Riley facing big challenge at D.I.

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 10:37 a.m.

The par-72 7,193-yard course at the Desert Inn Golf Club has never been a favorite of PGA Tour professional Chris Riley.

Riley, a Las Vegas resident and four-time All-American at UNLV (1992-96), says he hasn't figured out why he always has struggled on it.

What he does know is that he'll play a practice round today at the Desert Inn to prepare for the $2.5 million Las Vegas Invitational that starts on Wednesday.

Riley will tee off at the Desert Inn at 7:40 a.m. Wednesday in the first round of the tournament. The D.I. and Las Vegas Country Club are the satellite courses used for the 90-hole event hosted by the TPC at Summerlin.

"The greens are tricky and I don't know (why I haven't had much success there)," Riley said of the D.I. layout. "I just don't play the course very well.

"If I shoot anything under par there I'll take it. I just want to get it out of the way."

The San Diego native has been calling Nevada home for seven years, but still hasn't lost his laid-back Southern California attitude.

That mind-set has helped him relax and enjoy himself while grinding it out his first season on the tour.

Riley, ranked 113th on the PGA Tour money list with $344,451, doesn't seem to get riled easily.

Though his results at the LVI will help determine his fate for next season, he is taking a cavalier approach for the week.

"I'm gonna have fun this week," Riley said. "My brother Kevin is caddying for me.

"I have friends from San Diego coming to see me and my girlfriend will be watching. I look at it like I have nothing to lose."

But he does.

To keep his tour card for next season, he must finish in the top 125 on the money list because he probably won't be able to attend PGA Tour Qualifying School in November.

"I didn't send in my money for Q-school," he said. "Everybody was saying the cut was 325 (thousand) or 330.

"When the money was due, I didn't even send it in. I was at 103 on the money list."

Still, he found some humor in the situation.

"I'm in trouble if I don't make it," Riley said with a chuckle.

For the second straight year (he played on the Nike Tour in 1998), he started out 1999 hot but then missed eight of nine cuts during one stretch from June to August. Riley has regrouped to make three of the last four cuts.

"I think by the end of March I had $284,000 and then all of a sudden I ... something happens in the summertime," he said. "I don't know why.

"I don't lose my game, but I don't play as well as I'd like.

"It usually happens during the U.S. Open when I try to qualify. I really haven't figured it out yet."

His summer slump has been followed by a solid fall, giving him hope entering the LVI.

On the third day of the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill in Virginia last weekend, Riley moved into second place during the first nine holes before he lost his momentum and finished the tournament tied for 45th.

"I'm playing pretty good right now," he said. "My goal is to just keep my card for this year.

Riley is a 75-1 choice at the Resort at Summerlin to win the tournament, but who knows?

Maybe he'll conquer the Desert Inn and the LVI in the same year.

* LAST MINUTE CHANGES TO LVI FIELD: Scott Hoch and Brad Fabel have withdrawn from the LVI. Playing in their place will be Ty Armstrong and Alan Bratton. On the strength of his performance at the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill over the weekend, Ronnie Black qualified for the LVI. His sponsor's exemption was then given to former Masters champion Sandy Lyle.