Officials at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial have landed two high-profile commitments this week, giving them six confirmed participants among the world's top 11 golfers for their May 22-25 PGA Tour event in Fort Worth.
Steve Stricker, the No. 4 player in the world rankings, and Geoff Ogilvy, who is No. 11, have added their names to the Colonial commitment list after completing practice rounds at the Shell Houston Open. Previous Top 10 commitments have come from Phil Mickelson (No. 2), K.J. Choi (No. 7), Jim Furyk (No. 8) and Fort Worth resident Rory Sabbatini (No. 10), the defending Colonial champ.
By comparison, last year's Colonial field included only one Top 10 golfer (Furyk).
Stricker, runner-up at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, was the 2007 Comeback Player of the Year on the PGA Tour. Stricker, 41, earned a career-high $4,663,077 last season and won The Barclays tournament, the first event of the 2007 FedEx Cup playoffs.
Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champ, recently ended Tiger Woods' five-event winning streak at PGA Tour stops by holding off Woods to claim the title at last month's WGC-CA Championship in Miami, Fla. Ogilvy, 30, will be making his first Colonial appearance since 2005.
Colonial officials also have landed Anthony Kim and Justin Leonard to serve as hosts of their May 19 youth clinic during tournament week.
_ Jimmy Burch
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