Shell Houston Open. D.A. Points the Way

D.A. Points leads after the first round of the Shell Houston Open at the Redstone Golf  Course, Tournament Course, in Humble  Texas.

D.A. Points / Getty Images

Darren Andrew Points fired in a first round of -8 under par 64, to lead the Shell Houston Open after the first round today in Texas, and has a one-shot lead over Cameron Tringale and John Rollins.

Darren was using a Ping Anser he first borrowed from his mother during his junior years, he thinks he should have been using all the time;

” Maybe I’m an idiot for not having used this putter the whole time, it worked well today. It’s one of those things, I holed some nice par putts yesterday in my pro-am. I didn’t hit it great, but I made a few good putts and the ball was going in the hole with nice pace and rolling real tight. And I thought, `All right, this might be the key that kind of gets me going.”

John Rollins managed a -7 under par 65 in the windier conditions in the afternoon, John said he gave himself a lot of opportunities in the tougher weather;

“I knew the conditions were going to be tough out there, knew the greens were fast, so that makes it tough as well. I just kept the ball in front of me and gave myself a lot of opportunities and got a solid round out of it.”

Rory McIlroy finished a disappointing round at +1 over par, he said;

“I felt like on the front nine I was a little tentative. I just tried to commit to myself a little more on the back nine and it seemed to help. If I could have got it back to even par, I would have been pretty happy, but I’m one over par and, hopefully, the conditions are a little calmer tomorrow morning. I think I learned from that over the last few weeks, I’ve got to keep my spirits up. I felt like I was doing that a bit too much at the Match Play and The Honda, and obviously we saw what happened there.”

Lets hope that Rory can make the cut, another miss would certainly set the alarm bells ringing.

Phil Mickelson was another who did not perform too well, finishing double-bogey, bogey, bogey to end up at even par. He was unhappy with today’s performance, and also spoke about not playing the week before Augusta;

“It was a disappointing finish, I feel really good with the putter, and I believe that as the tournament goes on, I’ll get better. It’s a very unusual situation for me here. I usually like to play the week before. I’m going to have to learn how to do that, now that we’re not really having tournaments conducive to getting ready for those events. This is a good opportunity for me to work on getting prepared properly in another spot outside of a tournament.”

Tampa Bay Championship. Kevin Streelman Triumphs

Kevin Streelman triumphed in the Tampa Bay Championship at Innisbrook Resort, Copperhead course. Kevin beat off the challenge of the more experienced players to lift his first PGA Tour trophy.

Kevin Streelman / Greenwood / Getty Images

Kevin had a  two-shot triumph at the Tampa Bay Championship, presented by EverBank, his last round of  -4 under par, 67, and a tournament total of -10 under par. He said it was all about chasing your dreams;

” It just shows you what happens with determination and hard work, keep chasing your dreams and you never know what’ll happen. It wasn’t too long ago I was in a car driving myself around, dead broke. I was at peace for most of the day, we just tried to let go of the results and try to make good swings all day. To go bogey-free on this course for the weekend is something I’m pretty proud of. To get this is the culmination of a lot of a hard work, a lot of time spent late into the evening and getting up early in the morning, it’s really a dream come true.”

Back when he was a rookie,  Kevin was invited to join Whisper Rock. Some months later, he captured the club championship;

” Went from caddie to club champion at Whisper Rock, which is a pretty cool story.”

Kevin was unaware for a time that Bo Weekley was in the clubhouse at -8 under par,  it wasn’t until the middle of the back nine, that he realized Bo was on top of the leaderboard;

“I kind of saw it at number eight, but I didn’t know if he was done yet.”

Bo Weekley finished up in second place, but had been in the clubhouse  for couple of hours after his scintillating last round of -8 under par 63. He sat and watched as the field tried to chase him down, eventually Kevin did;

” My hat’s off to Streelman, he brought it to the house and played well. First victory, I’m happy for him.”

Third place went to Cameron Tringale, his last round of -5 under par, 66, for -7 under total was good enough to squeeze him past the trio of players at -6 under.

Tied for fourth at -6 under was World number three Luke Donald, left hander Greg Chalmers, and the favorite for the title for most of the day Justin Leonard.

Zurich Classic @ TPC Louisiana New Orleans

              

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana has two players leading after the first round. Both Ken Duke and Cameron Tringale had -7 under par rounds of 65, to lead the field by one shot. Following close behind are , Steve Stricker and Daniel Chopra, both firing very respectable rounds of 66,  -6 under par.

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The Big Easy, Ernie Els threatened to join the leaders for most of the day,until he bogeyed the par 3 17th, but then rallied to birdie the par 5 , 18th. he also finished with a round of 66 and -6 under par for the tournament.

Luke Donald continues his struggle this season with another sad round, finishing at +1, and suffered a double bogey at the par 3        17th hole, landing his tee shot into the water. He took a penalty drop, chipped onto the green then two putted for a 5. Luke will need a good day tomorrow to stick around for the weekend.

Another player not performing was Masters Champion, Bubba Watson, who had a first round 71, a -1 under par effort.

“My body is not where it wants to be. I can’t hit shots that I want to hit. I can’t hit it and make putts. I’m struggling out there. Just exhausted. Mentally exhausted.”

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 Since he’s the defending champion at TPC Louisiana, Bubba  knew he needed to show up and compete.

“I had to be here for that and I’m here but mentally I’m not here. I’m so out of it right now. Golf is a hard thing to do right now.”