Las Vegas, Nevada (August 7, 2010 UPDATE 8/8)–Golfers with strong ties to Las Vegas golf courses are continually on the leaderboards of the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, and LPGA Tour, and with former Las Vegas resident Tommy Armour III now playing a bunch on the Champions Tour, Las Vegas is being represented out there plenty. Armour III, who grew up on the fairways of the old Desert Inn Las Vegas golf course, fired a 63 in the first round of the 3M Championship. Armour III is known for his ability to go very low, evidenced by a 60 he once shot in the 1999 Las Vegas Invitational on the PGA Tour. Armour III went the wrong way on Saturday with a 71 and was in a tie for 8th heading into the final round..–By Brian Hurlburt.
Armour III collected two wins during his more-than-two decade career on the PGA Tour, including the 2003 Valero Texas Open when he also broke Mark Calcavecchia's all-time PGA Tour scoring total record. Armour III also won the 1990 Phoenix Open. Earlier this year, Armour III fired an 11-under par 61 in the ACE Group Classic on the Champions Tour. It wasn't good enough to beat Fred Couples, who ended up winning. In 2008, Armour III was inducted into the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame. He played junior golf and high school golf on Las Vegas golf courses before attending the University of New Mexico where he played for current UNLV Head Coach Dwaine Knight.
We mention this a lot here at GolfLasVegasNow.com, but not only is the Las Vegas Golf Region the home to many tour pros with strong ties to Las Vegas golf courses, but the area is an Ultimate Golf Destination with more than 50 golf courses to choose from for your tee times in Las Vegas. One of those golf courses is Wolf Creek Golf Club which is located in Mesquite, Nevada, a small golfing town about 77 miles north of Las Vegas. Click now to view the official website of Wolf Creek where you can connect directly to the course management for Las Vegas Golf Region tee times and golf packages.
On the PGA Tour, Alex Cejka, a current Las Vegas resident, had the lead after two rounds of the Turning Stone Resort Championship. There were several other Las Vegas golfers in the top 15 entering the weekend. Armour III was trailed at the 3M, coincidentally, by Calcavecchia. Calc was at 8-under par. Armour III one-putted for seven of his birdies, and currently ranks 10th on the Champions Tour in putting. His 63 was one off the tournament record of 62 fired by Dana Quigley in 2008. The tournament is being played at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota.
Armour III is in his first year on the Champions Tour and has three runner-ups in his first 12 events. He has been close but great scores have beaten him. But he wasn't looking back, only forward, as he entered the weekend. "I can’t do anything about those," Armour told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "You look at the scores that are winning tournaments out here – those are pretty good scores . Any day is a good day to shoot 63." Armour III ranks 11th on the Champions Tour in birdie average with 4.05 per round through this point in the season.