With an Eye Toward Augusta, World's Best Embrace Shell Houston Open

While the PGA Tour frowns upon the use of field strength as determined by the Official World Golf Rankings as the most significant criteria for determining the prestige of any given tournament, it's hard to ignore the collection of talent assembled this week in southeast Texas for the Shell Houston Open.

Attracting golfers with a setup similar to what they'll encounter next week at Augusta National, this week's Shell Houston Open will feature a field comprised of 15 of the top 20 golfers in the world.

"This is the strongest field we've had since 1986, the first year of the World Golf Rankings," said Steve Timms, Shell Houston Open tournament director and president and CEO of the Houston Golf Association.

Eight of the current top 10 ranked players will be teeing it up at Redstone Golf Club's Tournament Course come Thursday; Phil Mickelson (No. 2), Sergio Garcia (No. 3), Geoff Ogilvy (No. 4), Padraig Harrington (No. 5); Vijay Singh (No. 6); Camilo Villegas (No. 7), Robert Karlsson (No. 8) and Henrik Stenson (No. 9) are all scheduled to compete.

"It's great that the Shell Houston Open has gotten such a great field," said defending champion Johnson Wagner, who will be looking to recapture his title and once again earn a trip to Augusta."

Other former champions in the field include Singh (2002, 2004 and 2005), Fred Couples (2003), Stuart Appleby (1999, 2006) and David Duval (1998).

Other top 20 players include Steve Stricker (No. 11), Paul Casey (No. 12), Anthony Kim (No. 14), Lee Westwood (No. 15), Ernie Els (No. 16), Rory McIlroy (No. 17) and Martin Kaymer (No. 20).

Australian Greg Norman, a former No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings, is scheduled to make on of his few PGA Tour appearances at the Shell Houston Open. Norman earned an invitation to The Masters by virtue of his 2008 British Open third place finish and is coming to Houston to get his golf game up to speed for Augusta.

Davis Love III, who fell out of the World Golf Ranking top 50 after failing to make the cut at last weeks' Arnold Palmer Invitational, was a last minute committment and hopes to emerge victorious in Houston to avoid missing The Masters for a second consecutive year.

Shell Houston Open tickets and parking passes are still available around the clock online at www.shellhoustonopen.com.

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