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Pavin shoots 3-under 67 in opening round

Corey Pavin made the most of his 25th straight Colonial appearance. Pavin sunk a 26-footer to birdie the par 4, 18th to score a 3-under 67. It was Pavin's best first round score since he shot a 66 in 1990. As of 5:20 p.m. Thursday, he was tied for fifth.

``It was a nice way to end obviously, and I made a nice putt on 17 as well," Pavin said. ``I love playing here. It's one of my favorite spots, if not my favorite spot on tour, so that's why I play it every year."   

Pavin doesn’t forget to look for his name on the Wall of Champions every time he plays the tournament either. He said he specially looks at the wall on Tuesday. Pavin won the Colonial in 1985 and 1996.   

``I glance at it to see if they they’ve taken my name off or not,” Pavin joked. ``But it’s still up there.”

__ Kelly Morris

Ready for Colonial, Wi recalls Players meltdown

Charlie Wi will make his Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial debut this year thanks to a champions’ choice exemption.

``It’s great,” Wi said. ``I didn’t know I had so many friends.”

The 36-year-old qualified for last year’s Colonial but chose not to play because he participated in an oversees tournament instead.

Wi will be spurred by his disappointment in the Players Championship two weeks ago. He was in the top 10 with five holes to play but quadrupled the 17^th.

``I was very disappointed no doubt about it, but to be right there, it gave me confidence to definitely know I can compete in one of the top tournaments,” Wi said.   

Wi also said he is already used to the warmer temperatures, too.

``It’s better than playing in the cold,” he said. ``Last week when I was home, it was 105. I live in L.A. When I got here, I think I was used to it or something. It was breezy.”

__ Kelly Morris 

Leonard has fond memories at Colonial

Justin Leonard reflected on his memories of the Colonial Country Club on Wednesday. 

The Dallas resident first played the course at age 13 and made the cut as an amateur at the Colonial tournament in 1993.

``This is a weekend I always look forward to,” Leonard said. ``When I was an amateur, I made the cut right on the number. It was a big deal. I didn’t enjoy getting up that early on Saturday morning, but it was for a good reason. Also, when my dad was in high school he would come over here and watch the tournament.”

Leonard, who finished tied for 18^th at last year’s Colonial, said he’s spent most of this week working on his putting.

``I’ve been a little disappointed it in the last few tournaments I’ve played,” he said. ``I’m trying to get a little more feel in my stroke. I’m working on a lot of distance putts to get things smoothed out. I’m going in the right direction. I hit a lot of nice putts [Wednesday].”

Leonard's 6-under 64 in Wednesday's pro-am for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial tied for low round of the day.

__ Kelly Morris

Thursday's first-round pairings for Colonial

If you plan on heading out to watch this year's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, it looks like you won't be needing that umbrella like last year. Instead, get your sunscreen and plenty of water bottles ready. If you need to know when your golfer of choice is playing, here's the pairings for the opening round:

No. 1 Tee
7:30 a.m.       Mediate, Rocco; Marino, Steve; Mills, Jon 
7:41 a.m.       Ogilvie, Joe; Jobe, Brandt; Na, Kevin
7:53 a.m.       Baird, Briny; Van Pelt, Bo; Watson, Bubba
8:04 a.m.       Choi, K.J.; Herron, Tim; Browne, Olin
8:16 a.m.       Curtis, Ben; Pavin, Corey; Hamilton, Todd
8:27 a.m.       Wagner, Johnson; Senden, John; Pettersson, Carl
8:39 a.m.       Trahan, D.J.; Brooks, Mark; Wilson, Dean
8:50 a.m.       Hensby, Mark; Lickliter II, Frank; Quigley, Brett
9:02 a.m.       Elkington, Steve; Jacobson, Fredrik; Goggin, Mathew
9:13 a.m.       LaBelle II, Doug; Jones, Matt; Johnson, Richard
9:25 a.m.       Frost, David; Clearwater, Keith; Kirk, Chris
12:00 p.m.     Purdy, Ted; Coceres, Jose; Parnevik, Jesper
12:11 p.m.     Palmer, Ryan; Moore, Ryan; Kresge, Cliff
12:23 p.m.     Taylor, Vaughn; Sutherland, Kevin; Clark, Tim
12:34 p.m.     Sabbatini, Rory; Hoffman, Charley; Lehman, Tom
12:46 p.m.     Ogilvy, Geoff; Durant, Joe; Wetterich, Brett
12:57 p.m.     Mickelson, Phil; Verplank, Scott; Wilson, Mark
1:09 p.m.       Ames, Stephen; Toms, David; Slocum, Heath
1:20 p.m.       Armour III, Tommy; Kuchar, Matt; Mallinger, John
1:32 p.m.       Crane, Ben; Mayfair, Billy; Green, Nathan
1:43 p.m.       Day, Jason; Reavie, Chez; Lovemark, Jamie

No. 10 Tee
7:30 a.m.       Glover, Lucas; Cejka, Alex; Garrigus, Robert
7:41 a.m.       Hart, Dudley; Poulter, Ian; Haas, Bill
7:53 a.m.       Duke, Ken; Stadler, Kevin; Bertsch, Shane
8:04 a.m.       O'Hair, Sean; Gay, Brian; Henry, J.J.
8:16 a.m.       Lowery, Steve; McNeill, George; DiMarco, Chris
8:27 a.m.       Kim, Anthony; Leonard, Justin; Furyk, Jim
8:39 a.m.       Stricker, Steve; Oberholser, Arron; Perry, Kenny
8:50 a.m.       Petrovic, Tim; Pernice, Jr., Tom; Sheehan, Patrick
9:02 a.m.       Janzen, Lee; Day, Glen; O'Hern, Nick

9:13 a.m.     Thatcher, Roland; Johnson, Dustin; Yang, Y.E.
12:00 p.m.     Gore, Jason; Bohn, Jason                              
12:11 p.m.     Andrade, Billy; Dawson, Marco; Ridings, Tag
12:23 p.m.     Beem, Rich; Frazar, Harrison; Wi, Charlie
12:34 p.m.     Weir, Mike; Flesch, Steve; Rollins, John
12:46 p.m.     Kraft, Greg; Chopra, Daniel; Pampling, Rod
12:57 p.m.     Bateman, Brian; Goydos, Paul; Bryant, Bart
1:09 p.m.       Campbell, Chad; Mahan, Hunter; Kelly, Jerry
1:20 p.m.       Davis, Brian; Quinney, Jeff; Merrick, John
1:32 p.m.       Gamez, Robert; Perez, Pat; Thompson, Nicholas
1:43 p.m.       Driscoll, James; Flanagan, Nick; Knost, Colt
1:55 p.m.       Allem, Fulton; McLachlin, Parker; Letzig, Michael

Open preview in January?

Be sure and save the final-round leaderboard from this week's PGA Tour event, the Buick Invitational, if you want an early peek at probable contenders at the 2008 U.S. Open. The Buick field is strong, with both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson making their season debuts in San Diego.

More important, this week's event will be played at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Buick contestants will play 54 holes on the South course and 18 on the North. When golfers return to Torrey Pines in June to play the U.S. Open (June 12-15), all 72 holes will be played on the South course.

The bottom line: Players who do well this week at the Buick Invitational should have the best chance of lighting up the same course when the USGA sets up Torrey Pines for the U.S. Open. With the exception of deeper rough, the course probably will not be that different in June because of its length.

The South course already will play as a 7,568-yard, par-72 layout for PGA Tour participants this week. With that much real estate already in play, it's unlikely there will be much tweaking of the dimensions (read: lengthening holes) when USGA officials begin setting up the layout for their purposes after the final putt drops Sunday.

Also remember this: The last time the USGA brought the U.S. Open to the venue of an annual PGA Tour stop was in 2000, when the Open visited Pebble Beach Golf Links, home course of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. That season, Tiger Woods won both events.

_ Jimmy Burch