Fowler grabs lead at SHO
Fowler makes a clean break from the mud and the field
Wednesday’s deluge made muddy balls an ongoing problem for the Shell Houston Open golfers during Thursday’s first round. In fact, Rickie Fowler’s first shot of the morning, to the middle of the 10th fairway, buried itself in the muck. “I got lucky,” Fowler said. Under the rules of golf, a “plugged” ball can be picked up, wiped off and dropped to a better spot. Fowler promptly birdied the hole, then went on to tear up the sodden Golf Club of Houston Tournament Course, missing by a stroke of posting as clean a round as had ever been played there. His 8-under-par 64, four shots better than in any of his previous 20 Houston rounds, would hold up as the day’s low score.
He collected eight birdies —
also closing with one at No. 9, a hole no one else atop the leader board played under par — and never suffered the indignity of a bogey.
That separated Fowler from South Korea’s Sung Kang, who, teeing off in the afternoon, came within a botched short par putt on No. 18 of seizing a piece of the lead. But Kang, who missed only three greens in regulation, couldn’t sink that five-footer and had to settle for a 65.
Considering the score represented a whopping 13-shot improvement over his final-round 78 in the SHO last spring, when he came in 69th, Kang couldn’t feel too bad.
Asked about the glitch, he blamed “a couple spike marks on my line. I tried to hit a straight putt and it went right. But, except for that, I played great today.”
As, of course, did Fowler.
“I was fortunate to take advantage of the par-3s, playing them 3 under, when we didn’t have a clean golf ball and I managed my way around with the mud as well as everyone,” Fowler said. “I made a good par save on 18 and then went and got a couple more (birdies) on my back nine. Definitely a nice start.”
‘Like where I’m at now’
Like his fellow highprofile peers, the popular, charismatic 28-year-old is in town prepping for next week’s Masters. Although ranked ninth in the world, Fowler is still seeking his first major title. So gaining confidence in Houston is important to him. And things couldn’t be rocking along more smoothly. He won the Honda Classic in late February and has earned 16th- and 12th-place finishes in two starts since.
“Lots of good stuff going on,” Fowler said. “Family is great, friends, everyone. I’ve putting in the work in the gym and spent time with Butch (Harmon, his swing coach) the first two days here this week. Jimmy (Walker) and I were able to hang out and play some golf, get in some good work. I really like where I’m at now. It’s definitely been trending and building.”
Two players with local ties — regrettably so in Stewart Cink’s case — are tied for third place after posting 66s. Cink and Jhonattan Vegas, a Venezuelan who played at the University of Texas and calls Houston home, both went birdie-birdie on the 14th and 15th holes, then parred out to hang within shouting distance of Fowler.
Kyle Stanley also fashioned a 66 by finishing with four front-nine birdies, three of them coming in succession on Nos. 15, 16 and 17. Like Kang, Stanley bogeyed No. 18, always considered the toughest hole on the course, where the SHO has been played since 2007.
Viva this Vegas
The Masters-bound Vegas got to 6 under with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, then drained a difficult putt to save par at No. 17.
“You don’t want to come to 18 after making bogey on 17,” he said, explaining his exuberant fist pump after the ball dropped into the hole. “I was really trying to get a bogey-free round today. It’s always enjoyable, good for the confidence.
“I feel I’m playing good golf right now. I’m superexcited (about his second start at Augusta National). I’m a good dreamer, so I like to dream about winning that tournament.”
Cink has more pressing concerns, and he been spending far more time in Houston than he would like. His wife Lisa is undergoing treatment for Stage 4 breast cancer here. Although understandably pleased with his opening round — his best start in seven Houston appearances — Cink didn’t want to make too much of the fact that it happened only a few miles north of where her grueling regimen began last April.
“We have received a lot of support (in Houston), but it’s not the kind of support that makes you feel like its home,” Cink said. “While we’re very grateful, I’m looking forward to the day when Lisa doesn’t have to think of Houston, Texas as a place where she has to be a patient. … Here at the Shell Houston Open, we’re on the other side of town (from the hospital), and we’re trying to create new memories.”