Larger purse draws top-notch field to LV

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

The lure of winning large sums of money at casinos all over Las Vegas gets 'em every time.

Each week, thousands of tourists, and even locals, pour into their favorite haunts to gamble in hopes of going home with much more than what they started with.

Starting Wednesday, 144 men will be in town playing for a total of $4.25 million.

But they won't be playing poker or blackjack. They'll be playing golf.

The Invensys Classic, formerly the Las Vegas Invitational, will be held Wednesday-Sunday at the Desert Inn, TPC Summerlin and Southern Highlands.

The tournament didn't just get a new name and sponsor, it got a big boost in prize money as well. The purse has increased from $2.5 million last year to $4.25 million, making it one of the richest events on the tour.

"A lot of people are real excited by the prize money," PGA Tour professional Joe Ogilvie said. "That always helps when you increase it by $1.7 million.

"It has certainly piqued the interest of the best players in the world to come to Las Vegas. I heard Phil Mickelson was thinking about not playing, but I think the money changed his mind.

"I know a lot of guys that were thinking of taking weeks off that are playing in Las Vegas. How can you afford not to come?"

In addition to Jim Furyk, who will be gunning for his third straight title here and fourth overall, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III, Hal Sutton and Rory Sabbatini are others entered in the next-to-last regular season stop on the tour.

Tournament manager Charlie Baron said the purse, with $765,000 going to the champion, was increased to attract more of the top players and to elevate the stature of the event.

"When you have an event with a larger purse, you get more exposure all over the world," Baron said. "The name recognition, because of the large amount of money involved, it puts you in the category of one of the leading events of the world.

"It is a hope that the money entices more professionals to enter."

As of press time, 17 of the top 30 players on the money list have committed to play.

Canadian Mike Weir will be making his third appearance at the Invensys Classic. Weir, 37th on the money list with $1,027,039, played at BYU and is looking forward to returning to Las Vegas.

"I like playing the West Coast golf," he said. "A lot of our tournaments are on the East Coast so to get back and play in the West is one benefit for me.

"Plus, the purse being bigger. I enjoy playing the pro-am format. It's something different; more laid-back. I find it fun."

Southern Highlands was added to the rotation of courses when Las Vegas Country Club declined to be a part of the tournament.

Ogilvie, who shot a tournament-low round 63 at TPC Summerlin last year, said the weather will have a big effect on the scores.

He remembers vividly the small earthquake that shook his hotel room one night and the gusts of wind that upped nearly everyone's scores on Saturday last year.

"I was on the 16th or 17th floor of the Rio and man, I thought the whole thing was going to cave in," Ogilvie said of the earthquake.

"Vegas is always open. Furyk always plays well there very year. The courses are scoreable. But it's open for anybody. It really depends on the wind. We had the earthquake and 50-mph winds. That day I didn't really play well."

One player who won't be playing in the Invensys Classic is Tiger Woods. Though Woods won his first PGA Tour tournament here in 1996, he hasn't been back.

"I think Tiger's schedule ... unfortunately this year, following us is the President's Cup, which he has already committed to, then he has to defend titles at Disney, the Tour Championship and the World Championships in Spain," Baron said.

"Then he is playing overseas after that so that is a lot of golf for anybody to play.

"Tiger has enjoyed success here and hopefully he will come back next year."