Las Vegas, Nevada (May 7, 2010)–Tommy Armour III, who grew up playing Las Vegas golf courses, has found a fountain of youth on the Champions Tour. Armour, who turned 50 last October, is sixth in the Charles Schwab Cup points this season with four top 10s in six starts. And all of this new success comes following back surgery last summer.–By Bill Bowman
Armour is one of more than two dozen PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour golfers with deep Las Vegas ties to the more than 50 Las Vegas area golf courses. Those courses include Coyote Springs, about an hour north of Las Vegas. The Jack Nicklaus design opened in May 2008 and the par-72 course reaches 7,471 yards from the tips. Eleven lakes come into play along the way as the course winds beautifully through desert terrain.
Throughout his PGA Tour career Armour has been consistent, making 314 of 614 cuts. He won PGA Tour events in 1990 (Phoenix Open) and 2003 (at the Texas Valero Open where he set the PGA Tour’s all-time scoring record of 254). He also shot a 60 during the 1999 Las Vegas Invitational at the Las Vegas Country Club. Along the way to that 60, Armour also missed a 2 1/2-foot putt on 14 during the record round. He is the only player over 40 to shoot a 60 on a par-72 course.
All of that success that translates into almost $10 million in career earnings. Now he’s making a name for himself on the Champions Tour. Armour is coming off a second place finish at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic. He knows it’s an event he could have won and he’s still looking for that breakthrough victory. “You know, I just gave away too many shots to the field,” he said after the tournament. “I had three three-putts durin the week and I had four penalty shots. So, you know, it’s giving a lot of shots away to the field. You can’t do that on any tour.” He’s made more than $400,000 in the first third of the season.