June 1, 2008–The World Series of Poker is underway in Las Vegas at the Rio. The Rio is the home hotel of the Rees Jones-designed Rio Secco Golf Club, a Las Vegas golf course that is the official site of the Butch Harmon School of Golf. Thousands of poker players are vying for the millions and millions of dollars that are on the line in the many different events that are being played over the next month or so. Many of the poker pros are also golfers, and because of that, Las Vegas' dealership of Southwest Putting Greens has installed a practice putting green in the VIP area of the World Series of Poker. Southwest owner Randy Kleiner says the green was a big hit last year and organizers asked for a larger one this year. And, Kleiner says, he is in the final construction stages of a 3,000-foot Nicklaus Design green at the home of Daniel Negreanu, one of the poker world's biggest stars.
Southwest Putting Greens is the world's leader in synthetic putting surfaces and recently established a partnership with Jack Nicklaus to offer official designed putting greens by the Nicklaus Design Group. A Southwest Nicklaus green is official designed by the Nicklaus team, and then the local Southwest Putting Greens dealer installs it to those exact specifications.
Pro golfers such as Vijay Singh, Hale Irwin and many others practice on Southwest Putting Greens. Click here to read pro testimonials about the quality of Southwest Putting Greens
The putting green at the World Series of Poker is in the VIP section of the Rio, where players unwinde before, during and after the poker competitions.