The notion that one could set up a golf course to replicate Augusta National's conditions is a reach for almost any venue that doesn't sit among rolling hills in Georgia while loaded with millions of dollars to make everything perfect.

In other words, basically no one could make such a claim.

But the Shell Houston Open did, and after three years, the players have bought it.

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Johnson Wagner came out of nowhere last year to win the Shell Houston Open and punch his ticket to the Masters the following week. Is he up for the task again?

The reward is perhaps the best field in tournament history, with eight of the top 10 ranked players in the world teeing it up this week at Redstone Golf Club's Tournament Course in Humble, Texas.

Humble is the perfect way to describe how the tournament had to approach the predicament it found itself in three years ago when the PGA Tour was setting up its new FedExCup schedule. As part of the changes, the tournament got moved from two weeks after the Masters to one week prior.

Although being staged in the weeks after the year's first major has proved to be a difficult situation for some tournaments, getting switched to just before the annual showdown at the Masters didn't appear to be much better at first glance.

For one thing, you have almost no chance of getting Tiger Woods, who has proclaimed the week before most majors to be a tournament at which he will not show up. For those who elect to play, however, they want some semblance of playing conditions, something that the now-defunct Atlanta event played at the TPC Sugarloaf used to offer.

But Houston? Bermuda grass is not bent like the grass they have at the Masters. And good luck simulating the same undulating, fast conditions.

That didn't stop Shell Houston Open officials from trying.

"There was a fair amount of skepticism, certainly for '07," tournament director Steve Timms said of his first year playing the week before the Masters. "But we had some guys who played who were quite pleased with the setup and frankly a bit surprised we were able to replicate that.

"Our superintendent spent a good amount of time at Augusta National with their agronomy staff trying to understand what they do. In '07, we felt we met the test. Last year we showed some improvement in our field. And this year it's looking like we might have our best field in some time."

Woods is not in Houston, but Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Geoff Ogilvy, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson are in the field. Woods and Kenny Perry are the only top-10 players not entered.

In addition, the tournament had commitments from 15 of the top 20 and 21 of the top 30, making it one of the strongest fields of the year outside the major championships and World Golf Championship events.

If that's not enough, Presidents Cup captains Greg Norman and Fred Couples are also in the field.

"I was told that the golf course was going to be set up similarly to Augusta," said Mickelson, who likes to play the week before the Masters but skipped the tournament in 2007 because he was disappointed when the Atlanta event moved from that date.

"It was tremendous," said Mickelson, who tied for 23rd at Houston last year. "The greens are fast. The fairways are perfect and tight. They even mowed the grain into you in the fairway just like Augusta does. There's no rough. The first cut is just like Augusta. It's a great place to get ready. … I'm very appreciative that the tournament made such an effort to make the course so similar."

A combination of players who want to compete the week before a major along with course conditions made the difference, Timms said.

Instead of a typical overseeded golf course that Redstone would be this time of year with very heavy rough, the tournament went to a second cut -- just like Augusta -- which is just an inch and a half. The greenside hazards have been mowed with steep banks, with balls running away from greens into chipping areas or into hazards -- just like Augusta. And with big greens, tournament officials have tried to get them as fast as possible, while hoping the course will play firm and fast -- just like Augusta.

"We embarked on a philosophy that is different," Timms said. "It has more of that look to it. We mow everything from the green back to the tee, which is what they do at Augusta. But we don't by any stretch of the imagination pretend to be comparable to Augusta National. We don't have the same kind of grass. We wanted the same look and playability, and guys really seem to like it."

The first major of the year

After playing just two domestic tournaments this year -- with just one on the mainland -- the LPGA Tour has its first major championship this week at the annual Kraft Nabisco Championship, where Lorena Ochoa is the defending champion.

The tour is somewhat in of a state of flux in regards to its major champions, especially now that Annika Sorenstam has retired from competitive golf. For so long a dominating figure in the majors, Sorenstam's last triumph came at the 2006 U.S. Women's Open. And she is part of a stretch that has seen the past 14 major titles go to 13 different players.

Only Ochoa has won twice in the span, also winning the 2007 Women's British Open.

Ochoa won seven times last year, but six of those victories came in her first nine starts. Although she has a victory this year, she was unable to overtake Pat Hurst two weeks ago in her native Mexico.

A few to watch for? How about South Korea's Jiyai Shin, who has won four of her past 10 LPGA starts, including the Women's British Open, but is considered a rookie on the LPGA Tour because she did not become a member until this year.

Angela Stanford has emerged as a top American player and has won three times in her past nine starts.

And then, of course, there is Michelle Wie, who has had great success at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Wie has not played the tournament since 2006, when she tied for third. She was fourth in 2004 and has never finished worse than a tie for 14th.

A look at this week's PGA Tour venue

This is the fourth year for the Shell Houston Open to be played at Redstone Golf Club's Tournament Course after three years at Redstone's Member Course. Architect Rees Jones, with help from player consultant David Toms, designed the 7,457-yard par-72 layout with a PGA Tour event in mind.

A stout four-hole finishing stretch includes the 608-yard par-5 15th and two par-4s (17th and 18th) that play in excess of 480 yards.

A Houston tour stop dates to 1946 when the Tournament of Champions had a three-year run, followed by the Houston Open, which began in 1950. Shell's sponsorship of the event began in 1992 when the tournament was played at the TPC Woodlands -- its home for 18 years until moving to Redstone in 2003.

Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.