• COURSE: Golf Club of Houston (Tournament), 7,441 yards, par 72. Now beginning its second decade as the lead-in venue for the Masters, the 2005 Rees Jones design has won over PGA TOUR players for its ability to approximate Augusta National’s setup. Built across a wooded landscape in Houston’s suburbs, Jones and consultant David Toms took care to preserve the many natural lakes and wetlands throughout the layout. For this event, though, club officials have done well to deliver shaved banks, collection areas around the greens and a Stimpmeter reading of 13 or more. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. • CHARITY: The Houston Golf Association, which has handed out $1.26 million in college scholarships since 1996, with another $140,000 earmarked this year. Other funds support the HGA’s junior golf program and The First Tee of Greater Houston, with total donations surpassing $64 million since 1974. • FIELD WATCH: World No.1 Dustin Johnson, who owns two top-5 finishes in his past three visits to GCH, and Texas native Jordan Spieth top a lineup that includes five of the top 10 in the world rankings and 11 of the top 25. … No.5 Henrik Stenson, No.8 Adam Scott and No.9 Rickie Fowler are the other top-10 players coming to Houston. … Lee Westwood makes his first start on U.S. soil since last year’s PGA Championship. Since moving back to England in 2015, Houston has been the only non-major stop he’s played in the States. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, Curtis Strange and Lee Trevino (1980 at Woodlands CC), Vijay Singh (2002 at TPC Woodlands). GCH record: 268, Phil Mickelson (2011). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Ron Streck (3rd round, 1981 at Woodlands CC), Fred Funk (3rd round, 1992 at TPC Woodlands). GCH record: 63, Johnson Wagner (1st round, 2008), Adam Scott (1st round, 2008), Jimmy Walker (1st round, 2011), Phil Mickelson (3rd round, 2011), Scott Piercy (1st round, 2015). • LAST YEAR: Jim Herman, best known to that point for wearing Donald Trump’s logo, artfully nabbed a last-gasp Masters berth when his chip-in birdie at No.16 eventually left him one shot clear of Henrik Stenson. The 38-year-old journeyman closed with a 4-under-par 68, topped by his chip-in from thick rough after he missed the 16th green. The ball came out perfectly, rolling into the cup to put him ahead. Two pars finished it, while Stenson missed an 18-foot birdie try that would have forced a playoff. It was Herman’s first PGA TOUR victory and just his second as a pro, six years after he won a Web.com Tour event in Australia. His association with Trump goes back a decade, as a former assistant pro at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey. • STORYLINES: Johnson, two shots behind Herman last year and fourth in 2014, takes serious momentum to GCH regardless of his weekend at the WGC Dell Match Play. Before sweeping through group play in Austin, he won at Riviera and in Mexico. … Spieth, runner-up two years ago, seeks to find his stride after failing to make it out of group play at Austin. Since winning at Pebble Beach, he hasn’t cracked the top 10 in three starts. … Phil Mickelson, the 2011 champion, hasn’t finished outside the top 20 since though just one has been in the top 10. He dominated his group at the WGC Match Play, never reaching Austin’s 16th hole. … Will someone else punch a last-minute ticket to Augusta? Herman was the third man in the past four years to follow that path, after Matt Jones (2014) and D.A. Points (2013). Johnson Wagner did likewise in 2008. • SHORT CHIPS: Despite GCH’s high marks in replicating Augusta National, just two winners have placed among the top 15 at the Masters since it became the lead-in event. Anthony Kim took third in 2010; Hunter Mahan tied for 12th two years later. … The Shell Houston Open has gone to a playoff 23 times in 71 editions, a rate of nearly one in three. Only the U.S. Open has more playoffs on the books (33). • TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. ET (featured groups), 4-7 p.m. (featured holes). • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com)
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