**** Shell Houston ****

Stricker love in here also Donny, will add Phil as defending champ and the obligatory Pod charitable giveaway to the layers.

Ive not seen enough good form from Westwood or Mickelson recently to go at short prices. Mahan was out of sorts at BayHill, Charl the same at Transitions. GMac playing pretty solid but not enough birdies in him to put in 3 decent rounds.
My elimination process leaves me with Ernie. Playing reasonably well and still hoping for that Masters invite.

Your elimination process leaves you just with Ernie?

I've taken 66/1 on Harrington from SJ.

it's a very precise elimination process, the intricacies of it are far too vast to summarise in only a few paragraphs, unfortunately.

giz a clue

Well, i start by eliminating everyone i remember playing recently who dont justify their odds, eliminate everyone else ive never heard of, or those with stupid names like Kyle, Webb and Wagner and then i stick a pin in the rest.

I should probably start my own premium rate line but until then, i'm happy to share my wisdom here.

Long course fast greens, GIR meant to be the stat to follow.

Westwood
Els
Mahan
Sricker

Two for me, Chris Kirk and Brian Harman

Main bet Henrik Stenson 1 pt ew 45/1

Thinking of westwood as my main bet, he should have his game primed for a major,  and having rory and Tiger win I do think he will try.

In his words " he loves this course"

Josh Teater 0.2 ew 200/1 + 0.4 top 10 16/1 + 0.1 ew Rd1 leader 150/1

With Westy....1st day medicore......price in-running goes up.....2nd to 3rd day - shoots  a low round.......final day - anyone's guess

I reckon Westwood will have a good first round personally.

Lump on then.....

My 4 for this week are
C.Schwartzel,minor blip last time,good form before that.
K.Stanley,looks like its made for him,good stats.
J.WAGNER,previous winnner in form,must go close.
P.Casey again previous winner,but at 130 its a shot in the dark.

Following the golf on Sunday I noted down one player I wanted to be on for the Shell Houston Open and was very surprised someone was laying Henrik Stenson at 100 on Betfair early doors! Whilst he is playing down his return to form after surgery, injury and a whole host of changes to his game there is no denying it is beginning to pay dividends. His scoring average of 69.18 in his twelve rounds sits him behind only Rory, Tiger and Lee. All three of his starts 21/3/15 have been career best finishes at those courses and now he comes to a venue where in his only appearance in 2009 he was 3rd. Whilst the price is nowhere near what I got on Sunday I expect him to go close this week and have hence suggested a large bet.
I have struggled to find any other players I want to side with but Josh Teater really caught my eye. He has been 14th and 19th in his two starts here and has led the all round stats each year. Last year he was 2nd after the opening round and was let down by a poor putting day on round two and a quadruple bogey on day three. Whilst his form doesn't look anything great he shot a fine 67 in round three last week and has already been 4th twice this season after the opening round - hence the round one bet as well this week - he also is first to tee off this week.

This is tricky again. I like the look of Westwood but rather suspect he will use this as a sighter for next week - same applies for Charl, Phil and Stricker. I mean how many guys win two weeks on the trot and Tiger asside who has won this and gone onto win the Masters (im asking the question not making a statement btw).
Some have said that Ernies price is too short - which may well be the case, but he has been playing very well of late but for the odd horlix which tends to ruin his chance of victory. Wants to play in the Masters by right and deserves to be there. Has to be backed IMO.

Have also backed Ryan Moore - again he has been playing well of late without really threatening, but has some form here and worth a small bet.

Im also on Johnson Wagner who seems to be a much improved and consistant player this year and looks sure to contend.

Lastly I have backed Henrik Stenson who has been playing consistantly well in the States this year as pointed out by TMM.

No big stakes this week though.

All I can say is people say the same thing about the head of the market every year bristol, and both Westwood & Mickelson have won a week before the Masters before.

I'm on the following this week;

Moore
Kim
Walker
O'Hair
Estes

The top two both need the win this week for the Masters. Moore finally found something with the irons last week & hopefully he can carry that over.

AK said last week his problem is keeping the ball in play off the tee and not getting it in the hole. Well he won this with a 30% driving accuracy a couple of yrs ago so if he's going to find his game anywhere it's here!

Thought Ladbrokes' 100s top 6 for Walker was very generous. Texas man who has been in good form this year & started here very well last yr.

O'hair's price I also thought was very fair for another man with Texas connections whose played well here in past & been in good nick.

Estes all ways a man to have on side in Texas & he's started to show signs of form again.


Good luck all!

my 3 main bets are
johnson wagner 38
kyle stanley 55
ben crane 90
also done afew outsiders for very small stakes
ryan palmer 200
jb holmes 120
chad campbell 170
brendon de jong 190
da points 250
vaugn taylor 200 also done him top 10 market 14.5

i have backed mickelson and westwood e/w so need either of them to win outright to give me a profit.

Westwood (nap)
Mahan
Els
Cabrera
Couch
Palmer
Yang
Barnes
Trahan
Steele
Atwal

Stricker
Phil
Pod

GL.

Matt Every
Martin Flores
Camilo Villegas

mickelson
els

to start for me, GL everyone

mickelson @ 14
stricker @ 15

o'hair ew @ 66/1 and moore ew @ 50/1

also did hoffman at 10/1 for a top 10 finish. Good record on bent greens and in Texas

Is this being shown on tv anywhere as i see it starts in a couple of hours!?!

Sky Sports this eve no doubt.

im going for westwood/mickelson, really need one of these to win this!!

No bets last week and just the one this week, Paul Casey at 130s, saving myself for next week.

Saving in what sense, money?

A good bet's a good bet anywhere!

Just three for me this week Mickelson 10/1 Wagner 28/1  Baddeley 35/1 all win only with hills sick of doing each way in the golf and getting done with numerous players been tied with the same score.

Just three for me this week Mickelson 10/1 Wagner 28/1  Baddeley 35/1 all win only with hills sick of doing each way in the golf and getting done with numerous players been tied with the same score.

weird choices but i've gone with Thomas Bjorn and Els, GL ALL

Kirk pulled out??

I have a sneaking feeling Vaughan Taylor will go well this week.  Due to tee off in 1 min.

Lee Westwood     T
Phil Mickelson     B
Keegan Bradley  T   
Hunter Mahan     T
Graeme McDowell     T
Charl Schwartzel     T
Ernie Els     T
Anthony Kim T

You just can't stay away from Els can you Ericthecat

i'm also all over the big easy again like a cheap suit this week , playing some good stuff atm.

does anyone know what's happened to Kirk?

seems to have been replaced with Knox on the PGA leaderboard but is in all the betting markets incl. 3 balls.

cheers.

Bit late for start but i backed Kevin Streelman as my best bet of the week. Well impressed with his play on his last start and should have finished better than 10th.

Selections

Keegan Bradley 21
John Senden 50
Sean O'Hair 85
Kevin Steelman 140
William McGirt 480
Kris Blanks 480

Good Luck on your Selections

Chris Kirk was removed from the published field of this week's Shell Houston Open.
He was scheduled to begin his opening round on the 10th tee at 1:00 p.m. ET. This is the second consecutive week that he's withdrawn from an event prior to its start. Last week made sense given the birth of his first child two weeks ago, but Kirk cited on Twitter on Tuesday of this week that he was going to Houston, including a reference to separating with his son: "Headed out to Houston this morning. Leaving home is a little tougher to do these days." He didn't qualify for next week's Masters so he'll have five weeks off since last competing at The Honda Classic.

thanks greelo

can anyone tell me what happens to my bet if he doesn't start the tournament? thanks

Depends on your bookie but most will void as long as they don't hit a ball.

thanks CrowsEye, that's what I thought - do you know if that is that the case with the exchanges

Ive been really busy today so here are my selections and im going to let them run....

ernie els
louis oosthuizen
phil mickelson
james driscoll
lee westwood
boo weekly
johnson wagner
steve striker

I just need one of them to win and il be in profit....fingers crossed!!

void freddies, he did not start

Can someone take my £2 @ 130 on McGirt 1st round leader. He has probably got to shoot -8 which is highly unlikely. I normally go for him which has proved unprofitable but sods law says when you dont get a bet on it comes in.

Thanks

Only two bets for this were Brian Harman ew and Kirk ew first 6, mixed emotions to see Harman -5 thru front 9 and Kirk w/d, think he would have had a good chance.

Casey spells his name wrong...its got a C in it but the rest of the letters are wrong!!

leaderboard dead??

yep...frozen up....should be on sky now

Weather suspension

Suspended great timing

Ant live streams anywhere please?

live:
http://www.wiziwig.tv/index.php?part=sports

Thank you Sittol

is that it for the day or still hoping to squeeze out a bit more?

Lee Trevino was born in Dallas according to the USPGA tour website. We live and learn.

looking free now...
http://houston.justweather.com/radar/#lightbox=p121&tab=w58lb

Will it be back on tonight (UK time)?

No further play today it seems Ski....live ladies afternoon groups at 11pm Sky said...

Casey must be well peed off...needs to get up early in the morning to finish his round with a 10" putt for bogey!

oh well...

Lee Trevino was the last man to win a tournament on the PGA tour without dropping a shot in the four rounds, 1974.

what time (uk) will the likes of mickelson, els be out on course today. i have a few selections around -4, -3 after the first round so quite happy about that. just need some good scores from them today.

Think they are due to restart 7.30 local time so 1.30 UK time

I wonder if any TV channel are starting early too?

it only seems like sky have this live from 8pm uk time.

Any chance that this might be cut short to 54 holes? Weather did for late starters yesterday and they will have to go some to catch up today - possibly round 2 carried over to tomorrow?

If the weather stay ok for the next 3 days...they will manage 72 holes

are the 2nd rounds going to start today?

answering my own question here, i think the 2nd round are teeing off at 5:50pm uk time

Any idea what time phil group out at....and should Westwood et al get any/many holes in before dark??

Got a couple of quid on Driscoll at 120 this afternoon....looking at his stats....it looks like he has never won....well i hope he get his 1st victory...

what time are the 3rd rounds teeing off?

ffs - nice hole Vaughn Taylor!! One of mine out of the running

same had him top 10 aswell

triple-bogey unreal

Can't have Brian Davis winning this.

hunter mahan is going to win this now, mickelson, oosthuizen falling behind now

This ain't the final day you know.....

mahan unlikely to win imo

if you had to pick a winner now who would it be?

Anyone seen Ryan Moore's Quadruple bogey on 8 ?

Probably the worst i have ever seen. 7 shots from pretty much on the green

Is it my imagination or has Hunter Mahan made about 1000 feet of putts? And of course I bet him last time and he was missing 3 footers. Oh well the pleasures of betting golf.

Is it my imagination or has Hunter Mahan made about 1000 feet of putts? And of course I bet him last time and he was missing 3 footers. Oh well the pleasures of betting golf.

ffs - all my players doing sh!t this round while the rest of the field killing it

is there anywhere online to watch the rest of the 3rd rounds?? i really want to carry on watching as cant be bothered to just watch the scoreboard!!

need keegan to get his act together

well theres a birdie for keegan, i have 3 players in the top 10

No TV...all moved to watch the women

well thats rubbish, it was getting really interesting aswell

gutted, almost placed a bet on mahan after the first round

awful there bradley

Assume that Hunter Mahan must be close on the 17th. Price has reacted accordingly

mahan and oosthuizen prices have dropped really low now!!!

great finish by oosthuizen.

will they be showing the full ending on tv sunday night?

Assume that we will see the finish to this tonight !

None of my pre tournament bets stand any chance of winning this so looking for some value against the top 2. You could see Mickleson having a storming last round much like last year - and there is no better player in the world when Phil is on roll.
But im drawn to Carl Pettersson at around 9/1 and only 3 strokes back. He is one of those guys who is often seen at the head of the leaderboard - normally after a stunning round from knowhere. But although consistancy is not his strong point he has won 4 PGA titles and playing in the last but one group will suit him better than holding the 54 hole lead.
Brian Davis ranks 3rd on the list of most money won on tour without a victory with something like $9 million dollars, and it's unlikely a victory will come his way today.
With Hunter and Louis playing together they could easily turn it into a birdie fest and run away with things, but both have faltered when in front in the past and im hoping that they will do so again. That said I have backed Hunter for the Masters so im hoping that Pettersson wins this rather than Hunter losing it.