Hunter Mahan Wins Shell Houston Open

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Hunter Mahan won the Shell Houston Open at Redstone G.C. in Texas. Hunter beat Carl Pettersson by one shot, posting a last round score of -1 under par 71, for a tournament total of -16 under par, to Carl’s -15. Louis Oosthuizen finished a further shot back on -14, with a host of other players back at -12, including Phil Mickelson, whose expected late charge never materialized.

The new Champion felt great about his win;

“Feels great. Today played; seemed different than the first three ; making a lot of birdies. Today it was kind of playing a little bit tougher. The wind was a tad stronger, but the pins were tough. You had to hit it close. So, it felt good to kind of have the lead there for I don’t know how long, maybe nine holes or so, and to kind of hang on. It’s a different; most of my other wins have kind of come from behind. This was a little different, little different feeling playing, and it was nice to come through when I had to, hit some good shots when I had to, and feels great to come to 18 knowing you got to have a par to win and hit two good shots and make an easy two-putt. Feels great.”

Carl was definitely upset he could not get it done, when he had the opportunities;

” I played good. I played really good today. Very difficult. I couldn’t make a putt on the back nine. I gave myself good chances coming in. Just a little pissed off I left it short on 18. I had a good chance coming in, couldn’t get anything to go.”

Louis was unhappy with the way his round panned out;

” It was a rough day. I can’t really pinpoint hitting terrible shots. I had horrific lies on 5 and 8, ball with mud and making two double bogies, you know, at the time I was trying to push to try and make par or bogey on them, but just tried a bit too hard. The two birdies would have done a playoff for me. It was disappointing. I kept in there and made a bogey on 14, but other than that, I’m happy with the way I came back.”

Phil was philosophical about his last round effort;

“I didn’t hit the ball close enough with my irons. My iron play wasn’t the best this week, and then when I had a lot of good putts that came close, they didn’t quite fall like last year I hit everything. I played well and drove the ball well and hit a lot of good shots, and I feel like I’m getting some good momentum heading into next week.”

Shell Houston Open, 3rd Round. Louis Leads.

Louis Oosthuizen leads the field after the third round of the Shell Houston Open, at Redstone G.C. at Humble in Texas. Louis had -6 under par round of 66, to leave him at the top of the leaderboard on -17 under for the tournament. He said he was ready for the contest tomorrow in the final round;

“It’s a great leaderboard behind me, it’s going to be tough, but I feel like I’m ready for it.”

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Two shots back at -15 under par is Hunter Mahan, who had a -7 under par third round, and is alone in second place on -15 under par. Hunter commented on only having one bogey all week;

” Been playing real solid all week. One bogey so far. That’s always good. This course is ; conditions are great, scoring is good. It’s always in perfect shape. So , the rough is pretty short, so you can kind of ; if you avoid the water and hit it on the opposite side of the fairway or rough, you’re going to have a shot at the green, and play smart like that, you can have a lot of looks, and been rolling it well this week and especially today. It’s difficult out there because our mind always wants to shoot forward and go to 18 and see what kind of round you can get in and look at the leader board and try to figure all these numbers in your head. “But the more I can stay in the moment, just try hit the next shot good, it’s one of those things where you just realize, oh, my gosh I’m 6, 7-under, I didn’t even think about it. I’m just trying to hit the next shot good.”

Carl Pettersson and Brian Davis are still hanging around, at just three shots back on -14, and maybe still have a chance of winning the trophy.

Phil Mickelson is six shots back of the lead, but is still upbeat about his chances and is excited about the coming shootout on Sunday. He said in interview;

“I’m so close to playing great. I know I need to shoot a really low round out here, but I know it’s there. I know that I can do it. I’ve done it. But I know that with the conditions right now, you can shoot 6, 7, 8, 9 under par, and hopefully that’s what I’m going to be shooting for tomorrow. Instead of getting frustrated, I came in contact and hit more good shots, I gave myself good opportunities. I’m really pleased the way I played the first three rounds. Hopefully I can get a really hot round tomorrow. I’m pleased with how I played, but I’m disappointed in the score. I need to go a little bit lower. I feel like I’m playing well to where I can get a really hot round out here. I did it last year, and I thought I’m even playing better to where if I get off to a good start or make a few putts, I feel like I can really get it going tomorrow.”

Shell Houston Open, 2nd round play suspended.

Round 2 of the Shell Houston Open at Redstone G.C. at Humble in Texas has been suspended due to darkness. Play will resume Saturday at 7:30 am. At the top of the leaderboard at the time of suspension was Brian Davis of England and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, who both finished at -11 under par for the tournament. Brian shot -7 under par 65 and Louis a -6 under 66, they lead by one from Jeff Maggert who is alone at -10, but he has yet to finish his second round. There are a host of players at -9 under including Phil Mickleson who had to finish his first round before beginning the second, a long day for him.

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Brian said in interview;

“It was a good day at the office today. It was tougher this morning because we didn’t have ball in hand to start the round and we had the rain yesterday. This morning was pretty tough. The ball was flying everywhere. Got the ball in hand this afternoon, you know, got a flag to go at. You’ll see some low scores out there this afternoon. It’s going to be a low scoring first couple of rounds.”

Louis was happy with his day’s performance;

“It’s a good spot to be in going into the weekend. I don’t know if it will be leading, probably be close. But yeah, I played nicely. I hit my irons very well today, which was both rounds. Struggled a little bit off the tee. Now and then working on something. So, you know, hopefully I’ve got it spot on next week. But yeah, I’m happy. Putting well, giving myself the opportunities, which is good.”

Phil Mickleson was also a happy man, asked “long day out there, he replied;

“It was. We had great playing conditions in the second round with lift, clean and place. I didn’t really take advantage of the opportunity there to get the mud off. We got two more rounds on the weekend. Looking forward to it. I’m excited about the weekend and excited about next week.”

Masters hopeful Ernie Els has finished his second round at -5 under par for the tournament, and will have to do something special tomorrow if he is to have a chance of winning, and gain an invite to Augusta National.

World number three Lee Westwood is also a -5 under for the tournament, but he also still has to complete his second round.

Shell Houston Open, update on 1st round.

 

 

The Shell Houston Open at Redstone G.C. in Humble Texas finally got the 1st round completed, with Phil Mickelson joining the leaders at the top of the board. Phil shot a -7 under par round of 65 to equal the scores of Carl Pettersson and Angel Cabrera, who had completed their rounds before the abandonment of play due to inclement weather yesterday. Phil had to restart this morning and finish his first round, before going on to contest the second, a long day ahead.

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