Shell Houston Open: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR staff HUMBLE, Texas -- Defending champion Stuart Appleby got off to a solid defense of his 2006 Shell Houston Open title with a 6-under-par 66. This is the third straight opening-round 66 for Appleby at the Shell Houston Open. He posted a 66 when he tied for second in 2003 and he opened with a 66 last year, led by one and went on to win his second Houston crown.  With a 69, Adam Scott hid out three shots behind the leaders. (Kevin C. Cox/WireImae)
• Stuart Appleby's 66 matched the second-best opening round by a defending champion in Shell Houston Open history. Vijay Singh won the tournament in 2004 and opened defense of his title with an 8-under 64 in 2005 (he would go on to become the only back-to-back winner in Shell Houston Open history). Cary Middlecoff, 1953 winner, also posted a 66 in the first round in 1954. • The last time three players shared the 18-hole lead in the Shell Houston Open was 1991, when Robert Wrenn, Jeff Maggert and Steve Jones were at 7-under 65. Fulton Allem won that year at TPC at The Woodlands. • Kevin Sutherland, who lost the 1997 Shell Houston Open in a playoff to Phil Blackmar and is making his 12th consecutive start in this event, matched his best round at the Shell Houston Open with a 6-under 66. Sutherland posted a 66 in the third round back in 1997 and then opened with a 66 in 2000 (T17). • PGA TOUR rookie Johnson Wagner joined Sutherland and Appleby at the top of the leaderboard with a 6-under 66 of his own. Maybe it's the time of the year and the geographic location that suits the Amarillo, Texas, native. Wagner earned the first of his two Nationwide Tour wins last year right around this time of year. Wagner won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open on March 26, 2006 in Lafayette, LA by posting a 12-under par 284 total (67-69-69-67). Wagner went on to win again and finished No. 2 on the Nationwide Tour money list. During his rookie season, he has made seven of nine cuts, including two top-25s, and is No. 97 on the money list. • Justin Leonard put together the best round of his 2007 season with a bogey-free, 5-under 67. It's the first time in eight starts that the former Texas Longhorn has broken 70. Leonard missed the cut in his first six starts this year before a T75 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago. The 5-under score is also the best for Leonard (in relation to par) since a 7-under 65 in the third round of the 2006 FBR Open. • Rookie Kyle Reifers posted the best round of his PGA TOUR career Thursday with a 5-under 67. Reifers, winner of the 2006 Chattanooga Classic on the Nationwide Tour, is coming off a T12 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago. Reifers missed the cut in his first three starts this season before a 71st-place finish at The Honda Classic. Reifers had three bogeys and three birdies on the front nine and then closed strong with a back nine 31 that included birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 13. • Abilene, Texas, native Bob Estes enjoyed a bogey-free, 5-under 67 during the afternoon. Estes finished second to Stuart Appleby in 2006. Estes' 67 is his best opening 18-hole score in 11 Shell Houston Open starts and is one off his career-best here, a 66 in the third round last year. Estes was a perfect 17-for-17 on putts of 10 feet or less Thursday.
• Tim Clark had a rather quiet 2-under 70. Clark had 17 pars and an eagle-2 at the par-4 12th hole. Clark dunked his second shot from 69 yards for the only eagle on a par 4 all day. • Augusta, Ga., native Vaughn Taylor, tuning up for the Masters next week in his hometown, continued his solid play this year with a 5-under 67 on Thursday. Taylor finished third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago after holding the third-round lead (and sharing the first). • Three-time Shell Houston Open runner-up Jeff Maggert matched his best round of the year with a 5-under 67. Maggert, who broke his rib in late December, has struggled since a second-round 5-under 65 at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Jan. 12. Since then, The Woodlands, Texa,s resident withdrew at the FBR Open, missed the cut at The Honda Classic and the PODS Championship and was disqualified at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard (for not signing his second-round scorecard). • Rookie Matt Hendrix shot his best round of the year and broke 70 for the first time this year in five starts. The former Clemson All-America tied for 60th at the Buick Invitational but missed the cut in his next three starts -- AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Nissan Open and Mayakoba Golf Classic. Hendrix's career-best is a 63 in the opening round of the 2005 B.C. Open, where he shared the first-round lead with Glen Day. • The field will be cut to the low-70 players and ties after Friday's second round. Currently, there are 72 players at even-par. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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