Matt Every opened with a 5-under 65 in Thursday's first round at Colonial. (Halleran/Getty Images)

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Matt Every hasn't been happy with his putter this year, and the stats back him up. He ranks 130th on the PGA TOUR in strokes gained-putting, and his ranking is even worse on putts from 5-15 feet.

Two weeks ago at THE PLAYERS Championship, he led the field in greens in regulation, normally a precursor to being in contention at the TOUR's flagship event. But he ranked 70th in strokes gained-putting, leaving him in a tie for 26th on the final scoreboard.

On Thursday, though, Every rolled in a birdie putt from 12 feet, another from 13-1/2 feet, and for good measure drained a 20-footer in the first round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

No surprise that his score reflected his hot putter -- a 5-under 65, his lowest round on TOUR since early February.

"It's been a pretty bad year for what I am expecting this year for myself," Every said. "That the way it goes sometimes. I've putted horrible.

"I can deal with hitting it bad because then you can make putts and it just covers up so much stuff. But when you putt horribly it just drives you nuts."

At TPC Sawgrass, Every used an oversize putting grip and went with a cross-handed approach, but after struggling on the greens that week, he's back to a smaller grip and conventional approach.

He thinks the switch made an impact on Thursday.

"Sometimes you need the feel in your hands to kind of steer it in," Every said. "You can't really steer it in when you take the feel out of the putt with the big grip.

"So I put a small one back on and then just went to conventional and trying not to care about the result as much."

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Prior to Thursday's opening round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Tom Werme and Fred Albers from SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio discuss how the weather has effected the growing conditions on the golf course.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Carl Pettersson opened his first round Thursday at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial with three consecutive birdies and is 6 under through his first 13 holes.

That puts him atop the early first-round leaderboard. Matt Every (through 16 holes) and Brendon de Jonge (through 15) are each at 5 under.

Pettersson, Every and de Jonge have yet to make a bogey in their rounds.

In eight previous starts at Colonial, Pettersson's best finish is a tie for 22 in 2010 when he opened with a 5-under 65.

Several players are at 4 under, including Matt Kuchar and Ryan Palmer, the latter having posted four straight birdies near the end of his front nine.

Defending champ Zach Johnson is 1 under through 14, as is playing parter Sang-Moon Bae, last week's winner of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Pat Perez withdrew during Thursday's first round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial with a shoulder strain.

Perez, who started his round off the 10th tee, had played seven holes and was 2 over when he withdrew after making a par at the par-3 16th.

"He said he hurt his neck last week at the (HP Byron Nelson Championship) and he was in pain," said playing partner Brendon de Jonge. "You could see from the start. He tried to play through, but you could see he was hurting."

Perez was making his ninth career start at Colonial. He also had to withdraw in this event 10 years ago after the first round.

Jim Furyk is making his 18th start at Colonial and finished fourth last year. (Lecka/Getty Images)

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Here's a look at some of the players to watch with afternoon tee times in Thursday's first round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Ryo Ishikawa (1:11 p.m.) -- His tie for 10th at HP Byron Nelson Championship was first top-10 of the season

Jordan Spieth (1:22 p.m.) -- The 19-year-old from Dallas is making his first start here

Rickie Fowler (1:33 p.m. ET) -- His results in this tournament have progressively improved in each of his three years

Charl Schwartzel (1:33 p.m. ET) -- Comes off a third-place finish at last week's HP Byron Nelson Championship, his third top-10 of the season

Jim Furyk (1:33 p.m. ET) -- Has made $1,761,584 in 17 career starts at Colonial, the most of any non-champion in this event

Hunter Mahan (1:44 p.m. ET) -- His tie for 19th at THE PLAYERS Championship in his last start was his best result since losing to Matt Kuchar in the finals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in February

David Toms (1:55 p.m. ET) -- The 2011 Crowne Plaza champ's only top-25 finish this year is a tie for 13th at the Masters

Corey Pavin (2:28 p.m. ET) -- His stroke average in 29 starts at Colonial is 69.24, which is second highest (to Kenny Perry) for all players with 20-plus appearances

Amanda Balionis previews the first round of the 2013 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, including featured groups on Golf Channel, an update from SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio and Rob Bolton's Power Rankings.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

Spencer Levin will play in the U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, on June 3.

It will be the first time Levin has played competitively this year after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligmanet in his left thumb last fall.

Levin, who spent Tuesday racing around Indianapolis Motor Speedway with 2013 Indianapolis 500 qualifier and IZOD teammate A.J. Allmendinger, said he also plans to play some Web.com Tour events beginning in late August.

The U.S. Open will take place June 13-16 at Merion Golf Club.

Last season, Levin had a half-dozen top 25s in 26 starts and finished 45th in the FedExCup standings. He made just under $1.3 million.

Prior to the 2013 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Rickie Fowler talks about matching fan donations to benefit the tornado victims, and his strategy for the tournament.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- After his PGA TOUR win Sunday at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, Sang-Moon couldn't sleep that night. Then he rested for a couple of days, responded to 100 phone calls and 200 text messages, had a celebratory dinner with other Korean-born players on TOUR, contemplated his move from Los Angeles to Dallas, and now wants to regain his competitive focus for another important week.

He's hoping to play well enough at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial to qualify for next month's U.S. Open at Merion.

Bae needs to be ranked in the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking next Monday. He enters Thursday's first round at Colonial ranked 64th, having moved up from 106th thanks to last week's win at TPC Four Seasons.

"I have to play well this week," Bae said Wednesday.

The Korean is registered for a U.S. Open qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, on June 3.

"But I don't want to play," he said. "I have to play hard (this week) to get in."

Bae played in his first Crowne Plaza last year. He played the first three rounds but shot 77 in the third round and didn't make the second cut prior to the final round. He said he didn't have much energy that week.

He likes the course, though, and he obviously has momentum and confidence.

"I will try my best," he said.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Brad Fritsch's back injury has opened up a spot for Fort Worth-area resident Brandt Jobe in this week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Fritsch withdrew on Wednesday, with Jobe moving up from the first alternate position.

This will be the 11th appearance and third straight for Jobe at Colonial. His best finish is a fourth in 2003. He has made the cut in nine of his 10 previous starts.