The PGA Tour concludes a two-week stint in Texas with the Shell Houston Open, the 21st event of the wraparound season. A field of 144 will tackle the Golf Club of Houston this week, where the winner will receive the last spot in the Masters.
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Matt Jones won this event a year ago in a playoff over Matt Kuchar. Here are 10 players to watch in Humble:
1. Jordan Spieth: At No. 4 in the world, Spieth is the highest-ranked player in this week’s field, and he arrives in Houston with plenty of momentum. He followed his Tampa win with a runner-up finish last week in San Antonio, and his game appears to be peaking just in time for the Masters.
2. Matt Kuchar: Kuchar probably should have won this event last year, where a 72nd-hole bogey dropped him into a playoff with eventual winner Matt Jones. He also finished T-8 in both 2010 and 2011 and returns off a T-15 finish at Valero, his seventh top-25 finish of the season.
3. Patrick Reed: Reed won earlier this year in Hawaii and lost in a playoff in Tampa in his most recent start. While his Houston record includes only a missed cut in 2013, he is eighth on Tour in total strokes gained and has six top-25 finishes in nine starts this season.
4. Sergio Garcia: The Spaniard returns to Houston, where he held the 36-hole lead and finished T-3 a year ago. His best result this season came at Riviera, where he narrowly missed out on a playoff, though he was in the mix at Doral in his last start before fading on Sunday.
5. Lee Westwood: A quietly good start for the Englishman this season: six starts, all top-25 finishes, including a T-12 result at Doral and T-17 in Tampa the following week. Westwood knows his way around this course as well, with five top-25 finishes in Houston since 2009.
6. J.B. Holmes: Holmes is having a career year despite a missed cut at Bay Hill, and he has found past success in Houston. A runner-up in 2009, he was also T-8 in 2012 and finished T-12 last year. His last five starts include four top-25 finishes and a pair of runner-ups.
7. Phil Mickelson: Lefty faded over the weekend in San Antonio, but he still showed signs of life with a T-30 finish. This is usually an event where he picks up steam, with four straight top-20 finishes dating back to his win in 2011.
8. Jason Kokrak: The veteran is in the midst of a strong run, with three straight top-15 finishes on three very different layouts (Innisbrook, Bay Hill, TPC San Antonio). Kokrak finished ninth in Houston two years ago and now ranks inside the top 30 in both scoring average and the all-around ranking.
9. Louis Oosthuizen: After an injury-plagued season, Oosthuizen now has five top-10 finishes in his last six worldwide starts dating back to November, including a T-9 finish at Bay Hill. Before last year’s missed cut, he had three straight top-20 finishes in Houston highlighted by a third-place showing in 2012.
10. Ryan Moore: Moore won earlier this season in Malaysia and he has continued the momentum since the calendar flipped to 2015, with five top-25 finishes in six starts highlighted by his fifth-place showing at Doral in his most recent start. Moore is making just his fourth start in Houston, but he did finish T-11 in 2009.
