Icon Sportswire
A view from the green on the 14th hole during the Shell Houston Open on April 01, 2017, at the Golf Club of Houston in Humble, TX. (Photo by Juan DeLeon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

By Christopher Powers
The PGA Tour is back in Texas this week for the Houston Open, played at Golf Club of Houston in Humble, Texas, home to to event since 2006. The tournament serves as one final tune-up prior to the season’s first major, and the winner earns the last spot in the Masters field, provided he isn’t in already.

The 2018 field is a strong one, featuring names like Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler. But all eyes remain on Jordan Spieth, whose putting struggles were on display once again last week during his early exit at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. As he’s proved in the past, sooner or later it should turn in Spieth’s favor, especially considering he ranks inside the top 30 in every major strokes-gained category except putting, where he ranks a lowly 172nd. Perhaps he can flip the script in his home state this week at an event where he finished runner-up in his breakout 2015 season.

TV Coverage
In the UAE, OSN Sports 3HD will carry live coverage from 9pm from Thursday to Sunday.

Thursday Tee Times (all times ET). NOTE: UAE time is 8 hours ahead of ET.
Tee No. 1
8:20 a.m.(4.20pm UAE time) — Bud Cauley, Dominic Bozzelli, Keith Mitchell
8:30 a.m. — Chad Campbell, Kelly Kraft, Sam Saunders
8:40 a.m. — Scott Piercy, Ben Crane, Tom Hoge
8:50 a.m. — D.A. Points, Russell Knox, Smylie Kaufman
9:00 a.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, James Hahn, Charles Howell III
9:10 a.m. — Brian Stuard, Chris Kirk, Matt Every
9:20 a.m. — Rod Pampling, Greg Chalmers, Bill Haas
9:30 a.m. — Jonathan Byrd, C.T. Pan, Brandon Harkins
9:40 a.m. — Alex Cejka, Bob Estes, Cameron Tringale
9:50 a.m. — Michael Thompson, Keegan Bradley, Sean O’Hair
10:00 a.m. — Abraham Ancer, Adam Schenk, Bobby Gates
10:10 a.m. — Brett Stegmaier, Denny McCarthy, Ryan Baca
1:10 p.m. — Danny Lee, Jason Kokrak, Ryan Blaum
1:20 p.m. — Shawn Stefani, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Dylan Frittelli
1:30 p.m. — Nick Taylor, Kevin Streelman, Jon Curran
1:40 p.m. — Jason Dufner, Nick Watney, Ernie Els
1:50 p.m. — Daniel Berger, Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker
2:00 p.m. — Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Russell Henley
2:10 p.m. — Matt Jones, Chez Reavie, Luke List
2:20 p.m. — Geoff Ogilvy, Ian Poulter, Richy Werenski
2:30 p.m. — Robert Streb, Johnson Wagner, Sung Kang
2:40 p.m. — Lanto Griffin, Sam Ryder, Yuta Ikeda
2:50 p.m. — Ben Silverman, Xinjun Zhang, Paul Dunne
3:00 p.m. — Bronson Burgoon, Stephan Jaeger, Zach Cabra

Tee No. 10
8:20 a.m. (4.20pm UAE time) — Ryan Palmer, Tyrone Van Aswegen, Harold Varner III
8:30 a.m. — Hunter Mahan, Lucas Glover, Robert Garrigus
8:40 a.m. — Scott Brown, Thomas Pieters, Martin Piller
8:50 a.m. — Brice Garnett, Cody Gribble, Tony Finau
9:00 a.m. — Chris Stroud, Jhonattan Vegas, Jordan Spieth
9:10 a.m. — Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler, Martin Kaymer
9:20 a.m. — Jonas Blixt, Emiliano Grillo, Padraig Harrington
9:30 a.m. — Jamie Lovemark, Kevin Tway, Michael Kim
9:40 a.m. — Scott Stallings, Derek Fathauer, Aaron Wise
9:50 a.m. — Joel Dahmen, Talor Gooch, Julian Suri
10:00 a.m. — Rob Oppenheim, Ethan Tracy, Shubhankar Sharma
10:10 a.m. — Seamus Power, Nicholas Lindheim, Dawie van der Walt
1:10 p.m. — Martin Flores, Byeong Hun An, Blayne Barber
1:20 p.m. — J.J. Henry, Camilo Villegas, Patrick Rodgers
1:30 p.m. — Harris English, Retief Goosen, Peter Uihlein
1:40 p.m. — Ryan Armour, William McGirt, K.J. Choi
1:50 p.m. — Grayson Murray, Fabian Gomez, Peter Malnati
2:00 p.m. — Aaron Baddeley, Brandt Snedeker, Shane Lowry
2:10 p.m. — Troy Merritt, Whee Kim, Andrew Loupe
2:20 p.m. — Chesson Hadley, Lee Westwood, Beau Hossler
2:30 p.m. — J.B. Holmes, John Huh, Rory Sabbatini
2:40 p.m. — Jonathan Randolph, Tyler Duncan, Nate Lashley
2:50 p.m. — Andrew Putnam, Tom Lovelady, Seungsu Han
3:00 p.m. — Corey Conners, Roberto Diaz, JJ Wood