While many of his peers on the PGA Tour were preparing to fly overseas for the British Open last week, Corey Pavin did not need to worry about the whereabouts of his passport.

He was headed for Milwaukee.

Even if he had qualified for the party at Carnoustie, Pavin, who snapped a decade-long victory drought with a victory in the 2006 U.S. Bank Championship at Brown Deer Park, wanted to defend his title.

"After the tournament last year, I said I wasn't sure what I was going to do if I was in the British Open," said Pavin, 47, who won the Greater Milwaukee open in 1986. "I kind of made that statement and thought ‘That was a really dumb thing to say.' I was going to come back here (to Milwaukee) no matter what. It had been 10 years since I won a tournament. I want to defend my title, simple as that."

It's always a good sign when a golfer birdies the first hole of a tournament. Pavin did that last year and went on to 8-under-par 26 on the first nine. Though he didn't know it right away, that was a PGA Tour record.

"That 26 was pretty cool," Pavin said. "I didn't even realize I'd shot 26 until the 12th or 13th hole. I knew I had shot eight-under. With my great mathematical abilities, I realized it was par-34 on the front nine and I was able to subtract eight and it came up 26. It only took me an hour to figure that out.

"It was just one of those nines where everything fell into place. I made a couple long putts and hit it close and all of a sudden 26 showed up on the board."

Pavin played well throughout the tournament and held off Madison native and fan favorite Jerry Kelly over the final 18 holes to post a 20-under-par 260, which tied the tournament record.

"I wish I could bottle that up and keep doing it every week," Pavin said.

At 6,759 yards, Brown Deer is the shortest course on the PGA Tour. It also plays right into Pavin's strengths.

"It's a good golf course for me, for sure," he said. "It's a course doesn't require length. It just requires that you place your ball in certain places and make some birdies. There are a lot of short irons into greens, which is my cup of tea.

"I've played this tournament a lot over the years and everybody that runs this tournament, the fans and the people of Milwaukee are good people and I want to come back here and see if I can do it again."

NOTEBOOK

Pavin was the eighth player to win the Milwaukee tournament twice. The 20 years between his victories represents the second-longest spread in tour history, trailing Hale Irwin's 21-year gap between victories at the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town (1973 and '94).

The winner at Brown Deer this week will receive 2,250 FedExCup points. After this event, there are only five tournaments left in the 2007 PGA TOUR Regular Season before the first-ever PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup begin, starting at The Barclays in late August.

The U.S. Bank Championship is celebrating its 40th year. The tournament began 1969 at the North Shore Country Club in Mequon, Wis. The event moved to Tripoli Golf Club in 1971, where it remained for two years. In 1973, the tournament moved to Tuckaway Country Club where it remained for 21 years. Then in 1994, the event moved to its current location at Brown Deer Park, where it will be contested for the 14th time.

Loren Roberts is the only player to have won the tournament two times (1996 and 2000) and finish runner-up twice (1994 and 1997).

Ed Sneed (1974), Ben Crane (2005) and Corey Pavin (2006) are the only wire-to-wire winners in the tournament's history.

The players with the most TOUR victories in the field this week are Corey Pavin (15), John Cook (11), Steve Elkington (10), Kenny Perry (nine) and Brad Faxon and Bob Tway (eight each).

Brown Deer Park Golf Course has hosted the United States Amateur Public Links Championship (1951, 1966 and 1977). This week's field includes 1986 Public Links champion Billy Mayfair, 1997 winner Tim Clark and 2000 winner D.J. Trahan.