April 16, 2007–Kudos to The News weekly golf columnist Jeff Jensen for being the first Las Vegas golf media person to recognize former UNLV Rebel golfer Skip Kendall on winning the Nationwide Tour's Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by Dynamic Industries. The win broke a streak of 384 PGA Tour-sanctioned events without a win for Kendall, who has enjoyed a long career on the PGA Tour, but has never won a PGA Tour event but did win two events in 1994 on what was then the Nike Tour (now the Nationwide). "It has been a long time," Kendall told PGATour.com.
"My eight-year-old son (Noah) has been walking by the trophy case for a long time, wondering if the things in there were fake or if I bought them somewhere. I promised to bring home a big one one day. So this sure feels good." Kendall played golf at UNLV before current head coach Dwaine Knight took over, and when the sport wasn't much more than a club sport, not the national power that it is today.
Kendall has won more than $7.6 million on the PGA Tour, but has never finished better than runner-up in his seasons on the big tour. Four times he has been a runner up, and three of those times he has lost in a playoff, including at the 2004 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic when he lost to Phil Mickelson on the first playoff hole. His best finish on the PGA Tour this year was a tie for 9th at the Mayakoba Classic. Through his first four events on the 2007 PGA Tour, he had earned more than $125,000.
When Kendall played at UNLV in the early 1980's, there were about 40 less golf courses, but these days Las Vegas is home to some of the best golf courses in the world.
Las Vegas golf information and official websites
Official PGATour.com story about Kendall's victory
One of the legendary stories about Kendall is how he would hit golf balls in an open field in Florida in between waiter shifts while still in his work uniform. Kendall hails from Wisconsin, but bounced around the mini-tours before qualifying for the PGA Tour.