Houston Open: Vijay Singh is back in action as defending champion while Darren Clarke returns to the drawing board in this week's Houston Open at Redstone in Humble, Texas.
With Tiger Woods continuing to take time off to savour his US Masters victory, Singh will have his eye on the world number one ranking as he prepares for the first of back-to-back title defences on the PGA Tour.
The Fijian, who moves on to Louisiana next week to defend his New Orleans Classic crown, has been involved in a furious tug-of-war with Woods since the start of the season over the top spot. While Singh cannot reclaim the number-one ranking with victory in Houston, he could set the stage for further battles with Woods in the coming weeks.
Woods has twice this year regained his status as the game's leading player, first by winning the Doral Open in Miami in March and again with his fourth Masters victory two weeks ago. This week, only two of the world's top 10 will be in action in Houston - second-ranked Singh and number nine David Toms.
Woods, world number four Phil Mickelson and seventh-ranked Chris DiMarco are all resting while Ernie Els (three), Retief Goosen (five), Sergio Garcia (eight) and Adam Scott (10) are in China.
As for Clarke, he is in Houston looking for an early opportunity to bounce back from his late collapse at last week's Heritage Classic, where a double-bogey at the 72nd hole handed victory to Australia's Peter Lonard.
Texans traditionally like everything to be big and the 7,508-yard Redstone layout is no exception. With its wide open fairways big hitters like Clarke will look to take advantage.
He launched his final round at Hilton Head on Sunday with four birdies in his first five holes to surge four strokes ahead of the Australian. However, he lost his way on the tight fairways and small greens at the Harbour Town Golf Links, ballooning to nine over par for his final 13 holes.
"Things happen out here that you don't think are going to happen," said Clarke after having to settle for a four-way tie for second place.
The Houston Open should provide Singh with the ideal opportunity to return to the winner's circle.
