Day 1 recap: Wagner impressive at Colonial
By Associated Press and Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Johnson Wagner bogeyed two of three holes midway through the first round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational on Thursday. That was only a small hiccup on his way to matching his best score on the PGA TOUR.
After his approach at No. 10 missed the green for a bogey, Wagner responded with three consecutive birdies, including a nifty up-and-down on the 611-yard 11th hole. He then added two more before the round was over to increase his birdie total to nine for a 7-under 63 and a two-stroke lead over No. 2-ranked Phil Mickelson and Brett Wetterich.
"It felt like (the round) was going to slip away," Wagner said.
But it didn't, not even after his wind-pushed approach at No. 11 wound up in the rough well left of the green. Wagner flopped a shot to inside 6 feet of the pin on the back of the green.
"I decided to go ahead and try for the hero shot, and pulled it off," Wagner said. "It just righted the ship."
Wetterich also birdied Nos. 11-13, including a 367-yard drive on the par 5, then parred out the rest of the way to his 65. It was the best round of a disappointing season for Wetterich, who missed two months early on because of a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Mickelson, the 2000 champion who is at Colonial for the first time in three years, got to 5 under with a 12-foot birdie on the closing hole after missing a 7-footer at No. 17.
Five of the world's top 10 players are in the field, the most at Colonial since 2004. Mickelson was the only one to start with a subpar round, while Jim Furyk (71), Geoff Ogilvy (72), K.J. Choi (73) and Steve Stricker (74) had their varied struggles.
Glen Day was alone in fourth after a bogey-free 66 on a windy day, with gusts up to 35 mph howling through Hogan's Alley.
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EVERYTHING COMING TOGETHER FOR WAGNER
Another win and he's playing at Torrey Pines.
No, Johnson Wagner isn't looking ahead to the U.S. Open. He merely did his homework.
Think of this as a brave new world for the man whose name -- say it fast -- could double as an accounting firm or law office.
At the start of the year he couldn't make a cut. Now he's got every exemption and asterisk imaginable running through his mind and he's penciling in majors.
Oh, and did we mention, he already has one win in the Lone Star State this year and is leading a tournament at a country club whose logo could be his favorite of all time?
Try nine birdies, two bogeys and an opening 63 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial on Thursday. Wagner will start the second round two shots clear of Brett Wetterich and three up on Phil Mickelson and Glen Day
"(I) just hit it in the fairway a lot and got off to a really good start,'' Wagner said simply.
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SHOT OF THE DAY
Wagner on the third hole. He hit a tree, then scraped one up the fairway and made his second birdie of the day. That triggered a tee shot to 6 feet for birdie at the par-3 fourth and a par at the fifth as he played the Horrible Horseshoe in 2 under.
ROUND OF THE DAY
Wagner's 63. Nine birdies, two bogeys. Yes, he played in the morning, but the wind was cranky then, too. He played the first two holes of the Horrible Horseshoe in 2 under, then parred the third of that unholy triumvirate -- the fifth, a hole Wagner says he has yet to figure out. He threw out an opening 63 at Houston, too, on the way to the first victory of his career last month. Only that was a par 72 and Colonial is a par-70. "I couldn't believe there was a 7-under score out there today,'' said Phil Mickelson, who shot one of the two 65s in the afternoon.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"If you think this is hot, you haven't lived in Texas very long," -- Rod Pampling said of the sultry temperatures in the mid-90s
TEXAS TIDBITS
• Dudley Hart's caddie for the week? Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.
Hart, who moved his family back to Buffalo from Florida two years ago, is a big hockey fan and the two have been friends for years. Since the Sabres didn't make the playoffs, Ruff called Hart and suddenly what could have been a week to just hang out and chill turned into work.
"It was fun,'' said Hart, who opened with a 67. "I had to kind of guide him around a little big. He's used to casual golf with his buddies. Making noise. Stop moving ... He will walk into a buddy's line when they're playing at home. Out here, you got to pay a little more attention.''
Hart's longtime caddie Craig Cimarolli opted not to come out on TOUR this year and, as a result, Hart has used different TOUR caddies, a friend and now Ruff. In a strange way, that might be the reason Hart has three top-seven finishes and two other top-15s.
"When (Cimarolli) worked for me, all i did was look at the green,'' said Hart, who tied for third at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year. "I always carried a (yardage) book, but i would look at the green to try to get a visual where the pin is. Now, I'm walking yardage.
"Maybe my concentration level goes up a little but more because i know I can't fully rely on them ... Not being able to totally 100 percent trust a number that my buddy or Lindy gives me, makes me think about what it going on a little bit more.''
•Jerry Kelly has always talked to his golf ball. And himself.
For the past three years, though, he's basically been beating himself up. Waiting for the bad stuff, then letting it take him down. As in eight missed cuts this year -- sandwiched around a tie for second (at the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular) and a third (Sony Open in Hawaii).
No more. Well, at least the beating himself up part. Kelly's wife Carol got on his case after the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship two weeks ago. Caddie Eric Meller chimed in, too.
"Carol said 'There's nothing wrong with your golf game. You're swinging it great. It's your mental game,'" Kelly recalled. "She's always been my best coach, my best mental coach and not having her or (their 9 year-old son) Coop out here has been tough.
"... I've been very bad mentally most of the year. I've been waiting for the first bogey so I can down downhill and try to fight back."
Kelly said he turned the corner at THE PLAYERS -- even if he did finish double-bogey, bogey in the final round. "I'd like to think I have," he said.
So how did he handle Thursday's round when he bogeyed his final hole (the ninth) to finish with a 2-under 68? "I don't mind it,'' Kelly said. "If I can bogey the ninth and still be 2 under ... normally my bad holes are doubles. And that's just not a good hole for me. I haven't played it well over the years."
He still misses his wife and son, who is playing four sports -- baseball, lacrosse, golf and soccer -- this spring, but said he's handling it better. And, yes, he's pressing to make the Ryder Cup team, where he's currently 22nd on the point list.
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THREE THINGS TO WATCH FRIDAY
1. How Johnson Wagner backs up his 63. He held the lead all the way when he won in Houston, but no one has done that at Colonial since 1989 when Ian Baker-Finch pulled it off.
2. Phil Mickelson. He's got a morning time. Perfect greens, less wind -- maybe. Highest ranked player in the field could make a statement.
3. Geoff Ogilvy, Steve Elkington, Rich Beem, Steve Stricker, David Toms and a host of others. All of them need a good second round to play the weekend.
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