Home state favorites hope to come through

Home state favorites hope to come through
Eds: PMs.
AP Photos MAG102-107
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- No Wisconsin player has won the Greater Milwaukee Open in its 36-year history. Jerry Kelly of Madison aims to change that.
Kelly shot a 4-under 66 Thursday in the first round at Brown Deer Park, leaving him two strokes behind leader Jay Don Blake.
Kirk Triplett is in second, one shot behind Blake, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 1991 Shearson Lehman Brothers Open.
Kelly said he would love to win in his home state -- or at least see a fellow Wisconsinite win the first prize of $630,000 on Sunday, part of a record $3.5 million purse.
"You think about it all the time," said Kelly, who won his first two PGA Tour titles last year. "We all want to be the first. But all of us want someone from Wisconsin to win. There's no animosity in this group."
Other Wisconsin players trying to win in their home state didn't start off as well as Kelly.
J.P. Hayes of Appleton and Mark Wilson of Milwaukee shot 71s, and Steve Stricker of Madison and Skip Kendall of Fox Point had 73s.
Kendall's 3-over round marked just the second time in 25 rounds in the GMO since 1997 that he's failed to shoot even par or better.
Also at 66 were Shigeki Maruyama, who won the GMO two years ago, Joel Edwards, Brett Quigley and Kenneth Staton. Defending champion Jeff Sluman had a 72.
Blake's round was his best showing since firing a 6-under 64 in the first round of the 2001 Greater Hartford Open.
It started off with a bogey and he was even through eight holes. His luck started to turn when he birdied the par-5 18th, his ninth hole. It was one of six birdies in an eight-hole stretch.
"It's kind of nice to write 29 on your scorecard. You don't do that too often," Blake said.
Blake made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 485-yard, par-4 fourth, which used to be a par-5 until a large oak tree was removed this year. It was the toughest hole Thursday, playing to an average of 4.458.
Blake went out in the afternoon, when the wind picked up and the weather was cool. The five players who shot 66s went out in the morning following overnight rain.
Kelly almost joined Triplett in second place with a 65, nearly chipping in on his final hole, the par-4 ninth. The ball hit the pin, bounced into the hole and back out.
"I thought that was in from the second I hit it," Kelly said. "It was in. It just didn't say in."
Kelly thought more players would surpass his 66 in the afternoon.
"It was a pretty tough morning. It was so misty and rainy," he said.
The afternoon brought tricky, cool wind, however.
"It was difficult to judge the conditions," Triplett said. "A little wet, a little cool. The ball's not going as far, I don't think, as you're used to. But the greens are soft and of course in great shape."
The par-70 course with notoriously thick rough measures 6,759 yards, one of the shortest on the PGA Tour.
"When I won the tournament it was much drier," Maruyama said. "This year it is very wet and you can't get the distance. It is softer around the greens, so approach shots are easier."
Divots: Brian Bateman withdrew because of a knee injury. ... Steve Pate putted with his driver after breaking his putter on his eighth hole.