Friday: Shell Houston Open
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THAT'S IT FOR TODAY (9:19 p.m. ET) -- The second round of the Shell Houston Open has been suspended due to darkness. It will resume on Saturday morning.
Paul Casey managed to finish his second round and after shooting a 2-under 70, he has the clubhouse lead at 8 under.
Australians Geoff Ogilvy and John Sensen are also at 8 under and have several holes left to finish in their respective second rounds.
LEADER IN THE HOUSE (9:12 p.m. ET) -- Paul Casey can sleep in late on Saturday.
The Englishman just finished his second round, shooting a 2-under 70 and owns the clubhouse lead at 8 under. Australians Geoff Ogilvy and John Senden are also at 8 under, but still have plenty of holes left to play.
LEAD CHANGE (8:50 p.m. ET) -- After a bogey at the par-5 fifth hole -- his second of the round on a par 5 -- Geoff Ogilvy has dropped another shot. At 8 under, he's now part of a three-way tie for the lead along with Paul Casey and John Senden.
OGILVY FINDS TROUBLE (7:58 p.m. ET) -- Geoff Ogilvy has just made a double-bogey 6 a the second hole -- his 11th of the day. After his tee shot found a fairway bunker, Ogilvy found a greenside bunker from 137 yards out. His third shot got caught up in the left rough and it took three more strokes to get down.
With the double-bogey, Ogilvy is now tied for the lead with England's Paul Casey at 9 under.
Casey has been steady through 13 holes with four birdies and a bogey.
BYRD FLYING IN HOUSTON (7:35 p.m. ET) -- Jonathan Byrd has been playing his best golf of the season lately and that trend seems to be continuing at the Shell Houston Open.
In his last two starts, Byrd has finished in a tie for 13th and a tie for 12th, respectively. He's 3 under through 10 holes today and at 8 under total, he trails leader Geoff Ogilvy by three shots.
HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES (7:10 p.m. ET) -- Australia's Stuart Appleby, a two-time winner at the Shell Houston Open, is making a move up the leaderboard in the second round this evening.
After shooting a 2-under 70 in the first round, Appleby is 3 under through eight holes in the second round and at 5-under total, he trails his countryman, Geoff Ogilvy, by five shots.
OGILVY HOUR? (6:35 p.m.) -- So much for that momentum-killing bogey. Geoff Ogilvy just holed a bunker shot at the par-3 eighth hole to regain his one-shot lead at 9 under.
Here's a look at his card so far:
MOMENTUM KILLER? (6:27 p.m. ET) -- After a roll of four consecutive birdies, Geoff Ogilvy has just snapped the streak with a bogey at the par-5 seventh hole.
Ogilvy cut his drive a little too far right off the tee, hit a cart path on the fly and the ball settled in some mulch well right of the fairway. He was able to hit a second shot and advance it up the fairway, leaving a 135-yard third shot.
From there, Ogilvy yanked the approach left of the green and into a bunker. He caught the ball thin out of the bunker and hit it across the green. Two putts later, he had his bogey and dropped back into a share of the lead with Briny Baird, John Senden and Paul Casey.
AUSSIE ON THE MOVE (6 p.m. ET) -- Australia's Geoff Ogilvy has already won twice in 2009. Can he make it three wins before the Masters?
Very early in his second round, Ogilvy has made four consecutive birdies and is 4 under through five holes and now has a one-shot lead over Briny Baird, who just bogeyed No. 8 with a three putt.
A 65 FOR SENDEN (5:40 p.m. ET) -- John Senden just put the finishing touches on his first round, ending it in style by holing a 39-foot, 2-inch putt for birdie to shoot a 7-under 65.
The good news is, the mark tied Senden for low first-round honors. The bad news is, he was trailing by one... Briny Baird leads at 8 under early in his second round.
YELLOW JACKET WILL TRAVEL (5:12 p.m. ET) -- Nicholas Thompson, the Georgia Tech product who currently has the lead at 8 under, was the TOUR's ironman last year. He played in 36 events, including THE PLAYERS and the PGA Championship. His best finish was a tie for second-Benz at the Ginn sur Mer Classic.
This year, he's already played in 11 of 13 possible weeks. He wasn't qualified for the Mercedes-Benz Championship. -- Melanie Hauser
BIRDIES FOR BRINY (5 p.m. ET) -- Briny Baird finished his first round of the Shell Houston Open this afternoon, firing a 7-under 65, which included an eagle 2 on the par-4 sixth hole.
Shortly after finishing his round, Baird went right back out for the start of his second round. So far, so good. Through three holes, Baird is 1 under for the round and tied for the tournament lead at 8 under.
Here's a look at his first-round scorecard:
CHECKING IN WITH PHIL (4:38 p.m. ET) -- What will Phil do next? How about a no-birdie round?
It only happens once in a blue moon or once every couple of years and it happened at the Shell Houston Open. Phil's opening 77 had nary a birdie. The last time he went birdie-less? The opening round of the 2007 AT&T National when he shot a 4-over par 74. -- Melanie Hauser
ARMOUR ON THE RISE (4:10 p.m. ET) -- Tommy Armour III has had a difficult start to the 2009 season, missing the cut four times in seven starts and finishing no better than a tie for 25th, which came at the Northern Trust Open.
While it's still early, it looks as though Armour's luck might be changing a touch in his home state of Texas. He might reside in the Dallas area, but Armour is ripping it up late in his first round of the Shell Houston Open.
Through 13 holes, Armour is 5 under and just two shots off of the lead.
THOMPSON FINISHES WITH 65 (3:47 p.m. ET) -- Nicholas Thompson has just parred the 18th hole to finish with a 65, which currently leads. It is Thompson's lowest round on the PGA TOUR in 2009 and his lowest since his 65 in last fall's 8 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Here is a look at his card:
COUCH WITHDRAWS (3:40 p.m. ET) -- Chris Couch, making his sixth PGA TOUR start in the year in his comeback from injury, withdrew after parring the first two holes on Friday, citiing a shoulder injury. His shoulder bothered him in 2008 -- he didn't play any on the PGA TOUR -- and he started the '09 season on a Major Medical Extension.
BAIRD ENTERS THE FRAY (3:35 p.m. ET) -- Briny Baird got it to 6 under when he birdied four of the first six holes on the baCK nine, but his score could have been even lower. He just missed a four-footer for birdie on the 489-yard par-4 17th, which would have tied him with leader Nicholas Thompson.
NEW LEADER (2:57 p.m. ET) -- As expected, Nicholas Thompson birdied the par-5 15th to become the first player at 7 under at Redstone. Thompson bombed two shots to win 50 yards of the green on the 608-yard hole, then got up and down for the birdie, his eighth of the day.
UPDATED SCHEDULE INFO (2:36 p.m.) -- The second round of the Shell Houston Open will begin at 3:40 p.m. ET today.
Tournament officials have put sandwiches and soft drinks by the first and 10th tees so the players in the "afternoon" wave of the first round -- who will be finishing their rounds and starting their second almost immediately -- can grab a bite to eat.
The second round will need to be completed on Saturday morning. The cut will then be made and the third round will begin. -- Helen Ross
BUNKER BEAUTY (2:35 p.m. ET) -- A holed shot from the bunker is rare enough, but when you do it from 163 yards, well...
Briny Baird badly pulled his drive on the par-4, 464-yard sixth, and he was stuck in the bunker with an approach over water. Baird's shot out of the bunker rolled into the cup for an eagle 2, which is pretty impressiinve considering only half of the field has hit the green in two.
PRESIDENTIAL SIGHTING (2:28 p.m. ET) -- Former President George H. W. Bush and wife Barbara dropped by the driving range Friday morning on their way to a lunch with, among others, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Greg and Chris Norman. The Bushes and Normans were together at a small dinner Thursday night and President Bush took time to visit with a number of players around mid-day.
He chatted with Norman and also walked to the end of the range with Chris, where he had a reporter introduce him to Australian Aaron Baddeley and Englishman Lee Westwood. Bush then made sure to introduce them to Chris. "My wife (Richelle) is going to be very jealous, sir,'' Baddeley said. "She's an American. She's back in the hotel with our four-and-half month old daughter."
Mrs. Bush, resplendent in a hot pink sweater and huge straw hat, underwent heart valve surgery here in Houston last month and said she was feeling great.
In March, former President Bush was named the ninth recipient of the PGA TOUR's Lifetime Achievement Award. Bush will officially receive the award from PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem during a private reception the week of THE PLAYERS Championship. -- Melanie Hauser
THIS MAN ALSO WANTS TO ATTEND THE MASTERS (2:20 p.m. ET) -- Nicholas Thompson, all 78 PGA TOUR starts of him, is 5 under after 12 holes after teeing off on the front side. He's 10-for-10 in putts under 10 feet (got that?!)
Thompson quietly finished 41st in the FedExCup standings last year on the strength of six top-10s, but best finish this year is a tie for 17th at the Buick Invitational.
MORE NEWS FROM ENGLAND (2:15 p.m. ET) -- Justin Rose made the just made the turn in 4 under, but he gave two shots back at the short par-4 10th when he dumped his approach into the bunker.
Rose has had a slow start to '09 -- in 12 rounds, he's broken 70 just three times. His best finish was a tie for 20th in the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
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LONG BOMBS (1:54 p.m. ET) -- So why is James Nitties in the lead? One reason is his long-range putting in the first round.
Nittles dropped in three putts of longer than 16 feet (according to ShotLink stats) on his way to a 6-under 66 that currently has him atop the leaderboard.
Starting his round on the back nine, Nittled managed to save par -- despite finding the primary rough on two shots -- at the par-5 13th when he rolled in a putt from 16 feet, 3 inches.
Then at the par-4 third, he birdied from 19 feet, 10 inches.
Finally, near the end of his round, he sank a birdie putt of 32 feet, 11 inches on the par-3 seventh to move to 6 under.
That long birdie putt, incidentally, doesn't even come close to being the longest in the first round. In fact, it's not even in the top 15. David Toms has the longest putt of the round at 73 feet.
STAT WE JUST SAW THAT BLEW OUR MIND (1:39 p.m. ET) -- Humble, Texas (90 feet) isn't exactly on the same elevation as Reno (4,500 feet), so we really didn't think it was possible to pop a 400-yard drive at Redstone Golf Club.
Unless you're Phil Mickelson.
According to Shot Tracker, Mickelson drove his ball 386 yards into the water hazard that runs across the fairway on the 489-yard par-4 17th hole. After a penalty stroke, Phil pitched onto the green and two-putted for bogey.
CASEY MAKING RUN AT LEAD (1:26 p.m. ET) -- Paul Casey has yet to win in the United States, but the talented Brit is getting closer and closer. Will this be the week?
He lost to Geoff Ogilvy in the finals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this year -- and now he's played his first nine holes in the Shell Houston Open in 5 under.
Casey, who teed off on the back nine, birdied the water-logged 18th after sticking his approach to 16 feet and nailing the putt.
Casey, who got married during the offseason, opened his European Tour season with a win in Abu Dhabi. He also has two other top-10s on the opposite side of the Atlantic.
Casey has never played in the Shell Houston Open before this week. He was undoubtedly attracted by the conditions, which were set up to mimic Augusta National as much as possible -- a place where he has missed just one cut and posted T6, T10 and T11 finishes. -- Helen Ross
AUSSIE RULES (1:20 p.m. ET) -- Rookie Marc Leishman of Australia had not broken 70 in his previous 10 rounds over four events on TOUR until Friday when he finished up his first round at Redstone with a 4-under 68.
That's his first sub-70 round since a 69 in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in mid-February and his lowest since shooting 68 in the second round of the Buick Invitational the week before.
Leishman is just starting to settle into life in America, having recently bought a condo in Virginia Beach, Va.
For more on Leishman's big purchase, along with his thoughts on his passion for cricket and the influence of Ernie Els on his career, click here.
NITTIES FINISHES WITH 66 (1:09 p.m. ET) -- As we mentioned before. it's really no surprise to see James Nitties atop the leaderboard. Nitties missed only three greens in Round 1, and his birdie-birdie-par finish was highlighted by a 33-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh (Nitties teed off on the back nine).
It will be interesting to see if anyone can match the 66. When Johnson Wagner won in 2008, he opened with a 63, so stay tuned.
SHOT TRACKER: Replay Nitties' round | Nitties' scorecard | SIRIUS XM interview
MORNING MOVERS (12:54 p.m. ET) -- Catch some of the highlights and top shots from the continuation of the first round on Friday morning: Watch Video
NEW LEADER (12:51 p.m. ET) -- You may not be familiar with TOUR rookie James Nitties, who currently has the lead as he wraps up his first round. But actually, he's been hanging around TOUR leaderboards most of the year.
Nitties finished tied for fourth at the FBR Open in just the third start of his TOUR career, and he also posted a T6 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya. And in two of his last three starts, he's finished T22, including last week at Bay Hill.
Nitties currently ranks fourth among all TOUR rookies in FedExCup points. Obviously, a win this week would put Nitties in next week's Masters.
Nitties is a member of Citi's mentor program and is featured in this week's Pop Quiz. Click here for more.
HE LOVES THIS PLACE (12:35 p.m. ET) -- Johnson Wagner may have bogeyed the 18th hole Friday, but it was still one of the defending champ's best starts of the season. His round of 70 left him two strokes off the clubhouse lead held by Justin Leonard and Fred Couples.
Wagner, who earned the final invite to Augusta National last year, is looking for just his second top-10 since he notched his first PGA TOUR win. He can't remember being more focused that he was last year, which he called an "incredible mental performance."
"Since then I've been trying to get back in the winner's circle. Trying too hard," Wagner said on Wednesday. "Forgot how I did it here. Being out here last couple days has put me in a good frame of mind and really excited to play golf this week."
Wagner opened 2009 finishing 10th at Kapalua but didn't finish higher than 64th in his next eight starts, with six missed cuts. A tie for 30th last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard came on the plus side of the ledger and the momentum has continued this week.
Putting has been Wagner's downfall this year. He ranks 153rd in putting average and 155th in putts per round. On Thursday, though, he hit 86 percent of his fairways and 78 percent of the greens in regulation while using 31 putts.
"I am getting on some greens this week that are my favorite on TOUR," Wagner said. "My ball striking couldn't be better. I know my putting will be there, too." -- Helen Ross
SHOT TRACKER: Replay Wagner's round | Wagner's scorecard
COUPLES COMPLETES FIRST ROUND (12:30 p.m. ET) -- Couples just two-putted the par-3 ninth to finish with a 68. It is a dramatic turnaround from the horrendous 80-71 he put together last week in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. In his pre-tournament press conference, he joked that he might join the Champions Tour earlier than expected, but Couples has turned back the clock in Houston.
SHOT TRACKER: Replay Couples' round | Couples' scorecard
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PHIL WILL FIGHT TO MAKE CUT (11:52 a.m. ET) -- This was not the Masters tune up that Phil Mickelson had in mind.
Lefty struggled in the high winds on Thursday and didn't fare much better when play resumed on Friday morning. He finished with 31-putt 77, his highest round so far in the '09 season. The last time he shot that high? The third round of the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, when he missed the cut after a third-round 78.
ANOTHER TEXAS WIN? (11:45 a.m. ET) -- Justin Leonard was born, raised and still lives in Dallas.
He's playing in the Shell Houston Open for the 10th time this week, and he's got the clubhouse lead at 4 under. Interestingly, Leonard has two top-10s in Houston but hasn't finished higher than 29th in his last five starts. That looks like it's going to change -- Leonard just capped his first round with an up-and-down for par on the tough par-3 ninth, and his 68 didn't include a single bogey.
By far the Texas grad's best tournament in the Lone Star State, has been the Valero Texas Open where he has won four times. Leonard has played in his two "hometown" events 15 times each, with five top-10s at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, including a runner-up finish in 2003, and two more at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
SHOT TRACKER: Replay Leonard's round | Leonard's scorecard
WESTWOOD AMONG FIRST TO FINISH (11:30 a.m. ET) -- Lee Westwood, who held the "overnight" lead after high winds postponed the first round, is in with a 69. He was four under in nine holes on Thursday but quickly made two bogeys as play opened up on Friday morning at Redstone.
Westwood hit his approach at the ultra-difficult 488-yard par-4 18th to 11 feet but missed the putt.
As the day progresses, we'll know more about the slick putting surfaces at Redstone -- some reports had the greens running at around a 13 on the Stimpmeter on Thursday.
SHOT TRACKER: Replay Westwood's round | Westwood's scorecard | SIRIUS XM interview
ROUND 1 UPDATE (11:25 a.m. ET) -- The first round continued on Friday morning after high winds canceled most of the day on Thursday, and we'll try to get in as many holes as possible. Several players are still waiting to tee off in Round 1.
The biggest mover in early-morning action was Fred Couples, who caught fire on the front side as he finished up his first round. The 2003 Shell Houston Open champion grabbed the lead with four birdies in five holes.
We have two player spotlights this week -- and Freddie is one of them. To view all his career highlights coupled with some nifty video features, click here.
BIRDIE, BIRDIE, TWEET (11:14 a.m. ET ) -- Despite the rain, Stewart Cink did manage to get in 18 holes at Augusta National on Thursday. He wasn't the only player there, either, according to his Twitter site.
Cink played with two friends, one from East Lake Golf Club and another who is a member at Augusta National. While he was there, Cink saw Rory Sabbatini, Graeme McDowell, Ryo Ishikawa and Danny Lee.
"Rained almost all day over at Augusta, course waterlogged and slow," Cink wrote. "But we managed to get in the round and I saw the few changes for '09."
Cink went on to say that the changes were the fewest he'd seen in several years. Greens have been rebuilt on Nos. 1, 5 and 6. The first hole was shortened by 7 yards while the back tee at the seventh hole was extended.
"Fifth green changed most significantly, with a totally new pin location on the extreme left of the green," Cink wrote, adding,
"FYI when the club rebuilds greens they generally soften the slopes, due to ever-increasing green speeds. This year no different."
Cink also enjoyed lunch.
"They also have a MEAN chopped ribeye steak in the grill!!!" he tweeted. "Don't say I didn't touch all the bases!!
Fans should really join Cink's Twitter site. He updates it frequently and has a lot of interesting observations. In fact, Cink plans to update his site before and after rounds at the Masters next week, as well as during practice days and the Par Three Contest. -- Helen Ross
TWITTER: Follow Stewart Cink | Follow the PGA TOUR
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