On day 1 of the Shell Houston Open, Adam Scott, the defending champion and later Johnson Wagner shot a 63, tyingfor the course record. Scott obviously has an eye for the course, and Wagner had a share of the previous course record of 64. For more info, check out the SHO website, leaderboard, and Ed Fowler's recap of Day 1.
After the date of the SHO was changed to the week before the Masters, the SHO decided to try to create course conditions that force players to make shots similar to what they will make next week. The elevation changes and green undulations can't be the same, but there are other ways that you can prepare the course to make it similar. Roger Groettsch, Director of Agronomy at Redstone explains how they set the course up in the above video.
Last year, a number of players skipped the Shell Houston Open because they mistakenly believed that the conditions in Houston wouldn't be a good preparation for the Masters. However, it turned out that 20 out of 23 players who played both tournaments made the cut at the Masters.
The word got out about what they were doing in Houston, and the quality of the field improved. According to Briny Baird who shot -5 on Thursday:
"Going through the locker room and stuff, you should hear what the guys are saying about the condition of the golf course. Best they've ever seen. That's saying a lot coming from guys playing what we think are perfect conditions every week. The golf course is great."Clearly golfers won't be shooting as low in Augusta, but as Phil Mickelson notes, the SHO makes the players use a lot of the same shots they will need next week. Conditions are expected to be wet tomorrow, which may lead to more low scores, but is expected to be dry for the weekend.
