The pick-3 lottery number this week at the Frys.com Open is 266. It’s OK, gambling isn’t frowned upon at this week’s PGA TOUR stop, which returns to Las Vegas for the 24th consecutive year.

Why 266? That’s not only the winning score the last two years in Sin City, but it’s also the 72-hole total for winner Bob Estes in 2001, when the pro-am event was contested over 90 holes. Trust the TOUR Insider; this is not a bad number to shoot for. It would have won or tied 28 events this year.

So, a target score for target golf courses. The TPC Summerlin and TPC at the Canyons are a pair of relatively short (in today’s game) layouts where the trouble comes from sloppy shots and murky strategy. Move patiently from point to point and the birdies are there. It’s not complicated, seeing how all but five men who made the cut finished under par a year ago.

But this event has always been about going low among the high rollers for high stakes. Keep it in play, avoid big numbers and make enough putts, and you’ll finish in high cotton. That’s the low-down.

Last year: Rookie Wes Short made a par on the second playoff hole to beat three-time champ Jim Furyk for his first PGA TOUR victory. Short’s closing 66 at TPC Summerlin included a birdie on the final hole, and when Furyk bogeyed the same hole, they ended up tied at 21-under 266. Furyk’s tee shot on the second playoff hole, the par-3 17th, went in the water, opening the door for Short’s breakthrough win.

How he did it: When leader Ted Purdy fell back, Short took advantage by posting an eagle and two birdies over his final six holes. The key for Short was hitting greens in regulation (80 percent) and staying away from bogeys; he had just 3 over 72 holes.

Strange but true: Three players made eagles at the par-4 fifth at Forest Oaks Country Club during the final round of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro: Eric Axley, Steve Flesch and Nick O’Hern -- all lefties.

True but not so strange: Short averaged 307 yards off the tee last year in Vegas -- and ranked only 26th in driving distance for the week.

Worth knowing:

• Three of the top four money winners in the history of the Las Vegas stop are in the field this week: three-time winner Jim Furyk, Billy Andrade (third) and Bob Estes (fourth). Stuart Appleby, second overall, is skipping this week.

Jim Furyk has won two events on the PGA TOUR in 2006. (WireImage)

•  Scott McCarron, runner-up to Appleby in 2003 and a perennial contender (four top 5s) in Vegas, is out with bursitis in his right elbow. He recently filed a major medical extension for the 2007 season. Andre Stolz, the ’04 champion, is missing his second straight Frys.com Open because of a left wrist injury that has sidelined him all season.

•  Scott Verplank, 35th on the PGA TOUR money list, might be poised to move up soon if his history in Vegas is any indicator. He hasn’t missed the cut in his last nine starts dating back to 1995.

•  Kevin Na, sidelined since April after he having his hand broken in a car door in January, is entered in this week’s Frys.com Open after a perfect tune-up; he won the Mark Christopher Charity Classic on the Nationwide Tour with a wire-to-wire triumph that included a course record 62 at Empire Lakes Golf Course. Na played nine tournaments after the injury before withdrawing from the Shell Houston Open.

•  John Rollins, 85th in putting average, has turned to instructor Mike Shannon to improve on the greens. He opened with 64 at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro with just 27 putts and he ranked 18th for the week in the category.

•  Tommy Armour III is back on the entry list after withdrawing from the Southern Farm Bureau Classic before the start due to an irregular heartbeat discovered during a complimentary heart screening test provided on site by the TOUR. He is now on medication to help control the problem.

• Is this a good place for Harrison Frazar to finally break through? His 10 top-3 finishes in 242 career starts include ties for third and second, respectively, in Vegas the last two years. Three of the last four champions hadn’t won previously in their careers. David Duval, who tied for sixth in Vegas in 2002, is scheduled to make his 24th start of the year Thursday, the most since he played 24 in ’02 and the third-most in a season in his career. He is 171st on the money list in his final exempt season from his ’01 British Open victory.

• If anyone is due at a certain tournament, it’s Mark Brooks in Vegas. He’ll be making his 23rd start in the event, most in the field, but has yet to post a top-10 finish. Brooks’ best effort is a tie for 14th in 1994. He’s also playing in his 34th event of 2006, most on TOUR, but the 45-year-old Texan needs a good week to move up from his current earnings rank, 189th, in what is his last exempt season from his 1996 PGA Championships victory.

TI’s power ranking for the Frys.com Open: 1. Jim Furyk, 2. Nathan Green, 3. David Howell, 4. Steve Flesch, 5. Dean Wilson.

Parting shot: “I certainly learned a big lesson this year, because I wanted the Ryder Cup so bad that I let it get in the way of everything else I was doing. So it's nice to be back challenging for the lead and pulling it off rather than finishing 15th all the time.” -- Davis Love III, after winning the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, his first TOUR victory since 2003