Rickie Fowler masters ‘mud balls’ on his way to early lead at the Houston Open
American copes with a number of ‘mud balls’ to surge into the first round lead
Rickie Fowler, with one eye on Augusta, turned the other eye to the task at hand, coping with a number of “mud balls” to surge into the first round lead at the Shell Houston Open in Texas on Thursday.
The American ended his day in style, very nearly grabbing a hole-in-one at the 230-yard par-three ninth, his ball rolling past the edge of the cup before settling five feet away, setting up a birdie.
He rolled in seven birdies from inside 10 feet for a bogey-free eight-under 64 and a one-shot advantage over South Korean Kang Sung-hoon, who missed a short putt at the final hole.
Former world number four Fowler skipped last week’s World Golf Championships match-play event, preferring instead to play the week before the Masters.
“I like playing my way into majors and they’ve been able to do a great job here making it as similar to possible of what we may see next week,” Fowler said.