Sports Network Selections
- Pick To Win:
- Kevin Streelman
- Darkhorse
- Henrik Stenson
- Last Week's Pick To Win - Louis Oosthuizen
- Withdrew after third round
- Last Week's Darkhorse - Marc Leishman
NOTES:
Eight of the top 30 players in the world are expected to compete this week at
the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. The highest-ranked player in the
field is Matt Kuchar at No. 13. He is joined by Charl Schwartzel (15), Jason
Dufner (20), Hunter Mahan (21), Bo Van Pelt (26), Jim Furyk (27), defending
champion Zach Johnson (29) and Rickie Fowler (30).
Kuchar has made 17 straight cuts on the PGA tour dating back to August of last
year. He has four top-10 finishes this season, including a victory at the WGC-
Accenture Match Play Championship. Kuchar also tied for eighth at the Masters.
Johnson, the 2010 and 2012 champion, has finished in the top 10 at this event
the last four years. He has never missed a cut here in seven appearances, with
his worst finish being a tie for 30th in 2006.
Past winners of this event reads like a who's who in golf: Ben Hogan, Arnold
Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price and
Phil Mickelson.
Colonial Country Club has hosted since the tournament's inception in 1946. No
other course has held a U.S. Open, a Tournament Players Championship and an
annual PGA Tour event. In 1991, Colonial added the U.S. Women's Open to that
unique repertoire. This is the second oldest PGA Tour event still being played
at its original site. The Masters at Augusta National is the oldest. The
course, built originally by John Bredemus and revised slightly by Perry
Maxwell for the 1941 Open, has stood the test of time.
Last year, Johnson rolled in a 4-foot putt on the final hole to seemingly
close out a 3-stroke win, but it was quickly pointed out that he never moved
his ball mark back after shifting it out of Dufner's putting line. Johnson was
given a 2-stroke penalty before signing his scorecard and won by one shot over
Dufner instead of three. The former Masters champion finished at 12-under 268.
Johnson became the 11th player to win this title multiple times. Hogan is the
only player to win this event more than twice (five times) and is the only
player to win two straight years, which he accomplished twice (1946-47 and
1952-53). Kenny Perry, Price, Billy Casper, Julius Boros, Crenshaw, Bruce
Lietzke, Trevino, Corey Pavin, Mickelson and Johnson are two-time winners.
Hogan in 1946 is the only player to win both the Byron Nelson Championship and
the Colonial in the same season.
In 2011, David Toms finally notched his 13th PGA Tour win by firing rounds of
62-62-74-67. Toms finished at 15-under 265 to best third-round leader Charlie
Wi by one stroke. His last win came at the 2006 Sony Open, and he had posted
six runner-up finishes since then. He lost in a playoff to K.J. Choi at the
Players Championship the week prior to this tournament. Toms became the first
player to lose a playoff one week and win the next event since Mickelson in
2000, who completed that feat by winning this tournament. Toms established a
new 36-hole record by shooting two straight rounds of 62 for a total of 124.
It equaled the best opening 36-hole score on the PGA Tour since 1970. Pat
Perez opened with rounds of 61-63 at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic.
Johnson fired a 6-under 64 in the final round to come from behind and win by
three strokes over Brian Davis in 2010. Johnson finished at 21-under-par 259
to set a new tournament scoring record.
Tim Herron defeated Richard S. Johnson in a playoff in 2006. The victory was
Herron's fourth on the PGA Tour, but his first in 204 events, dating back to
the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational.
In 2003, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman in 58 years to play in a PGA
Tour event at the Colonial. She missed the cut on a sponsor's exemption with
rounds of 71-74.
Price recorded the greatest comeback in tournament history in 1994. Trailing
third-round leader Scott Simpson by seven shots, Price carded a final-round 64
to tie Simpson and then defeated him in a playoff the following day.
With his win in 2001, Sergio Garcia joined five players that collected their
first PGA Tour victory at Colonial Country Club: Roberto de Vicenzo (1957),
Dave Stockton (1967), Rod Curl (1974), Keith Clearwater (1987) and Ian Baker-
Finch (1989). There have been nine wire-to-wire winners, the last being Baker-
Finch in 1989.
The PGA Tour travels to Ohio next week for the Memorial Tournament in Dublin,
where Tiger Woods captured the 2012 title.
05/21 15:37:21 ET