Jacobsen promotes new tourney as one of best courses on PGA Tour

RENO, Nev. -- The newest stop on the PGA Tour, the Reno-Tahoe Open set in the picturesque Sierra Nevada, has the potential to become one of the nation's premier tournaments, PGA Tour pro Peter Jacobsen says.

"I think it's one of the Top 10 courses we play on tour," Jacobsen said while in town this week to promote the inaugural tourney Aug. 26-29 at Montreux Golf & Country Club.

Jacobsen, 45, insists he's not just saying that because his Portland, Ore.-based company has been hired to manage the tourney.

"The golf course is a 10 on a scale of 10," Jacobsen said in an interview Tuesday.

"I think it is one of Jack Nicklaus' best courses. That's no bull."

Nicklaus himself calls it one of his top four or five designs.

"This piece of property that we were given here at Montreux is gorgeous," he said. "The scenery is dramatic and the woodlands magnificent."

Towering pine trees frame the fairways and mountain streams wander through the Par 72, 7,552-yard championship course in the shadow of the 10,776-foot Mount Rose about 15 miles from Lake Tahoe.

"I've always thought the land should be the hero - that you shouldn't move much dirt," Jacobsen said. "Jack didn't move a lot of dirt.

"The Tour has been trying to move West as much as possible. We have a lot of tournaments in Florida and Texas and the East Coast.

"But I think they got this tournament probably earlier than they expected because of the reputation of the golf course."

The 7,500 yards sounds long, but it will play more like a typical 6,700 to 6,800 yards because the ball travels about 10 percent farther at the high elevation, Jacobsen said.

"So 180 yards will play like 162," he said.

The biggest hurdle facing the Reno-Tahoe Open - with a $2.5 million purse - will be direct competition from the best golfers in the world.

The tourney runs the same week as the NEC Invitational, a World Golf Championship event at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio for players from the 1997 Ryder Cup and 1998 President's Cup teams.

That means the top players - like David Duval, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Mark O'Meara - won't be coming to Reno this year.

"We'll probably lose 20 players, maybe 18," Jacobsen said.

But he said he's already got confirmations from the likes of Fuzzy Zoeller, Scott McCarron, Bruce Lietzke and Brett Quigley.

Payne Stewart, a winner last week at Pebble Beach, probably will play, Jacobsen said.

Tom Kite and Craig Stadler also have shown interest. Jacobsen said he intends to make a persona appeal to Nicklaus and Tom Watson to play.

"You are going to see a strong field at the Reno-Tahoe Open," he said.

Jacobsen said if the tournament proves successful, it's in a prime position to inherit a different date without the direct competition from another tournament.

"A lot of the tournaments, quite honestly, have gotten a little stale," he said. "The purse level needs to come up a bit, but that can happen over time. I think this can become one of the upper echelon tournaments.

"I think we can move up and become one of the big boys on the block."

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