For some early finishers, the waiting was the hardest part

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 | 9:40 a.m.

One by one, the final golfers competing in the local qualifier for the U.S. Open trickled into the Legacy clubhouse on Monday at a pace that would drive a tortoise nuts.

Maybe it was the 100 degree-plus temperatures that drove most of the 99 participants to playing 18 holes with the expediency of employees at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Or maybe it was the pressure of knowing that there would be no chance to redeem a bad score (the qualifier was an 18-hole event) that caused golfers with handicaps of 1.4 or lower to play for more than five hours.

Whatever the reason, the slow play caused Las Vegas resident and former PGA Tour player John Riegger to lose a few hours of much-needed sleep and others, such as Green Valley High School junior Andrew Scott, to wait as nervously as expectant fathers.

Riegger and Scott were the first to card 69s, which seemed like a safe number to earn one of seven spots for the 36-hole U.S. Open regional qualifiers that will be played June 5 and 6.

"I think 69 is pretty safe," said Riegger, who was surviving on only an hour of sleep.

Scott, the No. 1 player for Green Valley and the only high school student entered at the Legacy, agreed.

"It looks pretty good right now," the 16-year-old honor student said of his score. "I think I have as good a chance as anybody."

Earlier in the day, former UNLV standout Chris Berry shot a 66 and Brian Payne had a 68, so 69 was definitely a solid score. But then the waiting game started.

Bob Casper, son of two-time U.S. Open champion Billy Casper, came in with another 69, then a 67 was written next to the name Adam Wilcox, meaning there was one spot left.

As the day dragged on, UNLV senior Jeremy Anderson filed in with another 69, making him the seventh person with a 69 or better. Murmurs filled the room as players began to wonder if any of the golfers in the last two groups would have a score low enough to make it.

Sure enough, former UNLV great Warren Schutte, who happened to be the last person to turn in his scorecard, also had a 69, forcing a five-person playoff that turned out to be anticlimactic.

All playoff participants except Anderson shot par on the par-4 1st hole. Anderson bogeyed it after he missed a two-foot putt.

"I was really surprised he missed that," a relieved Scott said. "Three hours of just sitting there then the final guy shoots a 69.

"Oh yeah, I was nervous (before the playoff). I felt good once I got out there."

The only place Riegger wanted to go after it was over was straight to bed.

"At least I can go get some sleep now," he said.

Riegger, a player on the Buy.com Tour, didn't arrive in Las Vegas until 3 a.m. Monday. His plane that left Virginia Beach, where he was playing a tour event, had to circle Atlanta for more than two hours because of inclement weather. After he arrived, he had about an hour of sleep before he teed off shortly before 7.

Riegger played in the U.S. Open in 1988 and 1993 and was on the PGA Tour in 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993 and 1998. He moved here two years ago after he met his wife at the Las Vegas Invitational, now the Invensys Classic.