Las Vegas, Nevada (October 27, 2012)–One thing is certain annually in Las Vegas with the playing of the Wendy's 3 Tour Challenge: some of the best LPGA Tour, PGA Tour, and Champions PGA Tour will be in the Las Vegas Golf Region playing a great golf course. And now it is known that the PGA Tour will be represented by Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love III, Jason Day, and Nick Watney. The event is November 13, 2012, at Las Vegas' Rio Secco Golf Club and is open to the public with free admission. –By Brian Hurlburt
Watney is a Las Vegas Golf Region resident and was passed up as a deserving captain's pick by Love III for the 2012 Ryder Cup. Watney, who works with Las Vegas Butch Harmon at his School at Rio Secco, has blossomed into one of the game's stars but Love III went with Jim Furyk in place of Watney. Watney took being passed over in stride.
But now the two are on the same team in an affort to gain bragging rights for the PGA Tour in the 3-player team competition that pits the LPGA Tour, Champions PGA Tour and PGA Tour against each other. The Champions Tour is represented by Tom Lehman, Bernhard Langer, and Fred Funk, while the LPGA Tour is represented by Las Vegas Golf Region resident Natalie Gulbis, and Stacy Lewis and Suzann Petterson. The Champions PGA Tour team is the defending champion.
Now celebrating its 21st anniversary, the Wendy’s 3Tour 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
About the PGA Tour players:
JASON DAY is one of the brightest young stars on the PGA TOUR. The 24-year-old Australian native turned professional in 2006 and earned his PGA TOUR card after finishing 2007 ranked No. 5 on the Web.com Tour money list. Day recorded his lone PGA TOUR victory in 2010 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, which helped springboard him into a career 2011 season where he recorded 10 top-10 finishes, including two runner-up efforts, and finished the FedExCup regular season and playoffs ranked No. 14 and 12 respectively. He capped off his successful 2011 season with his first appearance in The Presidents Cup. Day has entered 16 PGA TOUR events so far this season, posting eight top-25 finishes, with four inside the top-10. With more than $1.1 million in 2012 earnings, he has surpassed the million dollar mark on TOUR for the past four years in a row. This will be Day’s first Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge appearance.
DAVIS LOVE III has been a fixture on the PGA TOUR and an ambassador for the game of golf for more than 25 years. The major championship winner boasts a resume that includes 20 PGA TOUR victories, including the 1997 PGA Championship, and more than $42 million in career earnings, placing him sixth all time. Love was the 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup captain at Medinah Country Club and six-time player (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2004) to go with six Presidents Cup appearances (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005). Love’s best PGA TOUR season came in 2003 when he posted 11 top-10 finishes, including four victories and more than $6 million in earnings. Through 18 events so far in 2012 he has recorded six top-25 finishes, two inside the top-10. Love will be making his third Wendy’s 3Tour Challenge appearance (1996 and 1998) next month at Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada. He was a member of the 1996 victorious PGA TOUR team with teammates Fred Couples and Payne Stewart in his 3Tour debut.
NICK WATNEY turned professional in 2003 and earned his PGA TOUR card after finishing 2004 ranked No. 5 on the Web.com Tour money list. He enjoyed a career season in 2011 and is emerging as one of the top players on the PGA TOUR. Last year he recorded 10 top-10 finishes, including two victories, and ended his 2011 campaign atop the FedEx Cup regular season points race. Watney finished the playoffs in ninth place and was third on the money list with a career high $5,290,673 in earnings. He closed out his successful 2011 season by making his first appearance in The Presidents Cup. Watney has posted five top-10 finishes so far this year and added his fifth career PGA TOUR victory at The Barclays, which propelled him to a fourth place finish in the 2012 FedEx Cup playoffs. The 31-year-old Las Vegas resident will be making his first Wendy’s 3Tour Challenge start.
About Rio Secco Golf Club: 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. More information about Rio Secco Golf Club is available online at www.riosecco.net ; Ph (702) 777-2400.