Defending champ Glasson loves Las Vegas

Bill Glasson is looking forward to spending this week in Las Vegas -- and not solely because of his status as the defending champion of the Las Vegas Invitational.

"I have good friends here that I visit whenever I can," Glasson said. "Las Vegas is just a great surrounding for me and I play well because of it.

"I have a good time here so I seem to always play well here. It's very relaxing here (because) you can kind of get away from the 24 hours of tournament pressure that's always on you like a normal tournament."

In winning last year's LVI, Glasson played as if he didn't have a care in the world -- but that was far from the truth.

Just 17 months after undergoing a career-threatening operation on his right elbow, Glasson capped his comeback with a one-shot victory in last year's Las Vegas Invitational. He played -- and won -- in Las Vegas with a torn tendon in his left elbow.

Before that, it was elbow surgery, four sinus operations, four knee surgeries, lip surgery and forearm surgery. In all, Glasson had had more surgeries -- 12 -- than PGA Tour victories -- 7.

Less than a month after winning in Las Vegas, Glasson was back under the knife, this time facing yet another potentially career-ending surgery to reattach the torn tendon in his left elbow.

The surgery has limited the 39-year-old to only 10 tournaments this season, but Glasson is taking his latest medical setback as just another challenge.

"Half of it is a challenge to see if I can regain it," Glasson said. "I have never really felt like, 'Why me' or felt sorry for myself. I look at it as just another challenge. It would be pretty boring, I think, if I was healthy all the time."

Boring, perhaps, but Glasson can't help but think what he might have accomplished on the tour had he remained healthy for more than two seasons in a row.

"People joke about that, about how I only need one arm and things like that," Glasson said. "It was a tremendous accomplishment, looking back, that I was able to (win the LVI) with the amount of damage I had. On the other hand, I think I could be that much better if I were healthy."

But Glasson refuses to dwell on "what-ifs" and prefers to count his blessings.

"I have been on tour for 15 years now -- more or less, but I've never really played consecutive years healthy -- but because I have been away from it (with the injuries), I have a better appreciation for it.

"I've been kind of on that line where I've wondered if I'd ever play again, especially to the quality that you have to play. So I think I have a better appreciation for the opportunity that we have than maybe some people who have never looked at it from, 'Am I ever going to play again?' It makes you a little bit more appreciative."

Although his most recent surgery left Glasson unable to practice as much as he would have liked and prohibited him from playing two weeks in a row, he said he is upbeat coming into this week's LVI.

"I'm looking forward to playing here," Glasson said. "I always come here thinking that I'm going to play well here -- even if I haven't been playing well leading up to it."

Glasson obviously is hoping that history will repeat itself in Las Vegas and that he can prove to himself, once again, that he can play golf at the highest level.

"When you go through potentially career-ending surgery, you never know if you're completely back or if you can survive the experience until you win," he said.

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