Round 2: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas — The PGA TOUR’s new primary putting statistic, Strokes Gained-Putting, indicates that Charlie Wi has been one of the TOUR’s better putters the last few years.

He ranked 21st in that category two years ago. Last year, he ranked 11th.

Wi

But even though he still ranks inside the top 30 in the statistic this year (he’s 29th coming into this week), Wi hasn’t been happy with the way his putter has acted in 2011.

He has to be happy, though, with the first two rounds of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

In shooting a 6-under 64 in the first round, Wi rolled in eight putts between 10 and 20 feet. He wasn’t as productive from that distance on Friday, making just two putts from outside 10 feet, but he still produced a 67 that left him at 9 under for the tournament, which will put him among the leaders going into the weekend.

Asked Friday how his putter has been acting this year, Wi replied: "You know, just like golf, it’s very fickle. I haven’t played up to my standards this year thus far, but I’ve been working really hard and things turn around really fast in this game. … Hopefully my putter will be very hot this weekend."

Wi is still looking for his first top-10 finish of the season. He tied for 16th earlier this month at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, his best result thus far.

Last week at THE PLAYERS Championship, he was 8 under through the first 12 holes of the third round and on the first page of the leaderboard. But in his last 24 holes of the PGA TOUR’s flagship event, he was 5 over and finished tied for 41st.

"It’s not that I’ve been playing poorly," said Wi, who ranks 104th in FedExCup points. "It’s just that I haven’t been scoring.

"I’ve been making a lot of cuts, but I haven’t had too many high finishes. That doesn’t mean I’m playing poorly. I’m just not scoring. This game is so tough at times and I know that you’ve just got to stay patient and let the good things come to you."

Perhaps they will this weekend.

Click here to replay Wi’s round on ShotTracker

Click here to watch Wi’s post-round interview with the PGA TOUR Network