Las Vegas Golf Pros 2011 End of Season Report

Las Vegas has several golfers on the professional golf tours. The Champions, LPGA, PGA, and Nationwide Tours are well represented by individuals that played on the golf teams at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, or have taken up a residence here in the area. UNLV is heavily represented on the PGA Tour, specifically, and continues to showcase the strong, proud program that Coach Dwaine Knight has produced over the past 23 years.

With the Fall Series now concluded on the PGA Tour, the players with ties to Las Vegas finished up a successful season with several showings on the leaderboard throughout the season. Below is a review of the 2011 PGA season for our local golf pros. This season’s top performers were Nick Watney, who has a residence in the Las Vegas suburb to the southeast called Henderson, and Adam Scott, who played at UNLV (’98-’99) and showed improved and promising play following a change in caddy to his current one, Steve Williams. Williams formerly caddied for Tiger Woods.

The PGA rules state that the Top 125 on the Money List will receive an automatic exemption for the following year. In addition there are several other exemptions offered, however, making the Top 125 is the most direct way to playing on the Tour the following year. This year’s PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also referred to as Q-School, will be held November 30th – December 5th at PGA West, on the Nicklaus Tournament Course and the TPC Stadium Course in La Quinta, California.

Below is a review of the Las Vegas representatives on the various Tours for the 2011 golf season, including winners Adam Scott, Nick Watney, Kevin Na, and Scott Piercy. Na won this year’s Las Vegas PGA Tour event: the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open held at TPC Summerlin on the west side of the city. Congratulations to all of the Las Vegas area golfers on a strong season!

TOMMY ARMOUR III (Champions Tour)
Events Played: 22
Top 10 Finishes: 4
Best Finish: 2nd at the Insperity Championship (The Woodlands Country Club -Tournament Course, The Woodlands, Tx)
2011 Earnings: $590,392 (27th on the Champions Tour)
Scoring Average: 71.05 (35th on the Champions Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 95%

JIM COLBERT (Champions Tour)
Events Played: 3
Top 10 Finishes: 0
Best Finish: T-73rd at the Toshiba Classic (Newport Beach Country Club, Newport Beach, CA)
2011 Earnings: $2,812 (194th on the Champions Tour)
Scoring Average: 74.89
Percentage of Cuts Made: 100%

CRAIG BARLOW (PGA Tour & Nationwide Tour)
Events Played: 5
Top 10 Finishes: 0
Best Finish: T-25th at the Reno-Tahoe Open (Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, NV)
2011 Earnings: $49,688 (224th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 71.38 (146th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 80%

* Barlow also played 11 events on the Nationwide Tour and made the cut in 3 events, earning $16,958.

CHAD CAMPBELL (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 29
Top 10 Finishes: 1
Best Finish: T-5th at The Open Championship (Royal St. George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent)
2011 Earnings: $1,104,024 (59th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 70.27 (31st on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 72%

ANDRES GONZALES (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 21
Top 10 Finishes: 0
Best Finish: T-16th at the Children's Miracle Network Classic (Disney’s Magnolia and Palm Courses, Orlando, Fl)
2011 Earnings: $186,847 (192nd on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 71.63 (161st on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 43%

*Gonzales also participated in 5 events on the Nationwide Tour and made the cut in 2 events, including a 2nd place finish at the Soboba Golf Classic in San Jacinto, Ca. His earnings on the Nationwide Tour in 2011 totaled $67,925.

CHARLEY HOFFMAN (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 27
Top 10 Finishes: 2
Best Finish: T-2nd at the Valero Texas Open (AT&T Oaks Course, TPC San Antonio, Tx)
2011 Earnings: $1,462,591 (58th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 70.86 (122nd on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 74%

SKIP KENDALL (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 6
Top 10 Finishes: 0
Best Finish: T-70th (Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, Bay Hill Course, Orlando, Fl)
2011 Earnings: $11,940 (250th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 73.70 (186th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 17%

*Kendall also participated in 5 events on the Nationwide Tour, making the cut in 3 events, with 1 Top Ten finish. His earnings on the Nationwide Tour totaled $20,300.

BILL LUNDE (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 28
Top 10 Finishes: 0
Best Finish: T-12th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions (Kapalua Resort-Plantation Course, Maui, Hawaii)
2011 Earnings: $639,548 (130th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 71.05 (119th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 71%

RYAN MOORE (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 22
Top 10 Finishes: 4
Best Finish: T-2nd at the Travelers Championship (TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, CT)
2011 Earnings: $1,942,906 (42nd on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 70.34 (38th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 82%

Kevin Na (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 26
Top 10 Finishes: 6
Best Finish: WON the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada)
2011 Earnings: $2,336,965 (30th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 70.43 (44th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 58%

TED OH (Nationwide Tour)
Events Played: 5
Top 10 Finishes: 0
Best Finish: T-28th at the Mylan Classic (Southpointe Golf Club, Canonsburg, PA)
2011 Earnings: $6,185 (203rd on the Nationwide Tour)
Scoring Average: 70.36
Percentage of Cuts Made: 40%

SCOTT PIERCY (PGA Tour & Nationwide Tour)
Events Played: 23
Top 10 Finishes: 3
Best Finish: WON at the Reno-Tahoe Open (Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, NV)
2011 Earnings: $1,250,957 (75th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 70.79 (83rd on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 70%

*Piercy also participated in 3 Nationwide Tour events, failing to make the cut in all of them in 2011.

CHRIS RILEY (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 25
Top 10 Finishes: 1
Best Finish: T-9th at the Sony Open in Hawaii (Waialae Country Club, Course One, Hawaii)
2011 Earnings: $397,204 (154th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 71.14 (128th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 52%

*Riley also played 1 event on the Nationwide Tour but failed to make the cut. Of note, Riley was tied for the 1st round lead at The Memorial Tournament (6-under, 66) before falling to a tie for 30th.

ADAM SCOTT (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 18
Top 10 Finishes: 7
Best Finish: WON at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
2011 Earnings: $3,764,797 (11th on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 69.87 (14th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 78%

*For more on Adam Scott’s victory, go to http://vegasgolftoday.com/info/adam-scott-wins

NICK WATNEY (PGA Tour)
Events Played: 22
Top 10 Finishes: 10
Best Finish: WON at the WGC Cadillac Championship (Doral Golf Resort, Doral, Fl)
WON at the AT&T National (Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Maryland)
2011 Earnings: $5,290,673 (3rd on the PGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 69.52 (5th on the PGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 86%

*Watney will also be participating in the 2011 President’s Cup on November 14-20th in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

NATALIE GULBIS (LPGA Tour)
Events Played: 19
Top 10 Finishes: 0
Best Finish: T-15th at the LPGA State Farm Classic (Panther Creek Country Club, Springfield, Illinois)
2011 Earnings: $175,595 (49th on the LPGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 73.48 (63rd on the LPGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 79%

AMY HUNG (LPGA Tour)

Events Played: 21
Top 10 Finishes: 1
Best Finish: T-5th at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G (Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Arkansas)
2011 Earnings: $222,016 (42nd on the LPGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 73.79 (81st on the LPGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 76%

INBEE PARK (LPGA Tour)
Events Played: 16
Top 10 Finishes: 3
Best Finish: T-6th at the US Women’s Open (The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado)
2011 Earnings: $365,231 (29th on the LPGA Tour)
Scoring Average: 73.25 (49th on the LPGA Tour)
Percentage of Cuts Made: 94%

http://www.vegasgolftoday.com congratulates all of our UNLV alums, residents, and Las Vegans for representing our city well and making for an excellent 2011 golf season!