Woman lends hand to LVI

Adam Candee

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 | 9:27 a.m.

More than a year of concern about the future of Las Vegas' PGA Tour stop will end today with the announcement that at least three years of sponsorship are in place to keep the tournament alive.

Gary Frey, president of the Las Vegas Founders, said today that a one-year agreement is signed with the Tour to continue the event and that a woman who considers Las Vegas to be "her second home" has agreed to provide financial backing to the tournament this year. She will continue to underwrite the tournament in the next two years if the Founders do not locate a title sponsor in that time.

Frey said conversations began with the unnamed woman right after the 2003 event and that the woman's late husband had taken part in the pro-am in past years. A news conference was scheduled for today to announce more details.

Frey said the contract signed with the Tour will keep the 90-hole, pro-am format of the tournament, which is likely to retain the Las Vegas Invitational name. It will remain on the second weekend in October. TPC Summerlin remains the home course of the three involved and Frey said that the other two courses are still to be determined.

"Per the contract, the format is the exact same format we've played pretty much for the last 21 years," Frey said.

Tournament director Charlie Baron is excited that marketing and promotional efforts for the event can now get under way in force.

"Something good is going to happen," Baron said today.

Duke Butler, the Tour's vice president for tournament business affairs, traveled to Las Vegas for the meetings and news conference, and today's conference was slated to include a long presentation and interviews.

"This was a result of a huge effort with the PGA Tour that they've come back and helped us," Frey said.

Baron said after last year's event that the tournament would not be able to continue unless a title sponsor or combination of sponsors could be located. When the PGA Tour announced its schedule in December, the second weekend in October that is usually reserved for Las Vegas was listed as "TBD." As of today, the Tour's web site shows no event for that weekend.

Invensys pulled out as the event's title sponsor after the 2002 event, ending a three-year commitment as the primary backer of the tournament. That left the Founders to come up with the $4 million purse for the 2003 tournament, something they said they could not do again. Amateurs paid a $7,500 entry fee to play with the pros for the first three days of the five-day event.

A number of factors have hampered the Founders' ability to secure sponsorship. The mid-October date comes well after golf's four majors and it competes against college and pro football, in addition to the baseball playoffs, for sports attention. The tedious five-round, pro-am format frustrates some Tour golfers, most notably Tiger Woods. The world's most recognizable athlete has not played the tournament in recent years. The tournament does not have a good track record of attendance as well.

Frey noted the huge crowds at last weekend's local NASCAR race as evidence that a large sproting event can be successful in Las Vegas and he hopes that the community will come out to support one of the city's longest running events.