Four players have Las Vegas ties

Monday, Oct. 20, 1997 | 4:11 a.m.

Four players with strong ties to Las Vegas will add a touch of local flavor to the 15th annual Las Vegas Invitational.

Robert Gamez, Edward Fryatt and Tommy Armour III, each of whom played junior and high school golf locally, and former UNLV golfer Skip Kendall will be among the 144-player field for this week's $1.8 million LVI. Fryatt also attended UNLV and played golf for the Rebels.

Gamez, a Las Vegas native who still lives in town, will be one of the leading local favorites during this week's tournament. Although he has two career wins since joining the PGA Tour full-time in 1990, the Clark High graduate has yet to win his hometown tournament -- but he came close in 1994.

Gamez, 29, made a late charge during the final round of the 1994 LVI before settling for a second-place finish and a $162,000 payday. Gamez finished the round with five consecutive birdies for an 8-under-par 64 and held a one-shot lead over eventual champion Bruce Lietzke, who had three holes to play.

Lietzke came through with an eagle on the par-5 16th hole to regain the lead and parred the final two holes to defeat Gamez by one shot.

Gamez also has two other top-10 showings in his hometown tournament. The former University of Arizona standout finished tied for 10th place in the 1993 LVI, earnings $35,000, and came in seventh in 1992, taking home a check for $43,550.

Both of Gamez's tour victories came during his rookie season in 1990. He won the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson in his first official start on the PGA Tour, then captured his second victory two months later in the Nestle Invitational in Orlando, Fla.

Fryatt, 26, is a former three-time All-American at UNLV, graduating in 1994. He earned a sponsor's exemption into this year's Las Vegas Invitational after a superb showing at the U.S. Open, where he finished tied for 24th place in his first appearance in a major championship.

Fryatt, who continues to reside in Las Vegas, has played regularly on the Asian PGA Tour the past two years. The Chaparral High product received a sponsor's exemption to play in the 1994 LVI after graduating from UNLV, but he failed to make the cut in that tournament, his first PGA Tour start.

Armour, the grandson of legendary golfer Tommy Armour, played his prep golf at Bishop Gorman High School before attending the University of New Mexico -- where he played for current UNLV head golf coach Dwaine Knight.

The owner of one PGA Tour title, capturing the 1990 Phoenix Open, Armour has earned more than $1.3 million in 13 years on tour. He now lives in Dallas.

Kendall, a 1987 graduate of UNLV, returned to the PGA Tour full-time this season after finishing ninth on the 1996 Nike Tour money list. A resident of Palm Harbor, Fla., Kendall has two top-10 finishes this year, including a third-place showing at the Sprint International in August, and has earned more than $300,000 this season.