First-time winners plentiful

Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

With his playoff victory in the rain-shortened Buick Challenge, Michael Bradley became the 10th first-time PGA Tour winner in 1996 who will play in this week's Las Vegas Invitational.

"I envisioned myself coming out and winning a 72-hole event," Bradley said after the Buick was shortened to 36 holes and a five-man playoff among the second-round leaders was used Sunday to decide the championship. "But that doesn't lessen what I did this week."

If Bradley is to make it two in a row with a win in Las Vegas, it's a safe bet it won't be in another 36-hole affair -- or even 72 holes, for that matter. The LVI is one of only two 90-hole events on the PGA Tour schedule and perfect weather -- with temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s -- is forecast for this year's tournament.

The 14th annual LVI, with a purse of $1.65 million, runs Wednesday through Sunday at the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin, the Desert Inn Golf Club and the Las Vegas Hilton Country Club. The final two rounds will be played exclusively at the TPC at Summerlin.

Bradley, who beat Fred Funk, John Maginnes, Davis Love III and Len Mattiace with a birdie on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff Sunday, is one of 10 first-time winners in the 144-player LVI field. In addition, each of the four players Bradley beat in the playoff is entered in this week's event.

Eleven of the top 13 finishers at the Buick are entered in the LVI, including Fred Couples. Couples, who is sixth on the PGA Tour money list, tied for sixth Sunday with Brad Faxon and Marco Dawson.

Also entered are 20 other players who already have won on the tour this year, including four-time winner Phil Mickelson, three-time victor and PGA Championship winner Mark Brooks, two-time winner John Cook and defending LVI champion Jim Furyk. Mickelson leads the PGA Tour in earnings with $1,574,799 and Brooks is second at $1,370,862.

But the focus of most fan and media attention this week will be 20-year-old Tiger Woods, who will be making his fifth start as a pro in search of a big payday to secure his PGA Tour card for 1997. Woods will play the par-71 Las Vegas Hilton Country Club in Wednesday's first round and has drawn a 7:30 a.m. starting time.

Woods already has earned enough money ($140,194) in four starts to receive as many sponsor's exemptions as he wants next year, ensuring he can play in as many tournaments as he wishes.

In addition to Las Vegas native Robert Gamez, who opens play Wednesday at 7:10 a.m. at the Las Vegas Hilton Country Club, this year's tournament features another player with ties to Las Vegas. Former UNLV All-American Chris Riley, who was granted a sponsor's exemption to play in the LVI, tees off Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Desert Inn.

While the LVI officially doesn't begin until Wednesday, the pre-tournament festivities get under way Tuesday with the popular Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out at 2 p.m. at the TPC at Summerlin.

Competing in this year's nine-hole Shoot-Out will be Brooks, Furyk, Gamez, Andrew Magee, Jay Don Blake, Scott Hoch, Vijay Singh and three other players to be determined by the PGA Tour.

The Shoot-Out consists of 10 players competing over nine holes. The player with the highest score on each hole is eliminated until only two players remain on the final hole.

When two or more players are tied with the highest score on a hole, those players will execute shots such as a long putt or a chip shot to be chosen by one of the players. The player whose ball comes to rest farthest from the hole is eliminated.

In a unique twist to the casual event, LVI officials are allowing each player to use only three clubs. The Shoot-Out is free to the public.