Houston Open 2018: Live-Stream Schedule, Tee Times and Prize Money

The 2018 Houston Open will give players one last opportunity to reach the Masters, and for those already set to feature in the year's first major, it offers a chance to fine-tune their game before heading to Augusta.

Should the winner in Humble, Texas, have not already secured a place in the Masters field, they'll occupy the last slot, and a purse of $7 million will also be up for grabs. 

Last year's winner Russell Henley will feature again this time around, and he'll have a strong field to contend with, as the likes of Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler will all be in attendance.

The players will tee off from 8:20 a.m. ET on Thursday, with the final group heading out at 3 p.m. ET.

PGA Tour Live will provide live-streaming coverage from 8:30 a.m. ET through to 7 p.m. ET. The Golf Channel will also offer coverage from 4 p.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET and from 9:30 p.m. ET to 12:30 a.m. ET.

Here are the tee times for selected groups on Thursday:

*9 a.m. ET: Chris Stroud, Jhonattan Vegas, Jordan Spieth

*9:10 a.m. ET: Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler, Martin Kaymer

1:50 p.m. ET: Daniel Berger, Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker

2 p.m. ET: Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Russell Henley

*Indicates they tee off from the 10th hole.

Golf Digest's Christopher Powers provided the full tee-time schedule.

For Spieth, the order of the day will be to work on his putting ahead of the Masters, where he'll be pursuing his second title.

He was eliminated in the group stage of the WGC-Dell Match Play earlier this month, and the deficiencies in his short game were clear to see, per Golf Digest's Stephen Hennessey:

Of course, it doesn't always matter if you can circumvent the problem like this, per the PGA Tour's official Twitter account:

The quality of Spieth's overall game should ensure he's a contender in Augusta regardless.

If he's to win the major he can ill afford wasteful misses from close range, though, and Houston will provide him the opportunity to work on the issue.

Meanwhile, golf analyst Ron Mintz picked out Rickie Fowler as one to keep an eye on during this week:

Fowler could use a confidence-boosting performance here ahead of the Masters, as he has not enjoyed the most encouraging start to 2018.

The 29-year-old signed off 2017 on a high as he won the Hero World Challenge in December, but since the turn of the year he has produced just one top-10 finish—at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in early January—and has failed to make the cut twice.

As Mintz demonstrated, Fowler typically fares well in Houston. If he can put together a similar performance this year, it could boost his chances of producing a strong showing in Augusta.