THE BLOGU.S. Bank Championship
Kenny Perry, one of the hottest players in golf, heads to Milwaukee this week hoping to dethrone Joe Ogilvie as the champion of the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. A year ago, Ogilvie came from a stoke off the lead entering the final round, shot a 3-under 67 and cruised to a four-shot win over a trio of players. Perry, who won last week’s John Deere Classic, has three victories in 2008 and has climbed to No. 2 in the FedExCup standings and is No. 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Ogilvie, meanwhile, is No. 108 on the FedExCup standings, with a best finish this year coming at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he tied for ninth. Joe Ogilvie became the 10th consecutive U.S. Bank Championship winner to post four scores in the 60s. Ogilvie carded rounds of 67-63-69-67 to finish at 14-under-par 266. The last winner with a round in the 70s was Scott Hoch in 1997 (70 in the first round). The come-from-behind win (after 54 holes) for Joe Ogilvie in 2007 was the first at the U.S. Bank Championship since 2001, when Shigeki Maruyama overcame the one-stroke lead held by Jeff Sluman to defeat Charles Howell III in a playoff. Since the tournament moved to Brown Deer Park in 1994, there have been six come-from-behind winners in 14 years. Ogilvie and Tim Clark trailed 54-hole leader Tim Herron by one stroke entering the final round last year.
Steve Flesch’s tie for fifth at the 2007 U.S. Bank Championship marked the highest finish by a left-handed player in the 40-year history of the U.S. Bank Championship. Russ Cochran’s tie for seventh in 2000 was the previous best by a lefty. Jeff Sluman (tied for ninth a year ago) and Kenny Perry (tied for fifth in 2007) remain first and second on the U.S. Bank Championship all-time money list. Sluman earned $104,000 a year ago, while Perry picked up $140,500 to his total. Sluman has earned $1,660,363 in Milwaukee, while Perry has pocketed $1,422,857. Sluman, a Champions Tour member, is playing this week in Minnesota at the 3M Championship.
Nine players have earned their first PGA Tour titles at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. They are Dave Eichelberger (1971), Calvin Peete (1979), Mark O’Meara (1984), Jim Thorpe (1985), Jim Gallagher, Jr. (1990), Richard Zokol (1992), Billy Mayfair (1993), Shigeki Maruyama (2001) and Joe Ogilvie (2007). Jeff Brehaut set a tournament record in 2007. Brehaut made four eagles — on four different holes.
A group of Wisconsin natives will be looking to win this tournament for the first time. Jerry Kelly, a Madison native, is making his 16th start. Kelly has four top-10s in the event, with runner-up finishes to Loren Roberts (1996) and Corey Pavin (2006). Mark Wilson (Menomonee Falls), J.P. Hayes (Appleton) and Skip Kendall (Milwaukee) are also in the field.
The U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee moved to Brown Deer Park Golf Course in 1994, the tournament’s permanent site since. Four players — Scott Hoch, Loren Roberts, Jeff Sluman and Carlos Franco — have been able to win more than once at Brown Deer Park. Hoch first won in 1995 and followed that victory with another title in 1997. Roberts’ two wins came in 1996 and 2000, while Sluman had his two victories in 1998 and 2002. Franco’s wins came in 1999 and 2004. The following past champions who won at Brown Deer Park are in this week’s field, hoping to join Hoch, Roberts and Sluman on the multiple Brown Deer Park victories list: Ben Crane (2005), Shigeki Maruyama (2001), Joe Ogilvie (2007), Corey Pavin (2006) and Kenny Perry (2003). By picking up his third win of the 2008 season, Kenny Perry passed Phil Mickelson for second place in the FedExCup standings. Perry is 2,262 points behind overall leader Tiger Woods, who is sidelined for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Mickelson, Stewart Cink and Anthony Kim round out the top five.
