If you enjoy those tumbling dice, pray — as the Alan Parsons Project might say — for the turn of a friendly card and like to win, place and show with the ponies now and again, take a look at Steve Stricker at this week's Sony Open in Hawaii.

Now, we're not saying to fly to Vegas and lay the wife's paycheck on the line. You might even keep him out of your fantasy golf lineup if you already used him at last week's SBS Championship. You want this guy around when the FedEx truck comes into view.

But had you been paying attention to Zach Johnson's weekend in Maui last year, you could have made a big pile of money a Sunday later at the Sony. Johnson gave us a huge hint at the 2009 Mercedes Championship by going 64-67 over the weekend for a heaping Plantation Course helping of 15-under 131.

You might recall Ernie Els' record-setting performance of 31-under 261 on the Ben Crenshaw-designed par-73 layout that's still all the rave. Johnson being almost halfway there would have been big news had he not shot a 71 the first day and a 75 the day after that.

The confidence he built by going 15 under on a course that makes a video game designer jealous carried over in a big way the following week. Johnson, whose odds were a cool 30-1, shot a 134 in the opening two rounds and came back with another 131 on the weekend over as different an 18 holes as you will ever find when compared to the Plantation.

Which brings us back to Stricker.

To say he wasn't a factor this past weekend at the SBS Championship is no hyperbole — he wasn't. The world's No. 3-ranked golfer was one of only five not to dip his clubs in red ink in the opening round of 2010. Led by Lucas Glover's 66, some 13 golfers had rounds in the 60s.

Stricker was tied for 24th in a 28-man field. His ho-hum 70 on Friday barely moved the needle to a tie for No. 22, as he had almost as many bogeys (five) as birdies (eight), But much like Johnson last year, Stricker found his pulse on Saturday and Sunday.

Over the closing 36, Stricker went 68-66 for a 12-under 134. He wound up among the top 10 finishers and was the only golfer in that elite group not to shoot under par on the opening day. Had Stricker managed that total the first two rounds, he would have beaten eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy by two strokes.

Stricker didn't start well and it cost him, but his weekend run was one better than Ogilvy's. And only one shy of Rory Sabbatini's 133 that included a freakish 10-under 63. Sabbatini's weekend tour of duty was a polarizing 70-63. Stricker's was more of a rounding-into-form 36 holes, leaving him as the man to beat this week.

Will he win? Well, he's one of 144 entered. That makes it something of a long shot given the number of entries in the field. Imagine a horse race with that many jockeys, well, jockeying for position. Stricker finished in a tie for 23rd here last year. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

But if you like to put $5 on No. 23 on the roulette wheel, believe the Dallas Cowboys should be the odds-on-favorite to win the Super Bowl, or think you've developed a system to beat 21, put some dough on Stricker.

And pray for the turn of a friendly scorecard.