October 10, 2009–Now is the time to get out and watch some of the very best golfers in the world who will be descending on Las Vegas October 14-18 at Las Vegas golf course TPC Summerlin for the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Kicking things off will be a celebrity pro-am on Wednesday, but then when the official PGA Tour event begins several big-name PGA Tour stars are scheduled to be in Las Vegas including Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup player Anthony Kim. Kim joins other top names such as Jim Furyk, Hunter Mahan, Davis Love III, and David Toms, plus a ton of players with strong ties to Las Vegas' golf courses That Las Vegas list includes three-time Ryder Cup player and former UNLV All-American Chad Campbell.
The Las Vegas golfers with strong ties to Las Vegas golf courses currently in the field include residents Craig Barlow, Alex Cejka, Charley Hoffman, Bill Lunde, Scott Piercy, Nick Watney, Wes Weston and Dean Wilson. Former Rebels not currently living full-time in Las Vegas but in the field beside Campbell are Ryan Moore and Chris Riley, and former Las Vegas resident Tommy Armour III, who turned 50 this week, is also playing in Las Vegas. Weston is a local PGA of America professional that plays out of Lake Las Vegas Resort.
Not only are there about 30 PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, and Nationwide Tour pro golfers who have strong ties to Las Vegas golf courses, but the Las Vegas Golf Region is home to about 60 golf courses including TPC Las Vegas, where many of the Las Vegas pro golfers play and practice. TPC Las Vegas is owned and operated by the PGA Tour and is the home of pro golf in Las Vegas. The course has hosted events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour. TPC Las Vegas is a Las Vegas resort golf courses and is open to all Las Vegas golfers. Click now to reserve your Las Vegas golf tee times at TPC Las Vegas.
Kim, who is buddies with Timberlake and caddied for him during the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge, earned nearly $2 million this year on the PGA Tour and finished 35th on the FedEx Cup standings. He is considered one of the top young players on the PGA Tour and won two events in 2008. Through the first two days of the Presidents Cup, being played at Harding Park in Northern California, he was 1-1 in his matches. He teamed with Phil Mickelson to win defeat Mike Weir and Tim Clark, and then lost a match to Ernie Els and Weir when he was paired with Furyk. Kim credited Mickelson for leading his team to the first win. "It was a good match," Kim told PGATour.com. "Phil obviously played great. I was a little heavy on the front nine but he picked me up and fortunately I had some opportunities to perform on the last couple of holes and we really hung in there."
Justin Timberlake is in his second year of hosting Las Vegas' PGA Tour event, and will be the star of the Wednesday pro-am that is also scheduled to feature Kenny G, Natalie Gulbis, poker stars Daniel Negreanu and Phil Helmuth, plus Smokey Robinson, among others. The event is open to the public. Click to JTShrinersOpen.com for all ticket or other information about all of the events. There are also several other fan-friendly events taking place at the tournament including the weeklong fun at the Hill, a large, VIP tent area that will feature televisions, food, beverages and more. Timberlake is also headlining a concert on Saturday featuring Snoop Dogg, Taylor Swift, TLC and others.