Big-hitting Min Woo Lee was already relishing his return to the forgiving Texas playing fields as the Australian bids to defend his first and only PGA Tour title.
He is even more excited following the late scratching of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler.
Lee edged out Scheffler by a shot in a tense finale to last year's Houston Open and has been elevated to tournament favourite in the American's absence.
The Memorial Park Golf Course hosting the $US9.9 million ($A14.19 million) event is a long bomber's paradise, and Lee is hoping to once again cash in and build further confidence ahead of the Masters starting on April 9 at Augusta National.
"Obviously I'm one of the longer hitters on tour and the rough isn't as thick, so it's quite nice to be a bit free when you're out here," Lee said after a practice round on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).
"If you do miss the fairway, you can still hit your approach shot pretty tight, and my approach play spiked up and my putting was really good this week last year.
"So if you don't have too much trouble with driver and then if you can attack the pins, it helps."
Scheffler, a runner-up in the event the past two years, cited family reasons for his withdrawal.
Golf Channel reported that Scheffler and wife Meredith are expecting their second child.
While acknowledging his no-show would hurt the tournament, Lee said it was business as usual for him without Scheffler playing.
"I guess a few of us are saying nice that he's not playing." the West Australian said.
"He's a great player, but it doesn't matter if he plays or not - we again try to do the best we can.
"We're trying to set up for major tournaments and big tournaments. He's going to be there, so you can't fear him or anything.
"The field's still awesome. A lot of the big hitters come and play this event, so it's fun. It's one of those courses where it's not penalising."
With a runner-up finish at Pebble Beach, a tie for sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a joint sixth at the Genesis Invitational and six straight cuts made, Lee is trending nicely towards his title defence and the season's first major championship.
"Pebble was a very nice week, felt like I put four good rounds together. That's all you have to do," he said.
"You've got to put yourself in contention. I feel like I've been doing that, just getting a lot familiar with my game, putting well and doing everything pretty solid.
"You've got to do that to win and put yourself in that spot. Yeah, it's not rocket science."
Fellow Australians Jason Day, Adam Scott and Karl Vilips are also teeing it up in Houston this week.
