Shell Houston Open

Only one more week until Jim Nantz's silky-smooth voice is cooing through our TV sets. The Shell Houston Open is not the Masters, but it should be a nice warm-up for the year's first major.

The world-class field includes Phil Mickelson and the defending champion, Adam Scott, and the course will be set up with Augusta-like conditions.

Speaking of world class, keep the Australian players in mind this week. In the past 10 years, Adam Scott ('07), Stuart Appleby ('99, '06) and Robert Allenby ('00) have won in Houston. (Vijay Singh won in '02, '04 and '05, but he's not in the field this week).

Houston Picks

Stuart Appleby: He has one of the best records in this event, with two wins and two runner-up finishes. He also has five top-10 finishes in seven events this season.

Phil Mickelson: Mickelson is playing this event for the first time since 2003 because of the course conditions. An Augusta-like setup should favor the two-time Masters champ.

Padraig Harrington: We liked Harrington last week because of his stellar play across the globe this year, and he didn't let us down, finishing T4. He's played this event twice, making the cut both times.

Adam Scott: The defending champion defends well. Scott has five PGA Tour wins, and he has followed three of those victories with top-10 finishes in the same event the next year. Will he make it four of five this week? Scott even defends his unofficial wins well. He won the rain-shortened '05 Nissan Open, and finished second in '06.

K.J. Choi: It's a hometown event for Choi, and he hasn't finished out of the top 20 since missing the cut at the Buick Invitational.

Sleeper

Bob Estes: It's been a rough year for Estes. He has made only three cuts in eight events. But he made the cut last week, and he has two straight top-10 finishes in this event.

Players to Avoid

Steve Elkington: Elkington is off to a nice start this year, but he's never fared well in Houston. In his last six trips to Houston, Elk has made the cut only once.

Andres Romero: Romero had a great win last week, but this will be his first start in Houston, and he may be looking ahead to his debut at Augusta.

Steve Stricker: Despite his good play this year, and in this event, we're going to side with our anonymous Tour pro and say that Augusta-like course conditions may not favor Stricker.