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Haas grabs lead with 64

Jay Haas birdied the last three holes Thursday for a seven-under-par 64 and a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Greater Milwaukee Open.

D.A. Weibring, Marco Dawson and Brent Geiberger each had 65s for second place at minus-six at the par-71 Brown Deer Park Golf Course, one of only three municipal layouts in the PGA Tour rotation.

Haas, the GMO champ 20 years ago, needed just 24 putts on Thursday after heeding some advice from alternate Stan Utley on the practice green Wednesday.

"It was pretty magical today," Haas said. "I missed a couple of putts that I should have made, but I made four or five that were 1-in-20 chances, maybe."

Haas holed a birdie from 35 feet at the eighth to cap a five-under 30 on the front nine. He went one-over in his next six holes before finishing with a trio of birdies to forge his best round since 1998.

Haas captured the second of his nine tour victories at this event back in 1981, when Tuckaway Country Club was the host course. He won by three shots over Chi Chi Rodriguez.

Haas last triumphed at the 1993 Texas Open.

Brian Watts, Kenny Perry, Chris Smith, Steve Pate and Charles Howell share fifth place at five-under. Scott Hoch, the winner here in 1995 and '97, and 1998 champ Jeff Sluman are among six players tied at minus-four.

Hoch is coming off a victory at last week's Western Open, his second win of the season.

Nick Gilliam, the NCAA individual champion from the University of Florida, suffered a double-bogey on his fourth hole. He recovered to post five birdies against two bogeys the rest of the way for a one-under 70 in his debut as a professional.

"I battled the jitters for the first few holes, but I settled down nicely," said Gilliam, a native of Green Bay who earned the Wisconsin state junior title at Brown Deer in 1994. "I only hit four fairways, so that's a little upsetting. But all in all, a pretty good day. A good start to my career, I'd say."

Milwaukee native Skip Kendall shot two-over-par 73 a day after learning his father, Ralph, died at the age of 77 in Sun City West, Arizona, from complications of a stroke.

Kendall was set to fly to Arizona but was told by his mother, Shirley, that his father's dying wish was for his son to compete at Brown Deer, a course Kendall grew up playing.

"It was pretty difficult," Kendall said. "This tournament was really special to him. I know he's looking down and smiling."

Services for Kendall's father will be held next week in Milwaukee. Defending champion Loren Roberts, who also won the GMO in 1996 and finished second in '94 and '97, stands tied for 124th after struggling to a three-over 74 in round one.

He has not missed a GMO cut since the event moved to Brown Deer in 1994.

Roberts was ranked 18th on the 2000 money list with the one victory and eight other top-10 finishes. So far this season he has only one top-10 -- a tie for fifth at the Sony Open in January.

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