optimism (God knows I would) but Roundstone was said to be a really open course which probably explains why PH contended this week, i.e. he could afford to miss from the tee and still have a shot into the green. He won't be afforded that luxury next week and for that reason will struggle if his driver is not behaving itself.

bar a few holes Augusta IS an open course,let there be no doubt about that,if you can hit a draw for a RH you're laughing....but a lefty hitting a fade is even more advantaged due to less roll as they're hitting a fade as opposed to a draw for a RH golfer

Martin567

madds wrote: »

I'd love to share your optimism (God knows I would) but Roundstone was said to be a really open course which probably explains why PH contended this week, i.e. he could afford to miss from the tee and still have a shot into the green. He won't be afforded that luxury next week and for that reason will struggle if his driver is not behaving itself.

In fairness, Augusta is pretty open from the tee also. It's nothing like a US Open course for example. Roundstone seems to have more water in play than just about any course (on about 15 of the 18 holes). If his tee shots for the 72 holes had all been like the last three holes of his 3rd round, he couldn't have done as well as he did as he would have had constant penalty shots.

This is the second event in a few weeks (Doral being the other) where PH has been in the top 10 in greens in regulation. I think that's very encouraging. Augusta is not so fearsome off the tee that he can't do likewise next week. If he can be in the top 10 in GIR next week, he should do very well. He needs to do better on the Par 5's though, the 15th at Augusta in particular always seems to be something of a disaster for him.

bigtimecharlie

Just glad to see that Harrington didn't have a mare, last 3 holes on Saturday were his undoing. Can't see him contending next week though.

staker

Great to see him back up at World No.3.

http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/rankings/default.sps

Gotta be a serious contender at Augusta.

crazygeryy

any idea what odds phil mickleson was at the start of the competition?(shell houston)

heavyballs

crazygeryy wrote: »

any idea what odds phil mickleson was at the start of the competition?(shell houston)

about 18/1,Kuchar was fav in most places [EMAIL="p@16/1"]@16/1[/EMAIL] along with Westy