March 31 2012
12:38 AM
Live updates: News, notes and more
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM
HUMBLE, Texas — The first round of the Shell
Houston Open was completed and half the second round finished on
Friday at Redstone Golf Club. Let us know what you think by
leaving leaving your comments below.
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8:38 p.m. -- Play was suspended at 8:36 p.m.
due to darkness with all 70 players in the second wave still on
the course. The second round will resume at 8:30 a.m. ET
Saturday.
7:44 p.m. -- Two players seemingly
unfazed by the late tee times? Veterans Angel Cabrera and Jeff
Maggert. Both of them are 9 under -- Maggert after seven holes,
Cabrera after four.
7:15 p.m. -- The waiting game. Thursday's
thunderstorms have pushed the schedule back so far that the
final groups -- Brian Harman, Jim Herman and Miguel Angel
Carballo and Jason Kokrak, Jeff Curl and Troy Kelly -- aren't
due to tee off in the second round for 15 more minutes.
6:34 p.m. -- Another young face working
his way up the leader board is Jonas Blixt. The Swede, who
played collegiate golf at Florida State, is now 6-under for
his second round, 8-under for the tournament. Blixt is
coming off two missed cuts, his last at the Puerto Rico
Open. His best finish this year is a tie for
22nd at the Farmers Insurance Open.
6:03 p.m. -- Good
company. Fred Couples shot a second-round 73, but
still made his 19th consecutive cut at the SHO to tie the
legendary Jimmy Demaret for the tournament record.
Couples is tied with Fred Haas Jr., Jay Haas, Tom Kite
and Hal Sutton for the most top-25 finishes in tournament
history with 12.
5:30 p.m. -- If he doesn't
make a birdie or two coming in, defending Masters champ
Charl Schwartzel may get a little more practice time in
Augusta. Although he shot 69 in the first round, he's
now 3 over for the tournament with two holes to play.
At plus-3, he's one shot above the projected cut.
4:51 p.m. -- From the
gotta-keep-humor-in-the-equation file:
@Keegan_bradley tweets -- 510 t time today with
@Graeme_McDowell and @WestwoodLee. Great group. Hope
I get a good twilight rate. #shellhoustonopen
4:39 p.m. --- Rookie Harris
English is nudging his way toward the first page of
the leaderboard. English, who didn't even get to
tee off Thursday because of the weather, birdied
the final hole of his first round for an opening
69, then birdied three of the first six holes of
his second round to get to 6 under.
4:06 p.m. -- All eyes
were on Ernie Els coming into the week. Els is
among those players in the field who needs to win
the SHO in order to be invited to play in next
week's Masters. He's in contention, 4 under
through his first 28 holes, which leaves him five
shots behind current leader Brian Davis and four
behind Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen. Els
hasn't missed a Masters field since 1993.
3:28 p.m. -- And,
suddenly, its a four-way tie for the lead.
Louis Oosthuizen birdied the eighth hole and
Brian Davis birdied the first hole -- his 10th
-- to move to 8 under and join Phil Mickelson
and Greg Owen at the top.
3:20 p.m. -- Another major
champion is making a run. Former British Open
champ Louis Oosthuizen birdied two of his
first four holes to get a 7 under and remains
there after eight holes. Phil Mickelson
shares the lead with Greg Owen at 8 under,
while Oosthuizen is tied with Carl Pettersson
and former Masters champions Fred Couples and
Angel Cabrera at 7 under. Couples
is playing with Mickelson. Cabrera will not
tee off until 6:40.
2:50 p.m. -- Fred Couples,
the 52-year-old who won on the Champions
Tour on Sunday, is two shots off the pace.
He's tied at 7 under, which was the
first-round lead, with Tommy Gainey, John
Huh and Louis Oosthuizen -- while Carl
Pettersson and Angel Cabrera also at that
number but waiting for tee times after 6
p.m. ET.
2:20 p.m. -- Phil
Mickelson didn't have much time to grab a
bite -- but he probably didn't want it.
Not after gaining momentum as he finished
off a 65 on Friday morning. So he's gone
back out and birdied two of his first
four holes at Redstone to gain a
one-stroke advantage -- this time over
Greg Owen, who is 2 under through 7.
1:15 p.m. -- Chris
Couch and 2010 SHO champ Anthony Kim
have withdrawn from the field with
injuries. Kim, who hurt his shoulder,
shot an opening 79; Couch shot 76.
1:08 p.m. -- More
than 1.25 inches of rain fell on the
Redstone course Thursday afternoon
and muddy conditions have led
officials to determine the second
round will be played under
lift-clean-and-place rules. There is
a 30 percent chance of more scattered
thunderstorms this afternoon.
12:40 p.m. -- Leave
it to defending champion Phil
Mickelson and former champion Fred
Couples to take full advantage of the
pristine greens. Mickelson opened
with a 7-under 65 to share the
clubhouse lead, while Couples shot
67.
12:25 p.m. –
Don’t look now but PGA TOUR
rookie John Huh is in contention
again. He just finished off a round
of 66 that included five birdies,
an eagle and one bogey and left him
one stroke behind the leaders. Huh
won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in
the fifth start of his career.
12:15 p.m.
– Players who
completed their rounds on
Thursday before the downpour came
have a long wait for their tee
times in the second. Here’s
what Bud Cauley tweeted: “T
time is now 440 today. Time to
fill the day… Maybe a
workout, couple of lunches and
some practice.”
11:42 a.m.
– Former British
Open champion Louis Oosthuizen
is working on a low number.
He’s 5 under through 15
holes, which puts him two
behind the leaders, which now
includes defending champion
Phil Mickelson.
11:10 a.m.
– Ernie Els
has started relatively slowly
but at least he’s
moving in the right direction
as he pursues the win that
would give him the final
invite to the Masters.
He’s played 12 holes
and is 2 under, trailing the
leaders by five strokes.
10:42 a.m.
– Defending
champion Phil Mickelson
made five birdies on the
front nine and is now just
two strokes off the lead.
He’s in the featured
group with Charl
Schwartzel, who defends his
Masters title next week,
and local favorite Fred
Couples.
Click
here to follow the
group on ShotTracker.
