Columnist Victoria Sun: Windy course added to rotation

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

Victoria Sun's golf column appears Wednesday. Reach her at 259-4078 or victoria@lasvegassun.com

When the Las Vegas Senior PGA Tour stop was played at the TPC at the Canyons in 1997, players blew a gasket.

Continuous gusts of wind made the conditions on the par-71, 7,063-yard course extremely difficult and players were very vocal about it afterward.

The dissatisfaction the senior players had with the course did not deter the Las Vegas Founders Club from adding the TPC at the Canyons to the rotation of the $4.5 million Invensys Classic that will be played Oct. 10-14.

But this time, tournament manager Charlie Baron is certain the PGA Tour professionals won't have nearly as many problems as the seniors did four years ago.

"They made some changes from when we played up there on the senior tour," Baron said. "They adapted some of the greens, built new tees on three or four holes to give more length where needed and took out some of the false fronts on a few holes.

"That should help tremendously."

The biggest help may be the different dates the two tournaments are played. Because the Invensys Classic is played in the fall instead of the spring when the Las Vegas Senior Classic is held, it should be much less windy.

The TPC at Summerlin will be the host course of the tournament while the TPC at the Canyons and Southern Highlands will be the other two courses played. The TPC will replace the Desert Inn Golf Club because the Desert Inn resort was sold and new owner Steve Wynn plans on tearing down the course. The D.I. is still booking tee times through the end of September.

Baron said the TPC at the Canyons was selected at the suggestion of the PGA Tour.

Local pros Craig Barlow, Eddie Fryatt, Charley Hoffman and Ernie Gonzalez played the TPC at the Canyons in Novemeber and December to see if the renovations had helped. Las Vegas PGA Tour professionals Bob May and Robert Gamez as well as former UNLV All-American Chris Riley also gave the Founders Club feedback on the improvements.

"We had the pros play with amateurs (like they will in the tournament)," Baron said. "We got a good feeling that the course would work."

That is not to say it will be a permanent solution.

Except for the host course, the other two can be changed on a yearly basis.

"What we're trying to establish is one of the premier college events. When you look at the golf world, you look at four majors, three of those four always move around," Baron said. "In college golf, you're faced with the same thing.

"We'd like to have Las Vegas become the home of or equivalent of the Masters of college golf."

Two years ago, the event was featured in a one-hour highlight show on ESPN, but lost its television coverage after Golf Digest renounced its sponsorship last year.

Because Callaway has signed a two-year contract, Baron is hopeful the tournament may be back on TV in the future.

If the event is a success, future considerations include having PGA alumni from different golf powerhouses such as UNLV, Wake Forest and Ohio State compete against each other to benefit their respective universities.

"We're just talking about this now," Baron said. "We're still two years or three years away if not more from getting this together.'