Top Groups to Watch on Thursday and Friday at 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational

The PGA Tour heads over to Fort Worth, Texas this week for the 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational.  David Toms won the event last year with a great final round performance to beat out Charlie Wi, and is in the field this week to try to defend his title.  Here are some of the top groups to look out for during the first two rounds of the event:

Ben Crane, Sean O’Hair, and Jim Furyk

Coming off of a year that saw him with no wins, Jim Furyk has continued the drought into this year as well, not winning a tournament up to this week.  He did come close at the Transitions Championship in March but lost in a playoff.  Since that time Furyk has played great, finishing no worse than T26 over his past five events on the PGA Tour.  The key to his success this year has been his improved putting, as he currently ranks 12^th on Tour in strokes gained from putting.  If he continues to putt well this week he could certainly be in contention come the weekend.  Ben Crane is another player to watch out for in this group, as he has a similar game to Furyk but just hasn’t been able to capitalize upon good iron shots of late.

Jason Dufner, Matt Kuchar, and Rickie Fowler

Rickie Fowler was finally able to break through on the PGA Tour this year and get his first career win as the Wells Fargo Championship a couple of weeks ago, and then followed that up by nearly winning the Players Championship.  Fowler is certainly playing some great golf right now, but so are Matt Kuchar and Jason Dufner, who also have wins in recent weeks as well.  Look for all three players to make the cut and possibly finish in the top 25 this week.

David Toms, Zach Johnson, and Sergio Garcia

Zach Johnson has had a very solid year to this point in the 2012 PGA Tour season, making all 12 cuts and finishing in the top 25 in six events thus far.  The key for Johnson this week will be his iron play, as he currently ranks 94^th on Tour in greens hit in regulation.  The same can be said of Toms as well, as even though he ranks 34^th on Tour in the same category, he has been struggling somewhat of late with the irons and will need to hit more greens this week to have any sort of chance to defend his title.