Thomas nears No. 1 with Match Play dominance

There has been talk about a challenge to the PGA Tour. This WGC event — with no Woods, no Brooks Koepka — has made its point with a leaderboard full of stars.

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Jordan Spieth, who turned a playoff loss in 2015 into a Masters crown, and World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship winner Phil Mickelson headline the final tuneup for the year’s first major, facing a Golf Club of Houston layout traditionally set up to approximate Augusta National. Justin Rose, twice a Masters runner-up after playing Houston, also returns among 16 players coming to put finishing touches on their Augusta preparation. For the rest, a final Masters berth is available if the winner hasn’t already qualified. [Check out the full field here] FIELD NOTES: Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar help give the lineup six of the top 20 players in the world rankings. … India’s Shubhankar Sharma, given a special Masters invite after holding the 54-hole lead at the Mexico Championship, also has chosen to do his prep work at GCH. … Two-time major winner Martin Kaymer tees it up on U.S. soil for just the third time since last year’s U.S. Open. … Ernie Els and Lee Westwood are set to tee it up in longshot hopes of extending lengthy Masters runs. Els has missed Augusta just once since 1994; Westwood has a run of 13 straight in jeopardy. … Steve Stricker, who recently notched his first win on the PGA TOUR champions circuit, returns to Houston after a year’s hiatus. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: Mickelson, whose 4 ½-year winless drought came to an end in Mexico, will fine tune after his Friday departure from the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. He had four straight top-10 finishes before Austin. … Spieth also failed to make it out of group play in Austin, though he was 2-0 before falling to Ryder Cup partner Patrick Reed. The reigning Open Championship winner has yet to place higher than ninth this season. … The lineup features three players who reached the Round of 16 in Austin – Kuchar, Charles Howell III and Ian Poulter. … The last-gasp Masters berth has been in play in four of the past five editions, with Russell Henley last year joining Jim Herman (2016), Matt Jones (2014) and D.A. Points (2013). … For Westwood, Houston is the only non-major U.S. stop he’s played since 2015. … The Houston Open has gone to a playoff 23 times in 72 editions – almost one in three. Only the U.S. Open has seen more playoffs (33). COURSE: Golf Club of Houston (Tournament), 7,441 yards, par 72. Widely praised for its ability to imitate Augusta National’s setup, the 2005 Rees Jones design returns for its 12th edition as the lead-in venue for the Masters. Carved from wooded countryside in Houston’s northeast suburbs, Jones and consultant David Toms took care to preserve the many natural lakes and wetlands throughout the property. For this event, though, club officials annually go the extra mile to deliver shaved banks, collection areas around the greens and a Stimpmeter reading of 13 or more. 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), Russell Henley (2017). 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), Sung Kang (2nd round, 2017). LAST YEAR: Henley used 10 birdies to overcome a four-shot deficit on the final day, booking the final Masters reservation with a three-stroke triumph. The Georgia native caught 54-hole leader Sung Kang with five birdies in his first eight holes, slipped a bit with a double bogey at No. 9, then took control with three straight birdies midway through the back nine. A pitch to 3 feet at the par-5 13th moved Henley in front for good, while Kang missed a 15-footer. Henley followed with a 35-foot birdie at No. 14 and completed the run by getting up-and-down for birdie at the par-5 15th. A bogey at No. 18 kept Henley from breaking Phil Mickelson’s tournament record at GCH. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 2-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (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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