Golf: Molinari faces Johnson in pre-Masters clash in Houston

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 3 - Dustin Johnson and Francesco Molinari are both returning to competitive play in a juicy pre-Masters clash at this week's Houston Open.
    The Thursday-to-Sunday PGA Tour event in Texas, a dress rehearsal for the November 12-15 Masters at Augusta, will also see the return of crowds to the US for the first time since March, after last week's experiment at the Barracuda Championship in Bermuda.
    Johnson is keenly awaited after a six-week break due to the need to recover from his US Open exertions and also to a positive COVID-19 test.
    The world number one is aiming to cement his leadership in Houston, taking advantage of the absence of number two John Rahm of Spain, who missed his chance to overtake the American at the CJ Cup and then the ZoZo Championship.
    After playing the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, seven months after his last competitive event, 'Chicco' Molinari is among the favourites at the Houston Open.
    Four weeks after Shriners, the 2018 Open champ will be vying to lift the title and get his preparation right for the Masters, a dream he nearly reached in 2019, before a collapse in results followed by the lockdown and his move from London to Los Angeles.
    At the Memorial Park in Texas, some 2,000 spectators will be allowed in per day, compared to the 500 in Bermuda. Facemasks, social distancing and body temperature tests will be compulsory.
    It will be a key test along the way to getting the PGA Tour back to normality in the first quarter of next year, COVID permitting.
    California's Lanto Griffin will be defending the only title he has so far garnered on the circuit. Among the favourites, alongside Johnson, will be England's Tyrrell Hatton (world number 10) and America's Brooks Koepka, who helped restyle the course with architect Tom Doak.
    The field also includes Australia's Jason Day, lreland's Shane Lowry, Spain's Sergio Garcia, Norway's Viktor Hovland and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.
    Without forgetting Phil Mickelson, who unlike Tiger Woods, has opted for Houston ahead of the Masters, fellow American Jordan Spieth, England's Lee Westwood and Danny Willet, and Australian Adam Scott, who won the event in 2007.
    Scott, like Johnson, is returning after an enforced absence due to contracting COVID.
    So, then, Houston looks like being the perfect springboard for the Masters. It could well come down to a showdown in Texas between Johnson and Molinari, with the winner claiming seven million dollars as well as the title. (ANSA).