Columnist Steve Carp: LVI offers fans the city’s best sports value

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

Steve Carp is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at carp@vegas.com or 259-4087.

It was a windy day out at Spanish Trail and the gallery was not exactly elbow-to-elbow.

On the 16th green, you could spread out and watch the competitors try to make birdie. And if you happened to be lucky, the Midnight Idol himself, Wayne Newton, might sidle up alongside you, plop himself down and check out the action, his bodyguards relegated to the back -- just so they could watch his back.

That was 10 years ago. Fortunately, not a lot has changed at the Las Vegas Invitational. You can still attend one of the few major league sporting events this town offers at a reasonable price. And you might get to rub elbows with a Vegas icon.

How reasonable, you ask? Put it this way: You won't have to dip into the Y2K stash of moolah to attend this week's 17th renewal which is offering $2.5 million in purse money.

In fact, I'll argue that attending the LVI, if done right, is the best bargain in town when it comes to a major sporting event.

You can get 50 percent off the daily $20 badge if you buy in advance through one of the many sponsors offering discounted tickets. Right there, you're ahead of the game.

Parking is free and if you go out to the TPC at Summerlin, they'll shuttle you right to the main gate. That's a sweet deal.

What about sustenance? No one is putting a gun to your head to buy a $3 bottle of water or a $10 deli sandwich. Instead, why not pack a nice lunch and bring a cooler to get through the day? They'll let you brown bag it at the LVI.

Granted, it's not as high-falutin' as the grub those in the skyboxes will be dining on, but food is food. And a ham and cheese on rye tastes just as good sitting at the 12th tee as it does in a luxury suite, though you might want to ask the suiteholders if they have any Grey Poupon in the event you forgot to bring your own. I'm sure they'll accommodate you.

Add it all up and you've got one heck of a bargain to watch some of the game's best performers. And not only that, you can get so close, you can hear them mutter profanities when that four-foot putt rims out. Try that at an NBA game or a championship fight when you're sitting in the Bob Uecker seats.

For me, that's what makes golf different from the other sports. As a fan, you have the option of staying put in one place and still being close to the action. Or you can follow your favorite player through the entire 18 holes while not abandoning your proximity.

Try roaming around a ballpark and watch how quickly the ushers jump you.

No other sport allows you to be so close for such a nominal price. Sure, you can taunt Charles Barkley up close and personal. But you better have Spike Lee's pull and Billy Crystal's cash to do it.

Boxing? Most major fights in Las Vegas don't bother putting tickets on public sale anymore. If you want to see blood and perhaps wear some, it would be wise to have a line of credit with your friendly Strip casino to the tune of, say, half a million dollars.

You don't want to get too close to football and hockey players, lest you wind up like Steve Young or Mike Modano. Even Wayne Gretzky's wife Janet got smart after she attended a New York Rangers game last year only to find herself wearing a piece of the Plexiglas after a hard check jolted the protective shield from its braces at Madison Square Garden.

No dummy, Mrs. Great One sat a few rows back at her next Rangers hockey game.

Of course, golf fans are starting to get a little rowdier these days. They haven't reached the status of soccer fans and begun to lob bags of urine at those trying to tee off. But verbally, there have been a lot of syllables being lobbed of late.

Maybe it's the money. Fans think since the golfers are raking in millions they have the right to be subjected to a little heckling. Or maybe we're a society that has a need to participate when the contract calls for us to spectate and we still haven't learned to differentiate between the two concepts.

But the golf course remains a bastion of civility compared to attending an NFL game in Oakland. Or anything in Philadelphia. And given the nature of the sport, it's likely the newer fans will eventually catch on and abide by the etiquette of the course.

So if you plan to attend the 90-hole marathon that is the Las Vegas Invitational this week, enjoy yourselves. And know that you can leave your Platinum Visa card and your wisecracks at home. The Ryder Cup was last month.