Columnist Adam Candee: Big-money events add green to local scenery

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005 | 9:04 a.m.

Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

So hustling $2 Nassaus from the regulars has become horribly trite and the top just won't fit over that $80,000 pile of cash in the shoebox under the bed, huh?

Yeah, we've all been there. Thanks to some enterprising folks bringing some serious action through Southern Nevada this spring, the hassle of it all is almost over.

The Las Vegas Shootout hits Bali Hai and Royal Links in early May with a $3 million purse and a $1 million winner's share for the amateur who can survive a grueling match play setup in a field of 128 players.

If you're the trusting type who's willing to put your potential fortune on someone else's putter, the Big Stakes Match Play arrives the following week at CasaBlanca in Mesquite, offering 128 two-person amateur teams a crack at a record $9.75 million purse and a $3 million winning share.

It's the ultimate in pay to play, with the Shootout requiring a $30,000 entry fee and the Big Stakes demanding $50,000 per player ($100,000 per team). No pros allowed and no handicaps in either event.

We'll provide more details as the tournaments (which are unaffiliated) get closer, but if you feel ready to put in your chips, information on how to enter the events can be found at lasvegasshootout.com and bigstakesgolf.com.

I have immense respect for Michelle Wie and her father, B.J., charting their own course for the 15-year-old superstar's future. She wants to play in the Masters, attend college and generally break down barriers and turn heads.

Already guilty as charged on the third count, Wie again held her own against the men of the PGA tour at the Sony Open last week, finishing seven shots off the cut. That's a bit farther away than when she missed the weekend by a single shot in the same event last year. Rolls off the tongue at this point, no?

We have grown almost jaded to the notion of how well this girl consistently competes against a field of men that some lifelong pros never so much as crack once. She's 15, for flip's sake. She drives a golf ball farther than I'd driven a car at her age.

Wie's already proven that she can capture our attention any time she tees it up. That may soon be true of 18-year-old Paula Creamer as well, but for now, Wie shares that distinction with only Tiger Woods in today's golf world.

The talent, the poise, the marketing potential and especially the early start -- Wie is the LeBron James to Woods' Michael Jordan, at least in her own locker room. She can become easily the most recognizable female athlete in the world.

So while there is still a strong argument to be made that Wie needs to strike while her irons are hot to take full advantage of her opportunities, it's hard to have anything but admiration for her goals and her steady approach to a limitless future that must be hard to constantly keep at arm's length.

It's tough to imagine Curt Schilling sitting down after winning Boston's season opener at Yankee Stadium and saying, "Wow, thank heavens we got that one. I was worried that we might lose the magic after winning the World Series last year."

Golfers run a bit more neurotic, though, especially Vijay Singh. You may have heard of this Singh guy, who earned more than $10 million and won nine tournaments in 2004, including the PGA Championship.

Proof positive of his arrival as the world's best player, right? Not so much in his own head, as evidenced by his unnecessarily concerned comments after winning last week's Sony Open in Honolulu:

"This takes a lot of pressure off me," Singh said. "If I had not won one, like I let one go last week, I would be tensing up as the weeks go by. But this is a load off my back. I can go relax and play. I think it's going to be a great year."

"Let one go" means finishing third at the Mercedes Championships in Maui. Slacker. It's gonna be OK, Vijay. Deep breaths, pal, deep breaths.

Sure, we are watching with keen eyes to see if Singh can repeat last year's success. That judgment is not likely to be made in the middle of January, however, and I hope the guy really does take his own advice and relax a little.