PERRY?S PERSPECTIVE: U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee
Well, that was a nice British Open, wasn?t it?
Beautiful weather, good golfing, and a feel-good storybook win for Tiger Woods after the recent death of his father, Earl. All ancient history for handicappers, who go back to the grind of the PGA Tour?s lesser events with this week?s U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. There is no Tiger in this tank. Nor are there any Mickelsons or Elses or Singhs ? unless legendary pro wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh decides to crash the party. They?re all taking the week off; many won?t be back until next month?s PGA Championship.
That doesn?t mean handicappers should be taking the week off. These minor events are a challenge worth taking ? the shortest odds on the futures market are +1600, shared by 2003 winner Kenny Perry, Scott Verplank and Stewart Cink. The field is pegged at +300. Verplank finished in second place at last year?s U.S. Bank tourney, four strokes behind Ben Crane (next on the list at +2000). Verplank and Crane are also coming off four rounds at the British Open, where Crane finished tied for 10th. Nineteen other Open golfers are in Milwaukee this week ? including Cink, who missed the cut. His lone previous visit here was a 12th-place finish in 1997.
To get a better idea of who?s worth a look this week, let?s take a trip to the golf course in question. If you thought Hoylake was short, you haven?t seen Brown Deer Park Golf Course: just 6,759 yards long. There have been attempts to make this public course a bit more challenging for the pros. The sand traps were redesigned in 1993, the rough seems to get rougher every year, and the course was made a par-70 instead of par-71 three years ago. As a result, Brown Deer Park?s narrow and crowded fairways are no pushover. But the course can still be conquered, especially in the hot summer. Crane took advantage of wet conditions last year to tie the course record with a 260.
The ideal golfer to rise up at Brown Deer Park, then, is someone with unerring accuracy off the tee. The greens are fairly large and inviting, but they are also tricky to navigate once you get there, so putting skills will also be at a premium. This describes Verplank to a tee. He is currently ranked third in driving accuracy and sixth in putting on the PGA Tour. A win in Milwaukee this week would also cement Verplank?s position on the American Ryder Cup team; he was there in 2002, and also played the Presidents Cup in 2005.
If Verplank isn?t to your liking, you may feel more comfortable going with someone who has won this event before. There is a recent history of double winners at Milwaukee: Carlos Franco (+6600) won in 1999 and 2004, and Jeff Sluman (+4000) got the duke in 1998 and 2002. Scott Hoch and Loren Roberts also pulled off the double dip this past decade, although neither golfer is in the field this year.
That makes Perry (no relation to Yours Truly) a compelling pick for many handicappers this week. He has finished in the Top-10 for six straight years at Milwaukee; however, the 2004 Ryder Cup member has yet to crack the Top 10 on the PGA Tour this year, despite making the cut in 10 of 15 events. Perry does thrive on the shorter courses, where his 290-yard drives are less of a problem. He?s reasonably accurate (No. 37 on the Tour), but his current putting display (currently ranked No. 184) leaves something to be desired.
I think, perhaps with some level of delusion, that there is plenty of value in Franco this week. This is one of the Tour?s legion of unknown players, despite the highly unusual path the Paraguay native took to the PGA Tour. He went from sleeping on a dirt floor as a kid in Asuncion to playing in Central America and across Asia, then became the 1999 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Things haven?t gone too well since then. His 2004 victory in Milwaukee was his only win since 2000, which is also the last year he was on the International team at the Presidents Cup. On top of that, Franco has missed seven of his last eight cuts stretching back to May. That?s some lousy golfing. But at +6600 in a weak field, it?s pretty easy to hold your nose and hope that history repeats itself.
USA Network has two-hour packages for the first two rounds, starting Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern. CBS takes over between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET on the weekend.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
Well, that was a nice British Open, wasn?t it?
Beautiful weather, good golfing, and a feel-good storybook win for Tiger Woods after the recent death of his father, Earl. All ancient history for handicappers, who go back to the grind of the PGA Tour?s lesser events with this week?s U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. There is no Tiger in this tank. Nor are there any Mickelsons or Elses or Singhs ? unless legendary pro wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh decides to crash the party. They?re all taking the week off; many won?t be back until next month?s PGA Championship.
That doesn?t mean handicappers should be taking the week off. These minor events are a challenge worth taking ? the shortest odds on the futures market are +1600, shared by 2003 winner Kenny Perry, Scott Verplank and Stewart Cink. The field is pegged at +300. Verplank finished in second place at last year?s U.S. Bank tourney, four strokes behind Ben Crane (next on the list at +2000). Verplank and Crane are also coming off four rounds at the British Open, where Crane finished tied for 10th. Nineteen other Open golfers are in Milwaukee this week ? including Cink, who missed the cut. His lone previous visit here was a 12th-place finish in 1997.
To get a better idea of who?s worth a look this week, let?s take a trip to the golf course in question. If you thought Hoylake was short, you haven?t seen Brown Deer Park Golf Course: just 6,759 yards long. There have been attempts to make this public course a bit more challenging for the pros. The sand traps were redesigned in 1993, the rough seems to get rougher every year, and the course was made a par-70 instead of par-71 three years ago. As a result, Brown Deer Park?s narrow and crowded fairways are no pushover. But the course can still be conquered, especially in the hot summer. Crane took advantage of wet conditions last year to tie the course record with a 260.
The ideal golfer to rise up at Brown Deer Park, then, is someone with unerring accuracy off the tee. The greens are fairly large and inviting, but they are also tricky to navigate once you get there, so putting skills will also be at a premium. This describes Verplank to a tee. He is currently ranked third in driving accuracy and sixth in putting on the PGA Tour. A win in Milwaukee this week would also cement Verplank?s position on the American Ryder Cup team; he was there in 2002, and also played the Presidents Cup in 2005.
If Verplank isn?t to your liking, you may feel more comfortable going with someone who has won this event before. There is a recent history of double winners at Milwaukee: Carlos Franco (+6600) won in 1999 and 2004, and Jeff Sluman (+4000) got the duke in 1998 and 2002. Scott Hoch and Loren Roberts also pulled off the double dip this past decade, although neither golfer is in the field this year.
That makes Perry (no relation to Yours Truly) a compelling pick for many handicappers this week. He has finished in the Top-10 for six straight years at Milwaukee; however, the 2004 Ryder Cup member has yet to crack the Top 10 on the PGA Tour this year, despite making the cut in 10 of 15 events. Perry does thrive on the shorter courses, where his 290-yard drives are less of a problem. He?s reasonably accurate (No. 37 on the Tour), but his current putting display (currently ranked No. 184) leaves something to be desired.
I think, perhaps with some level of delusion, that there is plenty of value in Franco this week. This is one of the Tour?s legion of unknown players, despite the highly unusual path the Paraguay native took to the PGA Tour. He went from sleeping on a dirt floor as a kid in Asuncion to playing in Central America and across Asia, then became the 1999 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Things haven?t gone too well since then. His 2004 victory in Milwaukee was his only win since 2000, which is also the last year he was on the International team at the Presidents Cup. On top of that, Franco has missed seven of his last eight cuts stretching back to May. That?s some lousy golfing. But at +6600 in a weak field, it?s pretty easy to hold your nose and hope that history repeats itself.
USA Network has two-hour packages for the first two rounds, starting Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern. CBS takes over between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET on the weekend.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
