Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Fight local golfers ready to compete in LVI

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 1998 | 11:01 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand's golf notebook appears Tuesday. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

It is becoming increasingly more difficult to pick a local favorite in this week's $2 million Las Vegas Invitational.

On Monday, former Bishop Gorman High School standout Tommy Armour III joined the field, bringing the number of golfers in the tournament with local ties to eight.

The 16th annual LVI tees off Wednesday morning at three local courses: the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin, the Las Vegas Country Club and the Desert Inn Golf Club.

Armour joins local products Robert Gamez (Clark High) and Craig Barlow (Basic High), UNLV graduates Bill Lunde and Skip Kendall, and local residents Jeff Gallagher, Bob May and Phil Tataurangi among the 144 players vying for this year's $360,000 first prize.

Also added to the field Monday was three-time PGA Tour winner Gary Hallberg. Armour and Hallberg replaced Olin Browne and Barry Cheesman.

Armour, who played at the University of New Mexico when current UNLV head golf coach Dwaine Knight was the Lobos' coach, earned his lone PGA Tour title in 1990 Phoenix Open.

Armour is coming off a tie for 10th place in the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va. Armour earned $47,500 for his finish, which boosted his season earnings to $554,650 in 27 tournaments.

Also dropping out of the tournament late last week was Fred Funk. Funk's withdrawl leaves the LVI with five of the top-10 money winners, 16 of the top-30 and 19 tournament winners this year.

Heading the list of pros in the field this week include two-time 1998 tournament winners Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and Billy Mayfair; Justin Leonard, Glen Day, John Daly, Lee Janzen and Tom Lehman; defending LVI champion Bill Glasson; and former LVI winners Jim Furyk, John Cook, Paul Azinger, Bruce Lietzke, Davis Love III, Andrew Magee, Bob Tway, Fuzzy Zoeller and Gary Koch.

Starting times run from 6:50 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. The 144-player field will be cut to the low 70 scorers and ties following Friday's third round. The final two rounds of the 90-hole tournament will be played exclusively at the TPC at Summerlin.

* WHERE THEY PLAY: Here are when and where the local players will be playing in Wednesday's opening round of the Las Vegas Invitational: Robert Gamez: 8:10 a.m., Desert Inn; Craig Barlow: 12:10 p.m., Desert Inn; Jeff Gallagher: 8:40 a.m., Las Vegas Country Club; Skip Kendall: 11:20 a.m., LVCC; Tommy Armour III: 12:10 p.m., LVCC; Phil Tataurangi: 1 p.m., LVCC; Bob May: 1:10 p.m., LVCC; Bill Lunde: 1:0 p.m., TPC at Summerlin. Players who play the Desert Inn Wednesday will be at the Las Vegas Country Club on Thursday and the TPC at Summerlin on Friday; players opening at the Country Club will play the TPC on Thursday and the D.I. on Friday; those who open at the TPC will play the D.I. Thursday and the Country Club on Friday.

* ROCK 'N' GOLF: The fifth annual Fairway to Heaven celebrity pro-am golf tournament will be held Monday morning at the Las Vegas Country Club. Among the celebrities scheduled to participate in the 18-hole tournament include Chris O'Donnell, Richie Sambora, Alice Cooper, Branford Marsalis, Robert Wuhl, Stephen Stills, Clarence Clemons, Huey Lewis and Dweezil Zappa. Some of the PGA Tour pros who will be playing include Paul Azinger, John Daly, Steve Pate, Tom Purtzer, Scott Simpson and Justin Leonard. A 90-minute taped highlight program of the tournament will be aired on cable music channel VH1 on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m.

* GRAND SLAM: The Grand Slam Charity Golf Tournament, to benefit the Leukemia Foundation, will be held Saturday, Oct. 24 at Stallion Mountain Country Club. Current and former major league baseball players expected to participate include Sammy Sosa and Mark Grace of the Chicago Cubs, Willie Mays, Tony Gwynn, Mike Maddux and former Las Vegas Stars manager Jerry Royster. Actors James Woods and James Belushi also are scheduled to play in the tournament.

* NEW ADDITION: Former touring pro Chris Cookson has been named director of golf services for for VegasGolfer Communications, Inc., of Las Vegas. Cookson, who played on the Nike Tour, PGA European Tour and Asian PGA Tour, most recently served as golf sales manager for Woodlands Resort in Texas. Cookson will oversee all operations of VegasGolfer's golf services division, VegasGolfer Vacations.

* UPCOMING EVENTS: The PGA Tour makes its 16th annual stop in Las Vegas this week for the $2 million Las Vegas Invitational. Bill Glasson is the defending champion. The final three rounds of the LVI will be televised live by ESPN as follows: Friday, 1-3 p.m.; Saturday 2:30-4 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-4 p.m. ... The Senior PGA Tour is in Northern California this week for the Raley's Gold Rush Classic at Serrano Country Club in El Dorado Hills. Bob Eastwood won last year's event; The Golf Channel will televise. ... The LPGA Tour is holding the Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf this week. Juli Inkster is the defending champion.