Las Vegas, Nevada (October 11, 2012)–The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge brings some of the best LPGA Tour, PGA Tour, and Champions PGA Tour pros to Las Vegas each year. And for the last several years, one of the constants has been Las Vegas Golf Region resident Natalie Gulbis representing the LPGA Tour. That is again the case in 2012 and the event takes place November 13 at Las Vegas resort course Rio Secco Golf Club. –By Brian Hurlburt
The other two LPGA Tour professionals representing the ladies are Stacy Lewis and Suzann Petterson. Now celebrating its 21st anniversary, the Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge, benefiting adoption, is the only professional golf tournament that pits three players from the PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour and Champions Tour against each other in a head-to-head competition for tour bragging rights and a share of the $1 million purse. The event has been played in Las Vegas since 1996 and has been at Rio Secco Golf Club since 2008. There are also several amateur opportunities surrounding the event. Click to the official Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge site to learn more.
You, too, can play the beautiful Rio Secco Golf Club. Click now for the official website of Rio Secco where you can reserve your Las Vegas golf tee times. Gracefully draped across 240 acres in the foothills of the Black Mountain Range and located 15 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, Rio Secco Golf Club is renowned for its world-class golf experience and acclaimed Butch Harmon School of Golf. The 7,318-yard, par 72 course was named in USA Today newspaper among the “Top Ten Golf Destinations in the World.” Offering instruction for newcomers and professionals alike, The Butch Harmon School of Golf is famed for working with such talents as Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Dustin Johnson and Natalie Gulbis. Located in Henderson, Nevada, Rio Secco is a Caesars Entertainment golf destination. Other Caesars Entertainment golf courses are: Grand Bear, in Biloxi, Mississippi; The Links at Cottonwoods, in Tunica, Mississippi; the historic Atlantic City Country Club, in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Chariot Run, in Laconia, Indiana; Cascata, in Boulder City, Nevada; and Caesars Golf Macau.
Gulbis was on a winning LPGA Tour team in 2007 and 2009, and is scheduled to make her 7th-straight appearance in the event in 2012. Petterson was on the winning team with Gulbis in 2009 and also played in 2010. Lewis is making her Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge debut. In 2011, the Champions PGA Tour team of Jay Haas, Kenny Perry and Mark Calcaveccchia won the event.
Gulbis will be equaling Cristie Kerr for the most LPGA Tour appearances in the Wendy's. The 11-year LPGA Tour veteran enjoyed a career season in 2007 in which she recorded five top-10 finishes, including her first-career LPGA victory at the Evian Masters. In 2008, Gulbis posted one top-10 finish and received the William and Mousie Powell Award, which is given annually to the LPGA member that best exemplifies the spirit, ideals and values of the LPGA Tour. In 2009 she placed in the top-20 seven times, including a pair of top-10 finishes. She has been a member of three victorious United States Solheim Cup Teams in 2005, 2007, and 2009. Gulbis helped lead the LPGA Team to its fourth and fifth-career Wendy’s 3Tour Challenge victories in 2007 with Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel and in 2009 with Kerr and Suzann Pettersen. The 29-year-old has recorded three top-10 finishes so far in 2012 and has earned more than $4.6 million for her career since joining the LPGA Tour in 2002.