In one week, the azaleas of Augusta will be in full view as that treacly music plays and we take in the full experience of the season’s first major. Most minds have already wandered to the Masters, but the Shell Houston Open on Thursday provides a nice little preview of many of the players who will tee it up next week at Augusta.
How to watch the 2014 Shell Houston Open online, TV schedule and more
There’s one more week of prep before the Masters, and 46 players in the field next week, including Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy, will tee it up at the Shell Houston Open.
Scott Halleran
There are 46 players in the field at the Masters who are getting in one final week of competitive prep. The Golf Club of Houston, the PGA Tour, and the the Houston Open organizers have done a good job trying to create conditions as close as possible to Augusta, and they’ve succeeded in drawing big name players who want to get in some simulated competitive work (and also go for another $1.2M check). The work has been done mostly up around and on the greens, shaving down any rough near the putting surfaces to test the players’ chipping and putting. Those are essential parts of the game at the Masters, where there’s really no rough around the slippery greens that define that course. With that setup facing the players, 23 of the top 50 in the world decided to commit, a great number for the week before a major.
The two biggest names are Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy. Mickelson almost always plays the week before major, and loves the Houston Open for the way it preps him for the Masters. McIlroy teed it up here last year after skipping it for two years, but that was more out of necessity as he added events last minute to try and find some game before the first major. They will be on opposite sides of the draw the first two days, headlining the two marquee groups.
It will be Rory’s turn to go out in the afternoon on Thursday during the TV coverage window, playing alongside Dustin Johnson and Luke Donald. All three will be among the favorites next week at Augusta, and they’re set to tee off at 1:40 p.m. ET. Golf Channel will come on the air for their usual first round coverage from 3 to 6 p.m. ET and the simulcast will again be available via their LiveExtra service. Here are your media options for the first round:
Thursday’s first round coverage
Television:
3 to 6 p.m. -- Golf Channel
Online streams:
3 to 6 p.m. -- Golf Channel simulcast stream
Radio:
Noon to 6 p.m. -- PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208)
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