The 2011 Shell Houston Open begins Thursday as the last PGA Tour event before next week’s U.S. Masters. There is no clear favorite but World No. 9 Matt Kuchar leads the odds, with No. 2 Lee Westwood and No. 6 Phil Mickelson following close behind.

Kuchar has been the most consistent of any player on tour lately by finishing in the top five in each of his last seven events. He tied for eighth here last year with Westwood. His last time out resulted in fifth at the WGC-Cadillac Championship for his fourth top ten finish in as many events.

Westwood and Mickelson will be battling it out just like they did last year at the Masters. Westwood lost by three shots to Mickelson at Augusta. After capturing the top world ranking, Westwood has struggled in 2010 and failed to finish in the top 10 at any tournament. He does have three top 20 finishes in his last four events and has a decent record at Redstone coming in 11th in 2009 and tying for eighth last year.

But, there has been only one European winner at the last 10 years of the Houston Open and the struggling Mickelson will need to keep that in mind. Since his Masters win in April of 2010, he has yet to win a tournament. His record at Redstone make him difficult to back with a missed cut in 2009 and a 35th place finish last year.

Hunter Mahan is next in the odds. The World No. 18 has five top 10 finishes in his last nine events, including a Phoenix Open win. He tied for sixth here in 2009 but missed the cut last year. Further down the odds with some value is Charl Schwartzel. The South African has finished in the top 25 in nine of 10 tournaments, including a Joburg Open win. He finished third at Redstone last year and is worth a bet to place.

The Australians have some longshot value. Stuart Appleby is a two-time winner and Marc Leishman is coming off a tie for third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Shorter in the odds is last year’s Houston Open winner Anthony Kim.

Shell Houston Open Outright Odds (provided by Titan Bet)

Matt Kuchar: 12/1

Lee Westwood: 14/1

Phil Mickelson: 14/1

Hunter Mahan: 18/1

Steve Stricker: 20/1

Charl Schwartzel: 22/1

Padraig Harrington: 25/1

Francesco Molinari: 28/1

JB Holmes: 30/1

YE Yang: 33/1

Anthony Kim: 35/1

Marc Leishman: 35/1

Steve Marino: 35/1

Ernie Els: 40/1

Retief Goosen: 40/1

Robert Karlsson: 40/1

Stuart Appleby: 40/1

Aaron Baddeley: 45/1

Jason Day: 45/1

Robert Allenby: 45/1

Ben Crane: 50/1

Charles Howell III: 50/1

Fred Couples: 50/1

Spencer Levin: 50/1