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 May 10, 2008--Currently there are about two dozen golfers that play on the LPGA Tour and PGA Tour who either live in Las Vegas or have strong ties to Las Vegas golf courses . That number grows when you count those beating around the mini tours. Now that list could increase by at least one more as Las Vegas Review-Journal celebrity reporter NORM! reports that Tiger Woods is looking at a home in The Ridges in Las Vegas, a posh area in Summerlin, an area that features several Las Vegas golf courses. The home is said to the jewel of this year's Parade of Homes and measures more than 17,000 square feet. Tiger has a long history with Las Vegas so it would be no surprise if he had an official home here. "I've always loved Las Vegas and I've always felt good vibes there," Woods told VegasGolfer Magazine writer Roger Graves recently. "I have some great memories of Vegas--on and off the golf course. A lot of people that I respect and who have helped my career live in Las Vegas, so it's always nice to go back. I have some very strong ties to Vegas."
One of Woods' earliest Vegas visits came in the early nineties when he competed in an American Junior Golf Association event at the Legacy Golf Club. Amazingly, Woods didn't win, but legend has it that he hit a ball into the water off the par 5, 17th tee, a shot that would have had to travel about 350 yards. Not bad for a teenager. Woods came within minutes of becoming a UNLV golfer, but made a last-second decision to attend Stanford. The story has it that Woods wanted UNLV and its home course at the time, Shadow Creek, but Earl Woods, Tiger's Dad, convinced him to head to Stanford. Former Rebel and current PGA Tour player Chris Riley, a good friend of Tiger, was convinced that Tiger was coming to UNLV as late as a day before the official announcement. Woods then took the golf world by storm in October of 1996 when he won the PGA Tour's Las Vegas Invitational, an event that was played at three Las Vegas golf courses: Las Vegas Hilton Country Club (now Las Vegas National), Desert Inn (now Wynn Las Vegas) and TPC Summerlin (still TPC Summerlin!). Woods defeated Davis Love III in a playoff and Love was quick to say that day that Woods was "going to be the guy to beat on the PGA Tour for a long time." Woods used a sponsor exemption from the Las Vegas Founders to become eligible for the event. Click here, NOW, to get more Las Vegas Golf News and Deals direct to your Inbox once a week!  Woods also worked with instructor Butch Harmon for many years. Harmon operates the Harmon School of Golf at Las Vegas' Rio Secco Golf Club.
And Woods continues to see Las Vegas physical therapist Keith Kleven, who says Tiger is a very powerful athlete. "Pound for pound, he's as good as anyone," Kleven says. "In overall balance and structure, he exceeds all world-class athletes that I have worked with." These days, Tiger still spends a lot of time in Vegas, especially in the spring when he hosts Tiger Jam, an event that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. This year, Van Halen headlined and special events took place at Las Vegas' Cascata golf course. About $1.5 million was raised. And Woods' cherry on his Las Vegas sundae is the course-record 60 he fired at Shadow Creek, a golf course that some call the best in the world. So, the natural progression would be for Tiger to actually dwell here in the desert and join a list of Las Vegas golfers with Tour ties that includes Adam Scott, Chris Riley, Charley Hoffman, Ryan Moore, Craig Barlow, Nick Watney, Natalie Gulbis, Stephanie Louden and many more. One thing will be for sure if Tiger does get added to this list: the mythical "Best Las Vegas Golfer" competition will get that much tougher.
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