Featured Group: Westwood, Mickelson and Kim

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At each PGA TOUR event this season, a featured pairing will be highlighted prior to the first round. Here is the featured group for Thursday and Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

SHELL HOUSTON OPEN: TOUR Report | Tee times | Expert picks | Power Rankings | Fantasy Insider

HOUSTON -- This marquee threesome certainly got hot at the right time last year.

That's why Anthony Kim is defending his title at the Shell Houston Open this week and Phil Mickelson will do the same next week at the Masters.

In fact, the three men who are paired together in the first two rounds at Redstone Golf Club went on to finish 1-2-3 at Augusta National -- with Lee Westwood three shots behind Mickelson in second and Anthony Kim another shot further off the pace.

So they can only hope to conjure up the same kind of good vibes this week.

Westwood and Mickelson come to Redstone ranked among the top 10 players in the world while Kim clocks in at No. 41. Westwood actually dethroned Tiger Woods on Halloween and held down the top spot for 17 weeks before himself being passed by Martin Kaymer.

But a year ago, the spotlight was clearly on Kim, who was playing some of the best golf of his career when he beat Vaughn Taylor in a playoff at the Shell Houston Open. He had finished solo second at The Honda Classic three weeks earlier, then placed third at the Masters and tied for seventh at the Wells Fargo Championship.

But Kim opted to have surgery on a partially torn ligament at the base of his left thumb in May and missed the next three months. He's still on the comeback trail but opened 2011 with three top-20 finishes, including a tie for sixth in San Diego, so there have been positive signs of late.

Kim's victory last year at the Shell Houston Open, the third of his career, was an interesting study in contrasts. He struggled off the tee at Redstone -- ranking last of the 72 players who made the cut. But he converted the approaches he hit from the rough into birdies 46 percent of the time to keep ahead of the competition.

Westwood's 2011 campaign has been a slow-starting one. He has yet to post a top-10 on either side of the Atlantic, although the affable Brit has three of 18th or better this year.

Westwood should have confidence at Redstone after tying for eighth in 2010 and 11th in 2009. And the last time he played in the United States the week before a major, Westwood won the St. Jude Classic presented by Smith & Nephew last year (although he went on to tie for 16th at the U.S. Open).

"A win would be good. Seriously," he said. "Try to win the Shell Houston Open and that would be great and then take a lot of confidence going into next week, to play well, hit a lot of good shots. ... I've seen a big improvement since the three weeks I was there last. I've taken it to the golf course and played solidly."

Mickelson is also a work in progress. He didn't fare as well at Redstone as his playing partners last year, finishing in a tie for 35th in his seventh start there. He opened 2011 on a hot streak, finishing second at the Farmers Insurance Open, but he hasn't had a top-20 finish in a stroke play event since.

MORE: Westwood interview | Kim interview

Statistical comparison

Key stats from Mickelson, Westwood, Kim from the 2011 season (TOUR rank in parentheses)

Category MICKELSON   WESTWOOD   KIM   Driving distance 294.0 (T29th)   298.7 (15th)*   285.8 (T92nd)   Driving accuracy 51.94% (176th)   61.30% (135th)*   52.56% (172nd)   Greens in regulation 64.12% (113th)   69.30% (37th)*   65.40% (86th)   Putting average 1.751 (T44th)   1.795 (128th)*   1.730 (T16th)   Scoring average 70.17 (T23rd)   71.37 (101st)*   71.12 (T94th)

*Westwood's numbers are from the 2010 season

EXPERT PREDICTIONS: We asked some of our PGATOUR.COM experts to predict which player will fare best this week at the Shell Houston Open.

Stan Awtrey: Lee Westwood -- He's played well in Houston the last two seasons and needs a good effort to provide momentum headed into Augusta. He's been solid, but hardly exceptional in three starts this season.

Craig Dolch: This is one of the most difficult weeks to pick, because all three players -- while wanting to win any tournament they plan in -- also will be looking to conserve energy for next week's Masters. Phil played better on the weekend at Bay Hill, so I think he's got some momentum going.

Melanie Hauser: Westwood. Played great last year, was hard at work last Sunday at the course. Like everyone else, working toward Augusta, but also working back to No. 1.

FANTASY INSIDER: Westwood and Mickelson should be in your Yahoo! lineup, but tread lightly with Kim according to this week's Fantasy Insider.