Final update: 2-2-0 and -0.10 units for the day; 6-10-3 and -4.69 units for the week

Roberts delivered the goods today with a 69 to almost gain a playoff place, but beat Edwards and Dodds. But Couples was a poor loss and Allenby lost out by one to Stadler in the 4th round.

In the remaining 72-hole matchups, Couples' 74 ensured a two-shot defeat to Maggert, but the other three - Hoch/Maggert, Hoch/Mayfair and Kelly/Mayfair - were winners. Small consolation when so many matchups were liked at the start of the week. Will get it back next week

Computer broken all weekend so no updates/plays until now. Very quickly, the 4th round plays

Robert Allenby to beat Craig Stadler @ +105 with the Starnet books

Loren Roberts to beat Trevor Dodds @ -148 with Canbet

Loren Roberts to beat Joel Edwards @ -160 with Bowmans or Carib

Fred Funk to beat Craig Stadler @ -110 with Carib

2nd round update: 1-1-1 and +0.00 units for the day

Going nowhere fast! Lickliter shot 66 to beat Jones by five, Magee and Kelly tied with 71s and Kraft crashed out of the event with a 76 and lose to Kaye by ten shots today.

The halfway cut did us no favors either. Five of the nine 72-hole matchups were decided today and none were in our favor   Appleby, Hart and Magee all missed the cut by ONE shot So that's four losers and Mike Weir returned home to see to his wife who has fallen ill.

Of the remaining four live matchups, the scores are: Couples/Maggert - 1 down; Hoch/Maggert - 5 up; Hoch/Mayfair - 3 up; Kelly/Mayfair - 3 down. Really need these four to pull through!

Back with 3rd round plays in the morning.

Adding three plays for the 2nd round:

Andrew Magee to beat Jerry Kelly @ -115 with GoTo or Five Dimes
Frank Lickliter to beat Steve Jones @ -105 with Five Dimes
Greg Kraft to beat Jonathan Kaye @ +100 with Five Dimes

1st round update: 0-1-1 and -1.10 units for the day

Weir lost his 1st round matchup by three to Funk despite shooting 70, while Kelly and Mayfair tied with 71s. Was hoping for a much better day. All three go-againsts broke par in the first round. Funk shot 67, Maggert 70 and Mayfair 71

The standings are: Appleby/Funk - 2 down; Appleby/Maggert - 1 up; Couples/Maggert - 5 down; Hoch/Maggert - 1 down; Hoch/Mayfair - level; Kelly/Mayfair - level; Hart/Funk - 6 down; Weir/Funk - 3 down; Magee/Roberts - 4 down.

Basically they're shocking! Things can only get better and at least it's only after 18 holes.

Ouch! After weeks of scratching around for decent plays, according to the Tour-Tips ratings, there are loads of them this week! With a fair bit of scrutiny, they have been narrowed down to a mere nine 72-hole plays. That said, many of these are multiple go-againsts so maybe it isn't that bad after all.

There are basically three players being opposed here: Fred Funk, Jeff Maggert and Billy Mayfair. Funk may have been a regular at this event since 1989 and the course record holder, but his game is completely out of sorts. He has only one top-10 this term - back in January at the Bob Hope - which is a far cry from the five in nine with which he finished last season. He may be straight, but even his best course form is some time ago: he has only broken par four times in his last fourteen rounds here. He is definitely worth opposing with Stuart Appleby and Dudley Hart [ranked 3rd and 1st respectively in the Tour-Tips rankings] and Mike Weir is certainly a good enough player to side with - six top-20 finishes in his ten starts this year is certainly good, but he can do much better.

Maggert is opposed for basically the same reasons as Funk. He is straight and should be suited to this course and he has done well here in the past, but there is very little reason to be confident in his game at the moment. He has missed the cut in four of his last five events and during that streak he was thrashed 6&5 in the 1st round of the WGC Matchplay by Bob Tway. Not playing much and struggling when he does, this has the hallmark of being a great week for him if he gets off to a flyer, but if not, playing in front of his home crowd will only make his problems on the course worse. He is being opposed by Stuart Appleby and Fred Couples [ranked 3rd and 2nd in the rankings] who are playing so much better at the moment and by Scott Hoch who has both decent current form - three top-15 finishes in his last four events - and decent course form - 2nd, 31st, 4th, 12th and 10th being his finishes here in the last five years.

Finally Mayfair is being opposed for having a terrible record at this event and not being on top of his game at the moment to compensate. He has missed the cut in each of his last five visits here and the last time was in 1997. It's no surprise he hasn't been in a hurry to come back. He is certainly one player who struggles on Bermuda greens. He is being opposed by Scott Hoch and Jerry Kelly whose four appearances here read 56th, 6th, 6th and 17th last year. Quite a contrast! The only other play is on Andrew Magee, who was impressive in maintaining his 2nd place last week, to beat Loren Roberts. The boost to his confidence is timely and he looks a great price to beat the inconsistent Roberts.

Staking plan:

Stuart Appleby to beat Fred Funk @ -111 with DAS

Stuart Appleby to beat Jeff Maggert @ +100 with Sportingbet

Fred Couples to beat Jeff Maggert @ +120 with WSEX

Scott Hoch to beat Jeff Maggert @ -111 with DAS

Scott Hoch to beat Billy Mayfair @ -135 with WSEX

Jerry Kelly to beat Billy Mayfair @ +110 with Olympic or Fair Deal

Jerry Kelly to beat Billy Mayfair [1st round] @ +100 with GoTo or Moneyplays

Dudley Hart to beat Fred Funk @ -138 with BlueSq

Mike Weir to beat Fred Funk @ -110 with Moneyplays

Mike Weir to beat Fred Funk [1st round] @ -110 with Five Dimes

Andrew Magee to beat Loren Roberts @ +110 with Intertops, Enterbet, Gamblers Palace, CRIS, Premiere League

The Houston Open

This week it's the home course of Jeff Maggert. He resides at the course and as a youngster [not as long ago as most would think!] he caddied for Scott Simpson in this event. He knows the course more than anyone else and so should be a prime contender to win this event every year. Well, maybe not. He was runner-up in 1994, 1996 and 1998, though on each occasion he was leading going into the final day. The same fate fell upon the 3rd round leader last year, Hal Sutton, who dropped two shots in the last three holes to lose by one to Stuart Appleby. So in an event that is typically close - eight playoffs in the last fourteen years - it looks a good call to oppose the 3rd round leader! Texans, and in particular Fred Couples, Justin Leonard, Omar Uresti, Bruce Lietzke, Phil Blackmar and Mark Brooks, tend to do well here with the move to Bermuda greens and the last two are former winners of this event.

The emphasis is on finding the target rather than length this week. Many of the longer-hitters will not be able to hit drivers all the time because of the penalties that lie further from the tee and with water in play in nine holes - the 'devil's bathtub' snakes around the back nine - there is no excuse for being wayward. The Texas winds will only heighten the emphasis on straight-hitting and, like last year, will fry the greens so that morning tee times are a big advantage.

The top-two-ranked this week are Dudley Hart whose errant putter last week should be more at ease on these greens - he was 4th last year - and Fred Couples who showed good signs of form at the Masters and was 3rd here on his last visit. The warmer climes will also help his back!

Will have matchups plays later today.