Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

5 great moments in Las Vegas golf

More 1007 golf

Steve Marcus

Former UNLV golfer Ryan Moore watches his drive from the 11th tee during the 2012 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012.

If you go

• What: Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

• Oct. 13: Charley Hoffman Foundation Las Vegas Pro Am

• Oct. 15: Championship Pro Am

• Oct. 16-19: PGA tournament dates

• Tickets: $26.50-$300, available at shrinershospitalsopen.com or the TPC Summerlin gate

This year’s participants

Of 132 players, here are 10 notable:

• Webb Simpson

• Ryan Moore

• Nick Watney

• Chad Campbell

• Charley Hoffman

• Kevin Na

• Martin Laird

• Brandt Snedeker

• Scott Piercy

• Stewart Cink

Local golf fans can lounge in a pool as they watch some of the best players in the world hit the TPC Summerlin links Thursday through Sunday at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The tournament will become the first-ever event with the odd combination in its second year as part of the FedEx Cup. Organizers plan to spread six pools, including ones sponsored by Zappos.com and Hyde nightclub, throughout viewing areas on the course.

It’s far from the first groundbreaking occurrence at Las Vegas’ annual PGA Tour stop. The tournament has accumulated a rich history since debuting in 1983.

Here are five of the tournament’s most memorable moments to celebrate its 32nd straight year.

Furyk goes 3-for-5 in the late ’90s

Repeat success has proven difficult in Las Vegas’ PGA Tournament for every golfer except one.

Jim Furyk famously won the Las Vegas Invitational three times in five years before the turn of the century. Furyk prevailed in 1995, 1998 and 1999 at TPC Summerlin. No one else has ever won the event as much as twice.

The 1995 victory was Furyk’s first PGA Tour victory. By the time the 1999 tournament rolled around, Furyk was considered one of the top professionals in the world.

A perfect shot

Jonathan Byrd thought he had hit his tee shot too hard. Turns out, it was just right.

Byrd became the only player in PGA Tour history to win a tournament with a hole-in-one in the 2010 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Byrd teed off first on the fourth playoff hole with 2009 champion Martin Laird and Cameron Percy, and drilled his ball right into the cup.

Fans stood in awe. Neither Laird nor Percy could duplicate the near-impossible feat, awarding Byrd the $774,000 first-place purse.

Byrd described the ending as “absurd” as he celebrated.

Reb-els

No gallery had ever formed at a Shriners Hospitals for Children Open quite like the one that followed the lead group around the course on the final day in 2012.

UNLV graduate and local professional Ryan Moore drew tons of fanfare as he attempted to claim the trophy. Moore separated himself from the other leaders when he birdied the par-5 16th hole and held on for the victory.

It capped quite a week for the 2005 NCAA champion. Moore was inducted into the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame before tying the course record with a 10-under 61 during the first round.

He also tied the tournament record with a total of 260 strokes.

World’s best golfer wins PGA Tour’s biggest prize

“The Great White Shark” sunk his teeth into a PGA Tournament field in Las Vegas 28 years ago.

Right before Greg Norman captured the No. 1 World Golf Ranking for 110 of 112 weeks, the Australian legend went on a rampage at Las Vegas Country Club in the 1986 Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational.

Norman tied a tour record by finishing 27 strokes below par in a five-round event. He expressed disappointment in himself after missing putts on both the 17th and 18th holes that could have broken the record.

Norman had to settle for a $207,000 check, which was at the time the largest prize in golf.

A star is born

In the fifth year TPC Summerlin hosted the Las Vegas Invitational, a phenom emerged as champion.

His name was Tiger Woods. The 1996 victory was his first-ever PGA Tournament victory.

He’s gone on to win 78 more, good for second all-time. Most of them came much easier than the first.

Woods fell behind in the opening four rounds and rallied on the final day to force a playoff with 1993 Las Vegas Invitational champion Davis Love III. Woods beat Love on the first playoff hole, validating the substantial hype bred out of his amateur career at Stanford.

“As disappointed as I am, I’m that much happy for him,” Love said after the tournament. “He’s a great, great player and he’s great for the tour.”

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