Shell Houston Open: First-Round Notebook
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff
HUMBLE, Texas -- Playing in the morning wave on Thursday, 2007 Shell Houston Open champion Adam Scott moved into a share of the first-round lead with a Redstone Golf Club Tournament Course record 9-under-par 63. That score was matched later in the day by Johnson Wagner, who incidentally shared the previous course record (8-under 64) with Bubba Watson in 2007. By comparison, the tournament course record is 62 by Ron Streck in 1981 (Woodlands CC) and later matched by Fred Funk in 1992 (TPC Woodlands).
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• Adam Scott drained a 48-foot birdie putt on the final hole a year ago on his way to his fifth official PGA TOUR victory. On his first hole on Thursday (par-4 10th hole), he made a 55-foot birdie putt on his way to a 6-under 30. He and Wagner's 63 represents the lowest opening round on TOUR this season and the lowest ever to start the Shell Houston Open.
• Adam Scott has now held at least a share of the first-round lead six times during his career on the PGA TOUR. His only victory in those events came the first time he held the 18-hole lead, when he went on to become the youngest winner of the PLAYERS Championship (2004). Wagner's only previous 18-hole lead was at the 2007 Shell Houston Open, where he eventually finished T9 in his inaugural appearance at Redstone.
• The first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 11 out of 60 events at the Shell Houston Open, most recently by Stuart Appleby in 2006. So far this season, the first-round leader has gone on to win twice in 14 stroke-play events -- K.J. Choi at the Sony Open in Hawaii and Geoff Ogilvy at the WGC-CA Championship.
• Adam Scott is making his fifth start at the Shell Houston Open. His victory last season was his second top-10 finish in Houston, with the first coming in 2002 (tied for sixth). If he wins this week, he'll become the 10th multiple winner of the Shell Houston Open. The only player to win back-to-back Shell Houston Opens was Vijay Singh (2004, 2005).
• In 2007, Adam Scott became the sixth Australian to win the Shell Houston Open. No other event on the PGA TOUR has had as many different Australians win as the Shell Houston Open. The Aussies are at it again this season, with Scott currently holding a share of the lead and Geoff Ogilvy and Steve Elkington not far behind in a tie for fifth place. In fact, this is the third consecutive year an Australian has held at least a share of the 18-hole lead at the Shell Houston Open (Stuart Appleby in 2006 & 2007).
• Padraig Harrington's 1-under 71 extends his par-or-better streak to 13 rounds -- the best current streak on TOUR.
• Phil Mickelson, making just his fourth career start at the Shell Houston Open, had a double bogey on the par-4 18th hole and finished with an even-par 72. The two-time Masters champion missed the cut in his first appearance in 1995, finished tied for 30th in 1998 and tied for 28th in 2003.
• Four of the top seven-ranked players in the Official World Golf Rankings are playing this week, including second-ranked Phil Mickelson (72), fourth-ranked Steve Stricker (66), fifth-ranked Adam Scott (63) and seventh-ranked K.J. Choi (74).
• As for Stricker, he entered the 2006 Shell Houston Open ranked 331st in the Official World Golf Rankings. His subsequent third-place finish that week spearheaded his meteoric rise to fourth just two years later.
• Stuart Appleby has made the cut in four of seven career starts at the Shell Houston Open, including two wins (1999, 2006) and two runner-up finishes (2003, 2007). Dating back to his win in 1999, he has posted par-or-better scores in 19 of 21 rounds (including 14 consecutive). He opened with a 2-under 70 on Thursday. He is seeking his sixth top-10 finish of the season in just eight starts.
• In addition to Adam Scott and Johnson Wagner's matching 63s, other bogey-free rounds were turned in by Briny Baird (67), Ben Curtis (69) and Craig Kanada (70). For Curtis, it was his first bogey-free round since an opening 6-under 64 at the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial -- a stretch of 57 rounds with at least one bogey until Thursday.
• After missing the cut in his first appearance at the 1981 Shell Houston Open, Fred Couples has made the cut in his last 14 appearances, most recently a tie for 49th in 2004. Should Couples make the cut this week he'll move into a tie for second place on the Shell Houston Open's consecutive cuts made list, with Jimmy Demaret (17) the only player left to catch. Couples opened with a 1-over 73.
• Speaking of Couples, the 2003 champion is one of four past champions of the Shell Houston Open competing this week. The others are defending champion Adam Scott (63), 1999 and 2006 winner Stuart Appleby (70) and 1993 champion Jim McGovern (76).
• Jason Gore withdrew during the opening round with an illness.
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