Stuart Appleby has never won a PGA TOUR wire-to-wire and there has never been a wire-to-wire winner in the history of the Shell Houston Open. Phil Mickelson (BellSouth Classic) is the only player to win wire-to-wire thus far in 2006. • Stuart Appleby has seven PGA TOUR victories but has never won multiple TOUR events in the same season. There are currently 31 full-time, fully-exempt players (Top 125 category or higher) on TOUR this season with seven or more wins – all of them with at least one multiple-victory season. • Wrapping up the second round … 82 players made the cut at even-par 144, the second-largest 36-hole cut on the PGA TOUR in 2006, behind the 83 players that made it to the weekend at the Nissan Open. … Three players withdrew on Friday evening prior to completing the second round, Tom Byrum (15 holes) Neal Lancaster (16 holes) and Ben Curtis (16 holes), leaving the number of players yet to finish at 41 … The second round was re-started for the 41 players remaining at 7:30 a.m. and was officially completed at 9:22 a.m. … Alex Aragon was disqualified on Saturday for his second round, as he signed for a 5 on the par-4 18th when he had posted a 7. • The 1999 Shell Houston Open champion, Stuart Appleby is looking to become the ninth multiple winner of the Shell Houston Open, joining Cary Middlecoff (1950, 1953), Mike Souchak (1955, 1964), Jack Burke, Jr. (1952, 1958), Arnold Palmer (1957, 1966), Bobby Nichols (1962, 1965), Bruce Crampton (1973, 1975), Curtis Strange (1980, 1986, 1988) and Vijay Singh (2002, 2004, 2005). • The Shell Houston Open has been feast or famine for the Stuart Appleby, with a win (1999) and a tie for second (2003) along with three missed cuts (1996, 2000 and 2001). • Two-time defending champion Vijay Singh heads into the final round of the Shell Houston Open without a victory in 17 starts, his longest victory drought since 2002 when he went 18 starts between wins. Regardless, Singh leads the PGA TOUR with seven top-10s in nine events, including a runner-up playoff loss to Stuart Appleby at the Mercedes Championships. He also contended most of the week at last week’s Masters Tournament before finishing T8, four strokes back of Phil Mickelson. • Vijay Singh made his 11th consecutive cut without a miss at the Shell Houston Open this week and has made 11 consecutive cuts on TOUR, sixth-most on the PGA TOUR. Jimmy Demaret made 17 straight cuts at the Shell Houston Open from 1946-1964 to hold the tournament record. Demaret missed just one cut (1965) in 19 Houston appearances. • Vijay Singh posted a 3-over-par 75 on Saturday, marking only his second over-par round in his last 22 rounds at the Shell Houston Open. The two-time defending champion sits in a tie for 51st entering the final round, 13 shots behind Stuart Appleby. • Mathias Gronberg is looking for his first top-10 since a tie for sixth at the 2005 B.C. Open. In his career on the PGA TOUR, Gronberg has three top-10s in 74 previous starts. • There were three bogey-free rounds on Saturday, posted by Bob Estes, Richard S. Johnson and Mike Weir. • Thirteen players earned their first PGA TOUR victory at the Shell Houston Open -- there are six players in the current top-10 searching for their maiden TOUR win -- Mathias Gronberg, Jerry Smith, Trevor Immelman, Richard S. Johnson, Jeff Gove and Brett Wetterich.
• First PGA TOUR win at the Shell Houston Open: • Stuart Appleby 54-hole statistics:
Driving Accuracy -- 30 of 42 (71%, T33) • 54-hole Statistical Leaders:
Driving Accuracy -- Richard S. Johnson (41 of 42, 98%) |
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