Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002 | 8:59 a.m.
Don't let his ever-present grin fool you.
While PGA Tour professional Chris Riley is one of the nicest and most humble athletes on tour, he's no pushover.
Especially when it comes to golf.
"People always see Chris as carefree, laughing all the time," said older brother Kevin Riley. "But he's really intense."
The $5 million Invensys Classic is one tournament victory the Las Vegan covets the most.
Riley, a four-time UNLV All-American, has played all tournament courses and lives just off the driving range at the TPC at Summerlin, the host course.
In August, he earned his first PGA win at the Reno-Tahoe Open.
His eyes sparkled and smile widened when talking about winning the tournament that has stumped him over the years.
"That would be almost storybook," Riley said. "It's possible, but I mean, to win two times in your home state, that would be storybook."
Riley isn't the only player with local ties hoping to collect the $910,000 first prize.
Las Vegans Jeremy Anderson, Ed Fryatt, Bill Harvey, Bob May and John Riegger and Henderson resident Craig Barlow want to win as badly as Riley does. So do former UNLV golfers Chad Campbell and Skip Kendall and Bishop Gorman graduate Tommy Armour III.
Hip and shoulder surgery kept Barlow off the links for six months. He made his return at the Honda Classic in March, then withdrew.
After missing the next four cuts, Barlow regrouped and made the cut eight of the last 13 tournaments he entered. The highlight of his year was a tie for third at the Air Canada Championship.
For Barlow, a good showing here would help him retain his PGA Tour card for next season. Players finishing in the top 125 on the tour's official money list have fully exempt status on tour next year.
Barlow has earned $486,288 in 18 events, placing him 122th.
"It's very important," he said of the Invensys Classic. "I've played pretty well the last six weeks and I have some confidence, which is nice.
"But I don't take that for granted because anything can happen in this game. I don't want to go into this tournament expecting to play well just because I have."
Barlow will play two more tournaments after this one in hopes of earning enough money to secure his card. If he doesn't, he'll get to play in eight tournaments next year under a medical exemption.
"I would prefer to take care of my business now," Barlow said. "I'm in good shape."
Born in Henderson, Barlow has missed the cut two of the three times he has played the Invensys Classic. He tied for 19th in 1999.
Barlow has taken the last two weeks off to get mentally and physically prepared.
"I won't say I treat it that much different, but it definitely is a special spot for me," he said. "I feel like when I play here, it's a little more personal, it kind of loses the feeling of just playing for my career to make money in that I enjoy playing in a tournament I grew up watching."
Like Barlow, Riley has struggled at his hometown tournament, missing the cut two of the four times he's entered. His best finish was a tie for seventh last year.
"I really haven't played well here," Riley said. "Last year I had a great week."
Riley says he doesn't know why he has struggled in Las Vegas.
"A little bit of it is when you're in college and you shoot 69, that's a good score out here. Then when you come out here with the PGA guys and shoot 69, you're going to get booted. It's just getting used to shooting low scores."
Kevin Riley will be Chris' caddie for the second consecutive year. His job will be to give Chris positive feedback and let his brother do the rest.
And with 10 locals eager to contend, a hometown winner may not be such a foreign idea after all.
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