Defending champ Rory Sabbatini headlines field for Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

From WorldGolf.com News Services

A solid field is scheduled to compete this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, as 13 of the top 25 players in the FedEx Cup standings are on hand, including defending champion Rory Sabbatini.

Sabbatini, who hasn't won since last year's victory at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer in the 2007 event.

Despite the fact that Sabbatini has struggled in his last five events, he contends that in some ways, he's actually playing better than he was a year ago when he came to Colonial riding a hot streak.

"Last year, even though my scores showed one thing, I wasn't very happy with the state of my game," Sabbatini told the Associated Press Wednesday. "It's been a frustrating year for me. I feel like I'm hitting the ball better than I ever have in my career. I'm not scoring as well as I'd like."

Since finishing third in the Buick Invitational on Jan. 27, Sabbatini's best finish was a 27th-place effort in the Players Championship. Although he's made eight of 10 cuts and has $1.17 million in earnings, the South African hasn't finished below par in a stroke-play tournament since shooting 5 under in the Feb. 14-17 Northern Trust Open.

Sabbatini started the season on a positive note, posting consecutive top-three finishes in January at the Sony Open and the Buick Invitational. However, after that, he said his performance was hampered by a bout with the flu.

"I played well, got sick - it took a lot out of me," Sabbatini said. "By the end of the west coast, I was so drained of energy, basically, I let a couple of areas creep in my game.

"You start practicing bad habits, just not being as focused as you need to be out there and all of a sudden those habits are kind of ingrained."

Phil Mickelson, the 2000 tournament winner, is making his first appearance at Colonial since 2005. The world No. 2-ranked player has spent plenty of time on a golf course lately, but much of it was as an actor as he filmed an upcoming segment for the HBO comedy series "Entourage."

"I'm hitting the ball well. The short game is coming around. I think it will be a good week," Mickelson told reporters. "This is a great course for ball-striking. I am excited to play a course with such tight fairways and firm fairways with some of the changes that I've made in the last year."

Also in the field is Kenny Perry, who was the runner up at last week's AT&T Classic. Perry won at Colonial in 2003 and 2005, finishing with tournament-record 19-under 261 totals.

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

SCHEDULE: Thursday-Sunday
SITE: Fort Worth, Texas
COURSE: Colonial Country Club (7,054 yards, par 70)
PURSE: $6.1 million (winner's share: $1,098,000)
FEDEX CUP POINTS: 25,000 (winner's share: 4,500)
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m. EDT) and CBS (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT)

May 22, 2008