Las Vegas, Nevada (September 5, 2012)–Davis Love III announced his final four picks for the United States Ryder Cup team, and the deep ties to Las Vegas for several members of the squad start with the captain himself. Love III won the 1993 Las Vegas Invitational (now the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open) by a record 8 shots. Read on for more ties between Ryder Cup 2012 and Vegas. –By Brian Hurlburt, Follow @LVGolfInsider
Two of the 12 on the United States team work with Las Vegas Golf Region resident Butch Harmon. Both Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson spend time with Harmon at his Vegas school, which is located at Las Vegas resort course Rio Secco Golf Club. And Nick Watney, who was in the mix to make the team, also works with Harmon and is a Las Vegas Golf Region resident.
Want to play Rio Secco or learn from Harmon? Click now for the official Rio Secco website to reserve your Las Vegas golf tee times. NOTE: Rio Secco is the home of the fabulous and beautiful T-Mates female caddies. And the Harmon School is open to all golfers with reservations so click now for the official Butch Harmon School website.
Here are some more ties to Las Vegas for the U.S. players: Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods are also former Las Vegas champs. Woods won his 1st PGA Tour event here in 1996 while Furyk has won Vegas 3 time in 1995, 1998 and 1999. The '95 was Furyk's first on the PGA Tour. Furyk was also a college teammate at the University of Arizona of Las Vegas native Robert Gamez.
Woods holds his annual fundraiser, Tiger Jam to benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation, in Las Vegas at Rio Secco and Cascata, and the Mandalay Bay Events Center. He also came very close to attending UNLV as the last minute decision came down to the Rebels and Stanford.
Webb Simpson made an ace at the 2010 JT Shriners Open. His high finish at the tournament helped secure his PGA Tour card for 2011. The Ryder Cup takes place the weekend of September 28-30 at Medinah.