Rickie Fowler said it was all about “managing the mud” Thursday during the opening round of the Shell Houston Open.
Fowler got off to a fast start then kept it together and opened with an eight-under par 64 at the Golf Club of Houston.
Fowler and the rest of the field had their hands full dealing with fairways that were still wet from rains earlier this week in the Houston area. “I was fortunate enough to take advantage of the par threes and I managed the mud balls,” Fowler said of his round. “I got some good breaks. Shooting 31 going out definitely helped,” said Fowler, who started his day on the back nine.
He went bogey-free on the round that saw a lot of players complaining about having mud on the golf ball thanks to conditions that weren’t quite bad enough to play lift-clean-and place.
Fowler had the lead to himself when Sung Kang bogeyed his final hole of the day, the 18th, and finished with a seven-under par 65. Stuart Cink, Jhonattan Vegas and Kyle Stanley were all in at six-under par, 66.
Justin Rose was one of eight players at five-under.
Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker turned in three-under par 69s while Phil Mickelson could do no better than an even-par round of 72.
Two big names struggled. Henrik Stenson finished with a 74 while Patrick Reed shot 77.
