posted March 26, 2007 at 15:05 EST in Golf Articles

While he could not pull of a record eighth consecutive tour victory two weeks ago at his home track in Orlando, Florida’s Bay Hill Country Club, Tiger Woods regrouped in Miami’s Doral Golf and Spa Resort this weekend by claiming his third-consecutive World Golf Championships – CA Championship. It was the fifth tour event in which Woods has accomplished that feat - a ‘three-peat.’

Woods held off challenger Brett Wetterich by two shots while Robert Allenby, Sergio Garcia and Geoff Ogilvy finished four shots behind Woods in a three-way tie for third-place.

 

With his Doral victory, Woods moved up to third place in the FedEx Cup race. Cup- leader, Vijay Singh, finished in a tie for 11th place in Miami while Charles Howell, III, who is second in the Cup standings, finished in a tie for 16th place.

One thing is certain. Woods, Singh and Howell have no chance to win the Shell Houston Open, since none of them were entered in the field as of last week. Singh’s absence may be the most notable given his championships here in 2002, 2004 and 2005. The latter two occurred after the tournament moved to the Redstone course.

Stuart Appleby cruised to a six-stroke win over Bob Estes and the rest of the field last year at Redstone. Steve Stricker, Mathias Gronbert and Jerry Smith made up the rest of last year’s top-five. Only Smith is not currently entered in this year’s field.

Appleby has struggled this season (107th in the FedEx Cup) by missing two cups and recording only one finish above 33rd-place (13th in January’s Mercedes-Benz Championship).

Meanwhile, Stricker, who finished third last year at Redstone, has missed two cuts this season (Buick Open and PODS Championship), but also has two top-five finishes (Sony Open in Hawaii [4th] and the Honda Classic [5th]).

 

Brett Wetterich, who narrowly lost to Woods last weekend in Doral, finished in a five-way tie for sixth-place in last year’s Shell Houston Open. K.J. Choi, Mike Weir, J.L. Lewis and Richard S. Johnson made up the rest of that five-way tie with Wetterich.

Choi is worth watching this weekend. He is currently 23rd in the FedEx Cup and started this year with two top-ten finishes: the Mercedes Benz Championship (8th) and the Sony Open in Hawaii (4th). He finished tied for sixth-place earlier this month in the PODS Championship.

Geoff Ogilvy, who currently sits in ninth-place, is the highest-ranked FedEx Cup golfer in this year’s Shell Houston Open. Ogilvy finished third last weekend in Doral, second at the Accenture match-play championship and eighth in the Sony Open in Hawaii. Ogilvie failed to make the cut at last year’s Shell Houston Open.

Shell Houston Open

Redstone Golf Club Tournament Course, Humble, Texas

March 29-April 1, 2007

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