Wagner sets pace at blustery Colonial

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - American Johnson Wagner, seeking his second PGA Tour title, defied strong, gusting winds to charge two shots clear in the Colonial Invitational first round on Thursday.

Striking the ball superbly in difficult conditions at Colonial Country Club, Johnson birdied five of the last eight holes to set the pace with a sparkling seven-under-par 63.

World number two Phil Mickelson, the 2000 winner, opened with a 65 to share second place with long-hitting Brett Wetterich, one stroke in front of fellow American Glen Day.

PGA Tour veteran Corey Pavin, champion here in 1985 and 1996, returned a 67 to lie a further shot adrift among a group of eight players.

Wagner, who made his Tour breakthrough with a maiden victory at last month's Houston Open, rolled in a 12-footer at the last to register his ninth birdie of the round.

"It was a great day and I'd take hitting the ball like this every day of my life," the 28-year-old Texan told reporters. "I had a lot of chances -- a couple of them I missed but I made the majority of them."

Wagner, who qualified for his first Masters by winning wire-to-wire in Houston, birdied four of the first seven holes before bogeying the eighth for an outward nine of three-under 32.

STRONG FINISH

Although he dropped another shot at the par-four 10th, the American surged ahead of the field with his strong finish in gusting winds.

"Any time I play in Texas it means a lot to me and winning in Houston is going to help me tremendously, especially having led there wire-to-wire," Wagner said.

"Hopefully, I will be in a similar situation all week this week and maybe it will be more comfortable this time.

"I feel I should be playing better now that I'm a winner. There is not the pressure to play well immediately. Now I can go out and focus on winning."

Victory this week would earn Wagner a place in next month's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines but he is wary of looking too far ahead.

"In Houston, I had all the questions about the Masters and I tried to deflect it as much as I could," he said.

"So I'm going to deflect this one as well and say I'm just going to take this week for what it is and, if I play well, hopefully the U.S. Open will take care of itself."

American world number five Jim Furyk and title holder Rory Sabatini of South Africa opened with 71s while eighth-ranked K.J. Choi of South Korea carded a 73.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris and Greg Stutchbury)