Shell Houston Open 2015: Tee times, pairings for Thursday’s round

The Shell Houston Open falls in one of the tougher spots on the PGA Tour schedule. Everyone -- players, fans, media -- has turned their full attention to Augusta National and the first major of the year. But because it’s the week before the Masters, it does draw some of the best players in the world who are looking for a final tuneup and roll into Augusta fresh off some competitive reps.

Phil Mickelson is the most famous player notorious for always playing the event the week before a major. It has been his go-to move for the Masters and it has generally paid dividends. This event, at the Golf Club of Houston, does provide some of those short game shot tests that you might get at Augusta, but it’s really tough to simulate those conditions. The tournament organizers and course maintenance always try though.

Mickelson has had an uneven year, to say the least. The 2014 season was the worst of his career and the first quarter of 2015 hasn’t been much of an improvement. He looked steady for two rounds at the Honda Classic and looked fine for stretches last week in San Antonio. But he’s also missed multiple cuts, been non-factors and shot 40 or worse on two separate nine-hole stretches last week, too.

He usually gets off to strong starts each year, often picking up a win in the first quarter out on the West Coast swing. He’s not come close to that this year so it would be nice to at least show out in Houston. But then again, Phil knows Augusta so well that he could show up with his game a complete mess and still string together four rounds in the 60s.

Patrick Reed and Hunter Mahan will play the first two rounds with Mickelson. That should be the marquee group getting much of the love from the cameras, just not on Thursday. That’s because they’ll be off at 9 a.m. and should have their opening round wrapped up well before the Golf Channel cameras come on at 3 p.m. ET. One group before that is Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Ernie Els, arguably the second-best tee time thanks to the star power of Spieth.

The afternoon wave will be highlighted by the Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, and Matt Kuchar trio, who tee off at 1:40 p.m. ET. All three of those players have had multiple close calls at Augusta National, and could easily be in the top five come next Sunday afternoon.

Here’s the full tee sheet (all times ET):

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