Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | 10:50 a.m.
Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at [email protected].
It's either 16,666 pulls on the Megabucks slot machine or the entry fee for some high-end golf competition.
Either way a person chooses to spend $50,000 amounts to big-time gambling, but at least the competitors in next week's Big Stakes Match Play can feel as though they have some control over making their investment grow in a major hurry.
The two-man team that wins this new competition at Casablanca Resort in Mesquite will carry off $3 million. That means it will take six victories in the 64-team event for some amateur or semi-professional tandem to make good on the 30-to-1 odds.
(For what it's worth, Megabucks hit for more than $13.6 million in November, but my golf game dictates that continuous $3 plunks into a one-armed bandit are my better bet for quick bucks.)
The brainchild of former NFL quarterback Steve Bartkowski and his agent, Jim Thomas, Big Stakes runs from May 11-16, with the finals of the tournament being played on a Monday. People would play in a blizzard on Christmas for this kind of coin, of course, so the day is an immaterial, thinkin'-out-loud point.
The tournament field is made up entirely of players at least 25 years old who are not professionals, or at least haven't been for a while. The rules mandate that no participant can have held an exemption on any major professional tour -- from the PGA tour to the Australasian circuit -- in the past three years. The matches will be a classic four-ball format with pairings determined by blind draw each day.
Not every player is forking over $50,000 out of his shoebox, however, as many drummed up support in syndicate form, piecing together money from different sources to get into the tournament. It's not exactly winner-take-all either, as the Sweet 16 of the winners' bracket and the finalists of the consolation bracket will earn back their entry fees. Any team advancing beyond the final 16 starts to make some money -- a player in the final eight earns $50,000, a trip to the final four nets $150,000 and a finalist is guaranteed no less than $287,500.
First-round losers get sympathy and hopefully a hug. And a beer. They'll probably need both.
Beyond the coin is a chance at some exposure, as The Golf Channel is filming for a series of tape-delayed broadcasts of Big Stakes over Memorial Day weekend. There's bound to be less fur flying in this one than in TGC's most recent reality TV foray, "Big Break III: Ladies Only," which at times appeared to be sponsored by Whiskas.
The total purse is $6.4 million, scaled back from the original number of $9.75 million. The tournament once planned to accommodate 128 teams.
The Rebels could not erase an 11-stroke deficit on the third and final day of the tournament, though their tournament-low round of 10-under 278 pulled them within three shots of champion New Mexico to finish second. A poor first round of 6-over 294 buried UNLV in too deep of a hole to win its second consecutive event.
"I wish we hadn't had it, but we did," UNLV coach Dwaine Knight said of the first round. "One thing we were kind of worried about was the two-week layoff and not having played competitively. I thought we came out a little rusty."
Senior Ryan Moore rallied from an opening round of 2-over 74 to tie for third at 3-under. He unsurprisingly claimed the MWC player of the year award for the second consecutive season. Newcomer Jarred Texter, who tied for ninth at 2-over, earned conference freshman of the year honors. Senior Travis Whisman, who tied for 12th at 3-over, was named to the all-conference team along with Moore.
The Rebels now await their assignment for NCAA regional play, slated to begin May 19. UNLV is all but a lock for a top seed, most likely in the West regional to be played in Stanford, Calif.
Charity events
The entry fee is $125 per person, and entries are taken in two-person teams. There is a $10,000 prize for a hole in one at No. 12, as well as something known as the Horse's, um, Rear End (we're substituting a bit) Award. More information is available from tournament chairman Gordon John Hill at 450-8701.
More information can be obtained from Janae Melvin at 632-8242.
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