Shell Houston Open 2012: Don't Expect Cinderella Story from Greg Owen

Darren Clarke showed us last year that anything's possible in any given golf tournament, but don't expect 40-year-old Greg Owen to shock the world at the Shell Houston Open.

After one round of play on Thursday, Owen was one stroke behind leader Phil Mickelson with a six-under-par 66, and he's gotten off to a fast start in the second round on Friday.

This stellar play has occurred despite Owen not even playing on the PGA Tour last year. And while he has three top-20 finishes in his last six starts of 2012, he's also missed the cut twice in that span and placed 55th at the Transitions Championship.

Owen entered the 2012 season ranked 620th in the world, but in the opener at Redstone he hit 15 greens and required only 27 putts en route to seven birdies. He had three conversions of over 22 feet, including a 33-footer at the third hole.

In that respect, Owen is playing some of the best golf of his career right now, and it's come out of nowhere.

But, alas, there is still plenty of golf to be played and Owen honestly isn't the type of golfer to all of a sudden turn the world on its head. His best finish in the United States was second at Bay Hill in 2006, which is why it wasn't a shocker when he placed a decent 20th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week.

The last time Owen played more than one round in the Shell Houston Open? That would be 2009, when he missed the cut (he withdrew after one round in 2010 due to illness).

Owen is undoubtedly on a roll right now and if he keeps this up he obviously has a shot at the victory, but the harsh reality is that expecting him to continue to play this way is unrealistic. Even Clarke had had some level of success before winning the British Open last year.

It's nice to dream about a Cinderella story, but Greg Owen will fade at the 2012 Shell Houston Open.

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