Johnson Wagner leads after day one of PGA Invitational in Fort Worth

by Scott Guthrie

FORT WORTH — Five of the world’s top ten golfers are in the field of the Crowne Plaza PGA Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, but after day one Johnson Wagner is the shining star.

Wagner finished the day with a seven under, 63, which matches his best score on the PGA Tour. The 7,054-yard course proved to be no match for Wagner as he came out firing on all cylinders. He birded four of the first seven holes giving him a commanding lead.

Wagner cooled off after hole seven though and bogeyed two of the next three holes. This was the only speed bump on Wagner’s way to the top of the leaderboard. After bogeying hole ten, he regained his composure and birdied five of the remaining eight holes, including three in a row on 12, 13 and 14.

Wagner’s sharp play earned him a two-stroke lead over Brett Wetterich and number two player in the world Phil Mickelson. This is the first time Mickelson, who won the tournament in 2000, has played at Colonial in three years. The layoff has not seemed to bother him, as he has jumped out to a score of five under, including a 12-foot birdie on the final hole of the day.

The real surprise of the tournament so far though has been the play of Glen Day, who sits in fourth place just one stroke back of Mickelson and Wetterich and three strokes back of Wagner. Day put together a bogey free round on his way to shooting an overall 66. He hasn’t had a top-three finish since 2004 and splits time between the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. His short game helped him tremendously as only one of his four birdie putts was outside of 3 1/2 feet.

Other PGA Tour perennial threats, K.J. Choi, Geoff Ogilvy, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker all shot rounds over par on Thursday. Defending champion Rory Sabbatini birdied the first hole but ended the day shooting a disappointing 1-over, 71.

There are still three days left to play, but as for now the Amarillo, Texas native Wagner, is the man everyone is chasing. History is against Wagner though as no first round leader has gone on to win the Colonial since Ian Baker-Finch did it in 1989.