Milwaukee ? Jeff Sluman is in the same place as he was a year ago, but miles ahead in his game.

Sluman fired an 8-under-par 63 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead over Steve Lowery (64) after three rounds at the Greater Milwaukee Open.

Jeff Sluman hit his tee shots on the 17th hole. Sluman shot an 8-under par 63 Saturday in the Greater Milwaukee Open.

Sluman also was the leader after 54 holes last year, but he carded a 1-over 72 on Sunday and finished in a tie for 10th.

This time, thanks to his 54-hole GMO record 193 total, he’s within range of the tournament record of minus-24. Loren Roberts carded a 260 in 2000.

Although he’s in the same position, Sluman said there’s no comparison to his play from a year ago, when he missed nine of 13 fairways on Saturday, making his Sunday stumble not much of a surprise.

“Hopefully, this year, it’ll work out better,” said Sluman, who missed just one fairway on Saturday, the 18th, which he birdied after driving the tee shot into the short cut.

“Last year I wasn’t playing very well at all,” Sluman said. “With experience, I was able to hold on last year under adverse swing thoughts, I guess you would say.

“This year, I feel like I’m hitting the ball a lot better and a lot straighter. Last year was a mystery every time I got on the tee. At least this year I feel like through these first three rounds I’ve got a pretty good idea where it’s going to go.”

Sluman said he’s playing some of the best golf of his 20-year PGA Tour career.

“Scoring-wise, this is pretty close,” he said.

Kirk Triplett, who began the day tied with Sluman and Tommy Armour III atop the leaderboard, shot a 4-under 67 and is alone in third place four strokes back.

“I kind of matched Jeff birdie for birdie for a while, then the switch went off,” Triplett said.

And Sluman’s stayed on.

“He was flawless, never was in trouble, just real solid golf, doing all the things you want to do,” Triplett said. “I hope he shoots a 1- or 2-under tomorrow and Steve and I have a chance to catch him.”

Armour shot an even-par 71, falling eight strokes back.

Greg Chalmers (65) is five strokes behind in fourth place, and Tim Herron (65) is in fifth, trailing by six strokes.

Defending champion Shigeki Maruyama is tied for 21st, 11 strokes behind Sluman, who won the GMO in 1998 and has just one bogey in three rounds.

Birdies are usually harder to come by on Saturday at Brown Deer’s par-71 layout that measures 6,759 yards, one of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour. But on a windless, dry day that was made for low scores, the assault on par continued.

“I absolutely rolled everything in today,” said Chalmers, who chipped in for eagle on the par-5 fourth hole and totaled 139 feet on his five birdie putts, including a 50-footer.

“The way things are going on this golf course, you’ve got to make a lot of birdies,” he said.

J.P. Hayes, of Appleton, Wis., fired a 63 to move to 10-under and a tie for sixth with David Peoples (67). Hayes finished with a tournament record 7-under 28 on the front nine and insists he could have done even better.

“I actually feel like I left a couple on the front nine. I missed a five- or six-footer for birdie,” he said.

Hayes has finished third at the GMO the last two years.

“To keep finishing third, it’s a nice finish but it’s a little frustrating,” Hayes said. “In the back of my mind, it would be nice to be able to finish it off tomorrow.”

Then, Hayes, who teed off in the morning, looked at Sluman’s name on the leaderboard and said: “Who knows? By the end of the day, I might not have made up any ground.”

And sure enough, he didn’t.