Shell Houston Open Wrapup
With the continent surrounded by water, you’d think that golfers from Australia could play with a little water in their way.
The Shell Houston Open came down to the final hole between two fellow Aussies. Adam Scott began the 18th with a one stroke lead over defending champion Stuart Appleby, who had just birdied the 17th hole to pull to within one. With the lead and with water left, Scott proceeded to deposit his teeshot into the drink, while Appleby found the fairway bunker with his drive. Looking as if a par could be good enough to tie, with Scott lying 3 in the fairway, Appleby followed suit and flew his bunker shot into the water, erasing his chances of repeating as champion. As luck would have it, Appleby needed to make birdie to tie Scott. After his third shot landed 45 feet away from the hole, Scott ended the tournament by holing the 45 footer to save par and proceeded to fist pump his way to the trophy.
The putt on 18 not only solidified Scott’s win, it also improved his bogey-less streak to 36 holes. By all accounts, it looked like Scott was in fine form for someone who did not even need to play this week. Most players who already qualified for this week’s Masters did not play in Humble, Texas last week. Scott did.
Scott wanted to tune-up his game with the Masters only a week away. After a runner up finish to Vijay Singh at the season-opening Mercedes Benz Championship, Scott struggled. He finished in a tie for 69th at the Nissan Open, was the first Top 10 seed ousted in the World Match Play event (losing to #16 seed Shaun Micheel in the first round) and he tied for 61st two weeks ago at Doral. After he holed that putt on 18, Scott looked to be fine-tuned and ready to burn rubber at the Masters.
Scott’s win in Humble was the fifth of his career and now matches his world ranking of number 5.
This week Scott looks to run his win total to 6 and add a major championship to his already impressive young career when all the attention in the golf world turns to Augusta for the Masters. Check-in with hookedongolf.com all week for results and updates.
