Ian Poulter's good form in the United States continued on the opening day of the Players Championship as he finished two shots off the first-round lead held by American Ben Crane at TPC Sawgrass.

Fresh from a tie for fifth place at last week's Quail Hollow Championship, the Englishman carded a five-under-par 67 at the Players Stadium Course.

Crane took the overnight lead with an opening seven-under-par 65, with Germany's Alex Cejka, Richard S Johnson, of Sweden, and American John Mallinger tied for second on six under following 66s. Poulter (below) was part of an eight-man group on five under and said: "I've played one week on, one week off until just after the Masters, so it's been hard to get into a routine.

"But my game's been in shape since then and I felt it was only a matter of time.

"This is my third week in a row and it's nice that I've only had seven tournaments going into this week and I feel fresh."

Poulter was also pleased with his putting after needing just 26 putts in his opening round.

"I changed to a putter two weeks ago that the ball comes off a bit slower and the greens have been very quick the past couple of weeks," he added.

"I just feel good and I'm rolling the ball in the hole and managing to find the back of the hole."

Justin Rose, Paul Casey and Soren Kjeldsen, of Denmark, shot two-under-par 70s, while defending champion Sergio Garcia was a further shot back alongside world No1 Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington carded level par 72, to be one shot clear of world No2 Phil Mickelson.