FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Craig Perks completely overhauled his swing after winning the 2002 Players Championship. This year, he finally realized he had changed too much.

Now he’s back on top – at least for a day.

Perks had a bogey-free 6-under 64, including two chip-in birdies, and took the first-round lead Thursday at the Colonial. He led by a stroke over Jesper Parnevik, another golfer looking for a big comeback.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Perks said. “A round like this, it certainly gives me confidence. It shows me I can still play.”

Steve Flesch, who had birdies on four of his first five holes, and Stewart Cink were among five golfers at 66. Defending champion Kenny Perry shot 67, his Colonial-record eighth straight subpar round.

Missing from Hogan’s Alley are Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam, who at last year’s Colonial became the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour.

Phil Mickelson, the Colonial’s highest-ranked player (No. 2 on the money list) and 2000 champion, opened with a 71.

Golf has been a struggle for Perks since his only PGA win in what many consider the tour’s fifth major.

In 2003, Perks had no top-10 finishes and made just 12 of 28 cuts. Before playing last weekend in the Byron Nelson Championship, he had missed 10 of 12 cuts this year, including six in a row while shooting 75 of worse in eight of those rounds.

The low point came at the Masters, where he missed the cut by one stroke after a double bogey his last hole.

“I was just nearly lifeless. I just had no energy, I had no passion, no nothing,” Perks said. “I was really excited about how I was playing up to that point. But that was the epitome of how my game was. I could play OK, but when it was crunch time, I messed up.”

Perks went to Las Vegas in early May for a one-day lesson with coach Butch Harmon. The best advice he got: focus on improving things he didn’t do well consistently and quit worrying about trying to improve every thing.

He still struggles driving, but that’s not a big issue on the 7,054-yard Colonial course that Woods won’t play because it doesn’t suit his game.

After chipping in from 20 feet on the 433-yard 18th for his second straight birdie, Perks made his turn at 3 under. He led when he followed a 40-foot birdie putt at the 394-yard 6th hole by chipping in from 25 feet on the 432-yard 7th.

“I hit some really, really good iron shots. And my short game was as good as it always has been,” said Perks, who needed just 24 putts.

Parnevik started with consecutive birdies, and was 3 under through five holes. He had three more birdies his last six holes, but a three-putt bogey on the 448-yard 14th cost him a share of the lead.

Parnevik struggled last year to break the top 125, failing to make at least $1 million for the first time since 1996.

The Swede has made 10 of 12 cuts this year, his three top-10 finishes coming in consecutive tournaments in February. He has moved up to 46th on the money list, even with a best finish of 27th his last six events.

“My No. 1 goal this year was to really make a strong effort to come back into the top 10,” Parnevik said. “I was very pleased to see where my progress is going. I think one of the toughest things in golf is to be among the best in the world and then lose it and try to bring it back again.”

Flesch was already at 4 under when he got through Colonial’s “horrible horseshoe” – as Nos. 3-5 are known because of their layout and being the longest par 4s with a 252-yard par 3. He couldn’t get any lower.

“Any time you’re 4 under through five at this place, you know there are a bunch of birdie holes,” Flesch said. “But I just kept hitting about 20, 25 feet. I kept hitting it hole high where I had these putts that were breaking two or three feet.”

Divots: Jeff Maggert started his round of 66 with a 20-foot eagle putt on the 563-yard No. 1 hole, then had a 10-foot birdie at No. 2. He was just 1-under the final 16 holes with three bogeys. … Sergio Garcia, coming off a playoff win at the Nelson, shot a 72. The first of his four PGA wins came at Colonial three years ago. … Rookie Kevin Na withdrew after 12 holes, citing a neck and back problem. He had just carded a quintuple-bogey 9 on the 467-yard No. 3 hole when he left the course. … Dean Wilson, who played with Sorenstam last year, shot 77.

AP-ES-05-20-04 1955EDT