By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- As much as Matt Kuchar loves Colonial -- "One of my favorite courses on the PGA TOUR," he says -- his results haven't been particularly impressive.

Although Kuchar has made every cut in six previous starts at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, his only top-10 finish was a ninth in 2008. Consider this: Between 2010-12, Kuchar posted top-10 finishes in 40 percent of his starts, but he's 0-for-3 at this tournament.

"I probably haven't been quite as sharp as I would like to be around this time," Kuchar explained. "I'd say this year I feel a lot sharper."

He certainly looked a lot sharper in Thursday's first round, shooting a 5-under 65 -- his lowest opening round at Colonial by three strokes.

Starting his round off the 10th tee, Kuchar credited his opening tee shot to setting the tone. Instead of pulling a hybrid as he normally does on the hole, he opted for a 3-wood, an aggressive play that paid off when he found the fairway and needed only a pitching wedge from 127 yards.

His approach landed inside 7 feet, and he drained the birdie for a quick start.

"There was some good momentum going after hitting a couple of good shots and getting off to a birdie on my first hole," Kuchar said.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Ryan Palmer, a member at Colonial Country Club, shot a bogey-free 8-under 62 in Thursday's first round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, tying for the lowest opening round in tournament history.

The 62 also ties Palmer's career low round. It's the fifth time he has shot 62 at a TOUR event.

Palmer joins Patrick Sheehan (2005), David Toms (2011) and Chez Reavie (2011) for low opening round.

Palmer's 62 is also just the eighth recorded in any round at Colonial. The course record of 61 is held by six players.

Palmer's 62 leaves him atop the leaderboard midway through the first round, two shots ahead of Morgan Hoffmann.

Starting on the 10th hole, Palmer reeled off four consecutive birdies starting at No. 14. After making the turn, he birdied the par-5 first hole, and then birdied three of his last four holes.

Five of Palmer's eight birdie putts were less than 7 feet, as he had his irons dialed in all day.

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.

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.