By Gregg Hoffmann Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Jul 15, 2002 at 5:25 AM

The Greater Milwaukee Open concluded one of the most hyperactive weeks in Milwaukee sports history Sunday.

Baseball's All Star Week and the GMO dominated the week, but the Brewers return to regular season action, the Rampage, Aussie Rules Football and other regular summer sports added to the buzz.

Read about the Brewers in Thursday's Brew Crew Review and the other sports in Friday's Milwaukee Sports Buzz. This Sports Buzz is devoted to the GMO.

Jeff Sluman, the 1998 GMO champ, rose to the top of the leader board on Saturday and never looked back. Sluman shot 68 Sunday to end the tournament at 23-under-par 261, one stroke off the tournament record set by Loren Roberts.in 2000. Steve Lowery and Tim Herron finished tied for second at 19-under 265.

"I hadn't played very well this year, but my game came around, and it was very nice to win again here in Milwaukee," said the 43-year-old Sluman, who added $558,000 to put his 19-year career winnings at $11,918,854.

Sluman showed only two glimpses of faltering. On the second hole, he hit his tee shot into the thick rough and flew his second shot over the green. His chip coming back rolled down the treacherous slope to the front of the green. He two-putted from there for a bogey 5. Lowery parred to pull within one strike at 18-under.

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But. Sluman stuck his tee shot a couple feet from the hole on the par 3, No. 5 and carded a birdie. He followed that with three more birdies in a row to get to 23-under.

"The bogey on No. 2 might have kick started me a little," Sluman said. "I hit a beautiful 7-iron on No. 3 and birdied the next three holes after that. I had pretty good game management today."

Sluman slipped again on No. 10, hitting his second shot in a bunker and getting down in three shots for a bogey. Lowery had a birdie, and it stood at 22 and 20-under.

But, Lowery bogeyed Nos. 11 and 13 to fall back into a pack that chased Sluman for the rest of the afternoon.

"I made up two shots on 10 and then gave him one right back," Lowery said. "He just never seemed to look back after that. When you're playing a guy with that kind of lead, and he's making birdies, it's tough. He has a good game. He doesn't make mistakes to beat himself."

Sluman is the sixth golfer to win the GMO more than once. The others are Dave Stockton, Dave Eichelberger, Calvin Peete, Scott Hoch and Roberts.

Kelly Misses Cut

Madison's Jerry Kelly came into the GMO riding high from a tour victory and playing some great golf. He left the Brown Deer Golf Course after two rounds, having failed to make the GMO cut.

"It just shows you win a tournament and you've got to be on the top of your game the very next week," Kelly said. "You can't just ride a crest."

Three other regular PGA tour pros with Wisconsin ties did make the cut. J.P. Hayes of Appleton finished at 17-under 267.. Steve Stricker of Madison shot 14-under 270. Skip Kendall, who was raised in the North Shore, finished at 269.

Kendall also carded a hole-in-one Sunday, when he knocked his tee shot into the hole on the 215-yard, par 3 No. 7.

Making Bucky proud

Congrats to UW golfer Jon Turcott, who became the first amateur to survive the GMO cut in 33 years. Turcott, who had a two-day total of 139, said, "I was a volunteer at the driving range here last year.

"I was pretty nervous waiting for the scores to come in, but let's put it this way…I didn't make any plans for the weekend."

What Turcott did over the weekend was shoot 71 and 68 to finish at 278 for the tourney.

Beautiful Brown Deer

Kudos to the groundskeepers at Brown Deer. The course was in beautiful shape, perhaps its best in years. Weather conditions helped the workers this year, with a moist May, some almost tropical heat in June and moderate temperatures in recent weeks.

The greens did not have the drying out problem of a few years ago. The rough was deep, yet fair. Many of the golfers praised the condition of the course.

Date Changes

The GMO will swap dates next summer with Quad Cities in its never-ending attempt to work around the British Open. Milwaukee will take the weekend after the Open while Quad Cities will get the weekend before.

GMO officials hope more top-flight players will consider playing in Milwaukee after they have played in Britain. Many of the top players now skip the GMO to get an early start on practice or rest for the major tournament.

The Milwaukee Sports Buzz will run July 19 and 26 and then take a hiatus to make room for On The Pack, a new column by Gregg Hoffmann devoted to coverage and commentary about the Packers. The Sports Buzz will return to cover the Bucks, Wave, Admirals and other sports after the baseball season and The Brew Crew Review conclude.

Gregg Hoffmann Special to OnMilwaukee.com
Gregg Hoffmann is a veteran journalist, author and publisher of Midwest Diamond Report and Old School Collectibles Web sites. Hoffmann, a retired senior lecturer in journalism at UWM, writes The State Sports Buzz and Beyond Milwaukee on a monthly basis for OMC.