A top tour stop

Dean Juipe

Monday, Oct. 9, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.

The Invensys Classic at Las Vegas:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday through Sunday at the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin, the Desert Inn and Southern Highlands. Saturday's and Sunday's rounds will be played exclusively at TPC Summerlin.

PURSE: $4.25 million. Winner will receive $765,000.

David Toms won't be in Las Vegas this week, but Mike Weir and 143 of his fellow PGA Tour pros will.

Toms, who won Sunday's Michelob Championship in Williamsburg, Va., is skipping the tour stop in Las Vegas but Weir -- who lost to Toms in a one-hole playoff -- will come in on a hot streak.

The $324,000 he won in Williamsburg boosted him into the tour's top 30 for the year, with $1,351,379, and put him in position to qualify for the lucrative Tour Championship that concludes the season and is limited to the 30 leading money winners.

The Las Vegas stop on the tour, now called the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas, is significant beyond the obvious. With only two full-field tour events to follow before the Tour Championship, players are scrambling not only to reach the top 30 but, in many cases, slip into the top 125 and retain their playing privileges for next season.

While only three of the tour's current top 10 money leaders will be here, the Invensys field is loaded with players either vying for the extra riches of the Tour Championship or trying to remaining exempt.

Falling into the latter category are two familiar names, Robert Gamez and Craig Barlow, both of whom are local players currently outside the top 125. Gamez is No. 141 in 2000 earnings and Barlow is No. 143.

Both skipped the Michelob Championship.

But Chris Riley, a UNLV product and Las Vegas resident, did play in Virginia and made the trip worthwhile by finishing tied for ninth and bringing home $81,000. He entered the final round one shot behind then-leader Bradley Hughes, but settled for a closing 72 and fell off the leaderboard after making a spirited bid for his first tour win.

"I think I'm ready to win," Riley said. "I'm ready to do it."

He'll get another chance this week as the tour stops here for the 18th consecutive year, with the TPC at Summerlin serving as the home course for the five-day event that opens Wednesday. The Desert Inn Country Club and Southern Highlands complete the course rotation and will host first-, second- and third-round play.

A Las Vegas-record $4.25 million will be awarded in prize money, with $765,000 going to the winner.

Lately that winner has been Jim Furyk, who won the event both last year and in 1998 in addition to 1995. He's No. 11 on the money list with $1.8 million and didn't play in Virginia.

Although not influencing the caliber of the field, also topical this week is the ongoing "Fall Finish," a new competition limited to the final nine events of the year that will award $200,000 to its points leader. Grant Waite, not playing here, currently tops the Fall Finish points list.

Weather is expected to be cooperative this week, but experts say there's a slight chance of Wednesday or Thursday showers. In contrast to the 51-degree temperature Sunday in Williamsburg, players should welcome Nevada's golden fall.

Weir may be happy regardless.

"I've played many times in the snow," the left-handed Canadian said. "I didn't always want to, but I had to."

He and Toms found themselves tied after 72 holes of the Michelob Championship and were forced into a sudden-death playoff that opened -- and closed -- on No. 18. While Toms two-putted from long range for a par, Weir was unable to get up and down from off the green and suffered a tournament-ending bogey.

"I'm disappointed," he said. "I was here to win the tournament but that's the way the game goes."

Toms earned $540,000 and moved into the top 20 on the money list.

"It was a crazy week," he said, referring to almost withdrawing Friday when his back problems flared. "But I sucked it up and it's a dream come true."

Dream finishes like Tom's 66 will be on the minds of most of the 144 pros (and 432 amateurs) who will play here. For the guys anywhere near 125, these are crucial weeks.

"It's one thing trying to win a tournament," Hughes said on TV after falling out of contention in Williamsburg, "but it's another to have a job next year. At least I took care of that."

The $105,375 he won advanced him from No. 126 to No. 96 and into the safety of knowing he won't have to return to Tour Qualifying School in December. "I'll have to tell the commissioner to tear up the entry form for Q-School that I'd already sent in," Hughes remarked.

Also taking a deceivingly laissez faire view of his predicament is Cameron Beckman, who opened the Michelob at No. 149 but won $49,500 to catapult himself toward the protected zone.

"I've been kind of concerned that I'll have to go back to Tour School," he said. "I've already sent my Tour School application in. I'm just letting myself go and seeing what I can do about it in these last few weeks."

Beckman double bogeyed No. 12 at Williamsburg to fall off the final-round pace. Suffering a worse plight was David Duval, who won the week before and is not playing in Las Vegas. He bogeyed the final five holes to close with a 75.

While such nuances ordinarily escape spectators and reporters alike, many of the tour's players will come to Las Vegas anxious to try something different. In this case it's Titleist and a new three-piece ball it will unveil here this week, and some 30 to 40 tour players are expected to give it a try.

"Wound balls have been maxed out," Tour player Nick Price commented, referring to the fact some 35 percent of the circuit's regulars have recently switched from wound balls to three-piece balls (from other manufacturers beside Titleist) that accentuate distance, perhaps at the expense of some "feel."

For the many amateurs who are taking part in the Invensys, just keeping the ball in play will be challenging enough. These players, all of whom must have a handicap of 18 or better, will be aligned with the tour players for the tournament's first three days.

Tour star Steve Pate has some advice for the amateurs.

"The last thing I want to hear when playing with amateurs is somebody coming to the first tee and saying how great he's been playing and how well we're going to do," he said. "I'd rather have the guy say 'I'm playing terribly and I'm just going to go out and drink beer today.' "

Portions of the 90-hole Invensys will be televised daily from the TPC at Summerlin on ESPN, with Wednesday's telecast from noon to 2 p.m., Thursday's and Friday's telecasts from 1-3 p.m., and Saturday's and Sunday's telecasts from 2-4 p.m.

Daily gate passes are $20 and "season" badges are available for $50.

The leading 2000 money winner playing here is Phil Mickelson, whose $3.3 million trails only Tiger Woods' $8.2 million. Davis Love III and Kirk Triplett are other top-10 money winners who will tee it up this week.

Of the 252 professionals who have earned at least one check on the tour this year, the man nearest the bottom and with the most to gain this week is veteran Ed Fiori. He's No. 230 on the money list with $16,925.

Should he win next Sunday, Fiori would suddenly climb to $781,925 and find himself 50th on the money list. Sure, it's a dream, but with this much money at stake each of the 144 players competing in Las Vegas can afford a regal musing.