Sybi Kuchar fills in after Zach Johnson’s caddie goes down with illness

When sizing up the field at the Houston Open, we can’t help but loop in next week’s Masters into the strategy. In fact, you must. Experience at Augusta National matters more than on any other host track all season, so you don’t want to spend now what you need to consider saving for later. However, the rise of so many candidates for the Masters eases our challenge for Houston. Whether you’re pacing or chasing, Phil Mickelson will serve the purpose in either event. You know he’s a three-time winner of the Masters, but it might surprise you that he’s also the all-time earnings leader in the tournament. (Tiger Woods is No. 2.) Also in the field at both is the (relatively) scuffling Jordan Spieth. He’s third on the money list at Augusta National with a win, two seconds and a T11. I’d endorse a Mickelson-Spieth exacta over the next two weeks, but not the reverse. If anything, you can comfortably holster Spieth for another major or, frankly, anytime. His litany of Future Possibilities covers the gamut. I have Justin Rose penciled in at the Masters (sixth in all-time earnings), as he should be in that the tournament is his most logical site of any all season. He’s not on my short list for Houston, either. Suddenly, Mickelson is a the obvious choice. The only other inside the top 23 on the all-time money list and currently exempt at the Masters who also is committed to the Houston Open is Ernie Els (12th), but he hasn’t cracked our consciousness in a while. (Matt Kuchar is 24th on the money list at Augusta National, but he’s always been a top-shelf bridge for a regular event due to this busy schedule among the elite.) Others worth considering in Houston: Henrik Stenson has never had a top 10 at the Masters, so you might as well keep it simple and invest while he’s in form and comfortable with the course. If you’re like me, never mind the fade at Bay Hill and accept the top-five finish. You never can win them all. Daniel Berger will be the two-time defending champion at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Enough said. I gave Rickie Fowler a serious look for the Houston Open because he’s hung up three top 10s and fits the rhetorical angle that he’s one of the handful of notables who hasn’t won in 2018. However I went into the season to burn him in a major, and will stick to that plan. Still, if you need to make some noise, he’ll be under-owned this week. As mentioned in the Power Rankings, the Houston Open is probably going to be the last hurrah for Charles Howell III in our world this season. His Future Possibilities confirm it. He’s perfect if you own a decent lead and consider who your opponents burn as net-positives since those golfers go off their boards. Keegan Bradley also presents well for front-runners. Last but hardly least, defending champion and course thoroughbred Russell Henley is right there for the taking. The problem with him is that gamers in pursuit will gobble him up, so league leaders can do the same, play defense and won’t miss him. (If you’re one of them, remember, you’ve earned it!) In addition to Spieth, Rose and Kuchar, I’m cool on Rafa Cabrera Bello (bridge), Jason Dufner, Tony Finau and Steve Stricker as primaries. Stricker would be fine to complement the lead in two-man formats, though. Looking ahead, the John Deere Classic will be contested opposite the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship again this summer. He played the JDC last year, but even though it’s tough to envision the possibility that he won’t return, we’ve never guaranteed these things. Two-man gamers are wise also to factor in Sean O’Hair, Bud Cauley, Lee Westwood and Byeong Hun An in Houston. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Daniel Berger … Houston (3); St. Jude (1; two-time defending); Travelers (2) Keegan Bradley … Houston (3); Memorial (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2) Jason Dufner … Fort Worth (2); Memorial (3; defending); U.S. Open (4); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7) Tony Finau … Valero (5); Memorial (3); Greenbrier (2); Canadian (4) Rickie Fowler … Houston (4); Masters (8); Wells Fargo (7); PLAYERS (9); WGC-Bridgestone (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (10); Dell Technologies (6) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Russell Henley … Houston (1; defending); Greenbrier (3) J.B. Holmes … Houston (2); Wells Fargo (7); Greenbrier (5) Charles Howell III … Houston (7) Chris Kirk … Valero (4); PLAYERS (3); Fort Worth (2) Russell Knox … Heritage (2); PLAYERS (8); Dell Technologies (7) Matt Kuchar … Masters (5); Heritage (1); Valero (10); PLAYERS (11); Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) William McGirt … Heritage (1); Memorial (4) Phil Mickelson … Houston (3); Masters (4); Wells Fargo (2); St. Jude (1); Open Championship (5) Ryan Palmer … Valero (1); Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … Houston (5); John Deere (6) Justin Rose … Masters (1); Wells Fargo (4); PLAYERS (9); Memorial (6); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (7); TOUR Championship (2) Brandt Snedeker … Masters (7); Heritage (10); Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Jordan Spieth … Houston (11); Masters (1); Heritage (12); Fort Worth (2); Travelers (6; defending); John Deere (7); Open Championship (9; defending); WGC-Bridgestone (10); TOUR Championship (4) Henrik Stenson … Houston (10); Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (4); PGA Championship (7); Wyndham (8; defending); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (2) Kevin Streelman … Wells Fargo (3); Memorial (1); Travelers (2)

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AUSTIN, Texas — Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson lost in the opening round and now face a tough road to the weekend in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Bernd Wiesberger of Austria ended Johnson’s seven-match winning streak and had plenty of help in a 3 and 1 victory. Former U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein caught McIlroy a little flat and built too big of a lead for McIlroy to overcome. McIlroy birdied five in a row on the back nine at Austin Country Club until losing on the 17th hole. Mickelson, who won the last World Golf Championship in Mexico three weeks ago, made only one birdie in losing to Charles Howell III. Only four players in this round-robin format have won their group after losing the first match.

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