Drivers won’t be decisive in LVI

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2003 | 10:09 a.m.

Tiger Woods caused a sizable stir earlier this season by suggesting he knew of at least one player using an illegal "hot" driver and saying that more must be done to protect the integrity of the game of golf.

For one week, the striped one can relax on his mission, as Woods will not play in the Las Vegas Invitational, which teed off earlier this morning at TPC at Summerlin, TPC at the Canyons, and Southern Highlands. As for integrity, the Invitational's three tracks will attempt to hide their usual birdie bouquets to keep scores respectable over the 90-hole tournament.

"You've got to make a lot of birdies," Tour veteran Jeff Sluman said. "That's all you can think about when you come here."

All three courses hold a number of opportunities for the pros to redden the scoreboard, as they light up the smiles of their pro-am partners over the first three days of the event. Yet the benefits offered by the courses are not simply bomber's delights that reward the longest hitters with the newest technology.

Instead, the courses befit the tournament's host city because they all test a golfer's ability to take calculated gambles, balancing wide-open fairways with some treacherous hazards and out-of-bounds areas. Those who know when to take those risks post the LVI's traditionally low scores.

With three Invitational wins under his belt, Jim Furyk -- the Tour's 144th-ranked driver at 280.4 yards in 2003 -- is proof that shots, not bullets, win in Las Vegas.

"On the TPC Canyons and Southern Highlands, you have to be careful because you can slip up on those golf courses and make a big number," said Furyk, the U.S. Open champion. "It has added a little bit of a new dimension to the tournament."

None of the courses are exceptionally long. In fact, all measure within 100 yards or closer to the year's longest major - 7,290 yards in the Masters at Augusta National. Even in the rare spots where a player can truly blast off -- such as healthy par-5s of 612 and 606 yards at Southern Highlands and 604 yards at TPC at Summerlin -- Sluman said that the best tools are only truly effective in the hands of an expert craftsman.

"There's always an advantage to distance if you hit it straight," Sluman said.

The oldest of the three courses is TPC at Sumerlin, which opened in 1991. TPC at the Canyons (1996) and Southern Highlands (2000) are still in their infancy. All three courses opened within an age of more highly developed golf technology.

Young phenom Ty Tryon, a product of the Woods generation of bombers who grew up with the latest in thin-face driver technology, was just 7 when TPC at Summerlin opened. Tryon, 19, finds the Invitational courses to be generous and highly forgiving off the fairways to those willing to take some chances.

"The rough's not as thick and the fairway is a little wider in some places," Tryon said. "That's the way it is with amateurs."

The truth is that the courses cannot be significantly toughened to lower scores because they must be playable to the corporate types bellying up to the tee at $7,500 a pop for three days of pro-am play. Early rounds can already take six hours or more to complete and it would be nearly impossible to finish play with rough that could swallow small children.

"If we had daylight, we could toughen the course," said Invitational tournament manager Charlie Baron. "If this was a different type of event, we could bring the rough in and let it go a little bit."

Furyk agrees, noting that the slow pace of play at the Invitational already strains the pros.

"If there is any wind or difficulty in weather added, those golf courses are very difficult on the amateurs," Furyk said.

Most pros concur that with so many scoring opportunities available to those who know when to take them, this tournament will come down to putting. Sluman said the pros expect it to be this way in Las Vegas, where a reputation for low scores built on open par-4s and reachable par-5s precedes the tournament.

"The fairways are relatively generous," said Sluman, ranked 136th on Tour in driving distance at 281 yards. "That's how it should be. They're resort courses, members-type courses."

Said Furyk: "There are a few places where you have to drive the ball pretty well. For the most part, you can afford to be a little crooked in spots."

There are few spots where a hot driver would give someone such an advantage reaching a long hole that the importance of the putter could be downplayed.

Sluman notes that strong gusts could help bring down scores, but they rarely affect the Invitational.

"If you've got soft greens, the only thing that's going to protect the golf course is wind," Sluman said.

The tournament runs through Sunday, when it will likely take a heady round in the low 60s to walk away with the $720,000 winner's share.