Greater Milwaukee Open

The week before a foreign major and the effect on the field is obvious. Last year, the JP McManus pro-am in Limerick, Ireland has a stronger field than this event. No such embarrassment for the tournament this year, but only one player from the top-25 in the world rankings tees it up at Brown Deer Park (Scott Hoch). There will be less matchups on offer this week than usual, but for the rewards for homework on those less familiar faces will be all the greater!

The course, Brown Deer Park, is one of only three municipal courses on the PGA Tour - Torrey Pines and next week's En-Joie the other two - but is widely acclaimed for being one of the finest public courses in the country. Whether it is of PGA Tour standard is another question. It is extremely short for a Tour course, just over 6,700 yards and is also unusual in that it only has nine par-fours. Basically, despite this being a tree-lined course, it plays rather easy with 24-under-par being the winning score last year. Providing fairways can be found, this turns into a putting contest. No surprise that Loren Roberts has such a good record here!

Hoch heads the lists this week, but it was hard to see him winning an event before this year. To win two weeks in a row is still unthinkable despite him losing the silent "C" before his last name. Another player who is notably overlooked this week is Loren Roberts. He may have a great record in this event, but he has not finished in the top-25 in any event this year since the Sony Open in Hawaii in January. He should do better this week than in previous weeks, but that is too much of a slump to break.

The outright picks instead are Kenny Perry, Frank Lickliter and Jeff Sluman. With three top-10 finishes in his last five events - and 20th and 26th the other two - Perry is in great form at the moment. Having made his debut at Brown Deer Park and secured 3rd place, it is easy to see why he has returned this year and against a weak field a repeat of that performance is certainly on the cards.

Lickliter is another with good current and course form. He has finished in the top-10 in both of the last two weeks and represents a fine return to form after winning the Kemper Open seven weeks ago. The worries over his Sunday nerve are now fading - they did cost him last year as he slipped from 3rd to 9th with a final round 73 - and he looks good for a strong performance, despite being the shortest-priced of the three selections.

As for Sluman, he has a very solid record on this course - just one round over par since 1994 and a former winner of this event as well (1998). He may not be in the same form as the other two selections, but his play has been consistent albeit not matching the two top-3 finishes he achieved earlier in the season. If he can keep the ball on the fairway, he could well make another top-3 finish this week.

Outright plays:

Kenny Perry to win 33/1 e.w. @ Sports.com

Frank Lickliter to win 18/1 e.w. @ BetInternet or NetBetSports

Jeff Sluman to win 28/1 e.w. @ BetInternet

72-hole plays:

Kenny Perry to beat Olin Browne -111 @ Sports.com
Looking for Kenny Perry to have a great week; like a lot of matchups involving him as well as being an outright selection. Browne is a very accurate driver and should make the weekend again on this course, but that is something he has failed to do in four of his last seven events and the in-form Perry should win this one

Kenny Perry to beat Jerry Kelly +110 @ William Hill [2 units]
Good odds against the local player who seems to have rediscovered his form with two top-10 finishes in the last two weeks. Kelly has very volatile form on this course and at plus odds, there is extra value in the Perry play

Kenny Perry to beat Chris Smith -118 @ Easybets [2 units]
No course form and has not played for six weeks. Perry should dispatch Smith with ease.

Kenny Perry to beat Steve Stricker +100 @ Carib
Another play against a local player. Stricker had done well on this course before last year, but his driving is very poor this year and this is not the course to forgive him that weakness

Chris Perry to beat Robert Damron -111 @ Simon Bold
Poor form at the moment and on this course, Damron should be one to struggle this week. Perry has hardly been consistent over the past couple of months, but with three top-10 finishes in his last visits to Brown Deer Park, he should be able to raise his game more this week

Andrew Magee to beat Phil Tataurangi -115 @ Camelot
Ugly matchup which should be decided before the weekend, but Magee has the much better chance of being in town on Sunday. The big-hitting Tataurangi has missed the cut on all four visits to Brown Deer Park, whereas Magee can boast top-20 finishes in four of his last five visits. Not the player he was, but with a better chance of winning some money this week than others

Bob Tway to beat Chris Smith +105 @ Camelot
This is Tway's first time at the Great Milwaukee Open for seven years, but he should still be more suited to this course than the big-hitting Smith. He finished 20th last week against a high quality field, so can be expected to figure just as strongly this week

1st round plays:

Brian Watts to beat Jay Haas +100 @ Moneyplays [3 units]

Chris Perry to beat Jerry Kelly +110 @ Moneyplays [2 units]

Kenny Perry to beat Jerry Kelly +100 @ GoTo Casino [3 units]

Jeff Sluman to beat Steve Stricker -102 @ Five Dimes [2 units]

Bob Tway to beat Chris Smith -112 @ Camelot

1st round update: 2-2-1 and +0.88 units

Eeked out a small profit on the day's plays with low-scoring common among all the matches. A little disappointed to lose out with sleeper Watts who lies 5th over the first round. Just did not see Jay Haas leading the event at all! He beat Watts by two, while the other loss was with Tway who lost by three to Smith. In the rest, Chris Perry tied with Kelly, Kenny Perry beat Kelly by two and Sluman beat Stricker by one.

Better news in the 72-hole plays. They currently stand 4-1-1: Perry/Kelly 2 up; Perry/Smith all square; Perry/Stricker 2 up; Perry/Damron 4 up; Magee/Tataurangi 6 up; Tway/Smith 3 down. The Perry/Browne play was voided at Browne had already withdrawn. The outrights are encouraging with Perry 5th and Sluman 10th after the 1st round. Lickliter disappointed to finish 112th.

2nd round plays:

Loren Roberts to beat Tim Herron -120 @ Camelot

Frank Lickliter to beat Scott Hoch +140 @ Five Dimes [2 units]

Frank Lickliter to beat Kenny Perry -110 @ Camelot [2 units]

Frank Lickliter to beat Skip Kendall -135 @ Sportfanatik [3 units]

Frank Nobilo to beat Chris Smith +105 @ Five Dimes [3 units]

2nd round update: 3-2-0 and +1.60 units

The main player of the day, Frank Lickliter, delivered the goods with a 66 to make the cut with ease and beat Hoch by two and Kendall by one. He did lose to Perry by three, but if he goes on to win the event, that might be a play I will happily sacrifice! In the other plays, Roberts beat Herron by two, but Nobilo was very disappointing - he struggled around the course and lost by four to Smith.

Just one of the 72-hole plays is decided at the cut and it is a winner. Magee had a bad day, but just hung on long enough to record a one-shot win over Tataurangi. The rest stand 4-1-0 with 36 holes to get worse: Perry/Kelly 10 up; Perry/Smith 3 up; Perry/Stricker 5 up; Perry/Damron 3 up; Tway/Smith 9 down. In the outrights, Perry leads, Sluman is 11th and Lickliter is 38th. Would gladly take this situation on Sunday night!

Back in the morning with 3rd round plays.

3rd round plays:

Briny Baird to beat Jay Haas +100 @ Carib [3 units]

Brian Watts to beat Jay Haas -105 @ Five Dimes [3 units]

Marco Dawson to beat Craig Spence -170 @ WSEX

Brent Geiberger to beat Craig Spence -140 @ VIP Sports [3 units]

Blaine McCallister to beat Craig Spence -165 @ Camelot [3 units]

3rd round update: 1-2-2 and -5.15 units

Ugly day, but could have been far worse! Really liked opposing Haas and Spence at the start of the day and their scores were below the average for the day - it was the picks who underperformed! Baird and Watts both shot 74 to lose to Haas by four. Dawson was the the only selection to break 70 and he beat Spence by two, while both Geiberger and McCallister birdied the last to tie with Spence.

The rest of the event is promising though. The remaining 72-hole plays still stand 4-1-0: Perry/Kelly 6 up; Perry/Smith 4 up; Perry/Stricker 3 up; Perry/Damron 4 up; Tway/Smith 3 down. Even better with the outrights, Lickliter lies 63rd to dash the hopes of a trifecta, but with Sluman 1st and Perry 2nd, I wouldn't say no to a washout tomorrow!

4th round plays:

Marco Dawson to beat Craig Spence -170 @ WSEX

Brent Geiberger to beat Jay Haas -125 @ Camelot [3 units]

Scott Gump to beat Fuzzy Zoeller +100 @ Camelot

Scott Hoch to beat Tim Herron -115 @ Moneyplays

Scott Hoch to beat Steve Stricker -130 @ Sportfanatik

Jonathan Kaye to beat Joe Ogilvie -104 @ Five Dimes

Final update: 3-2-1 and +0.15 units for the day; 14-9-1 and +3.62 units for the week

Break-even last day, but still a decent week on the matchups. The results: Dawson/Spence 2 down; Geiberger/Haas all square; Gump/Zoeller 1 up; Hoch/Herron 1 down; Hoch/Stricker 1 up; Kaye/Ogilvie 3 up. In the 72-hole plays, only Chris Perry recording the 2nd worst round of the day prevented the sweep. They finished: K.Perry/Kelly 7 up; K.Perry/Smith 6 up; K.Perry/Stricker 2 up; C.Perry/Damron 2 down; Tway/Smith 5 up. Good week spoilt by heartache on the outrights.

Update on outright plays: 1-2 and -2.15 units

Geez! The leader after 36 holes ... 1st and 2nd after 54 holes ... and I finish with just a share of 5th place with four others   Very disappointing. Kenny Perry got the share of 5th place to return a fraction less than the original stake, Sluman slumped to 10th and Lickliter finished 28th. A small profit overall on the event, but what might have been