Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: LVI's $2.5 million purse small by PGA standards

Brian Hilderbrand's golf notebook appears Wednesday. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

The good news for the Las Vegas Invitational is that the tournament will offer a record purse of $2.5 million in 1999.

The bad news is that prize money doesn't even put the LVI in the top half of the 47 official PGA Tour events this year.

Thanks to the new billion-dollar television pact the PGA Tour signed last year, tour members will be playing for more than $131.7 million in official prize money this season. That figure represents a 37 percent increase over last season, when the total prize fund was $96,050,000.

But 24 tournaments -- including the first seven events of the season -- will offer more than the $2.5 million being posted for the 17th annual LVI, to be played in October. The new PGA Tour stop in Reno, the Reno-Tahoe Open in August, also will offer a $2.5 million purse this year.

LVI tournament manager Charlie Baron said he doesn't believe players will pass up playing in Las Vegas this year because it is not among the richest events on tour.

"The players today, money is important but they look at other factors," Baron said. "They look at the conditioning of the golf courses, if it's to their liking, they'll play.

"It's like some baseball players: Some of them like hitting in certain ballparks and some like pitching in certain ballparks. Some of these guys like playing on certain golf courses at certain times of the year and they may pass up a big purse to play another tournament.

"A lot of them like coming to Las Vegas because of the city, the hospitality that's offered, etc., so the size of the purse isn't the main factor. It's a factor, but sometimes not the number-one reason they come here."

While the $2.5 million being offered in this year's Las Vegas Invitational represents a 333 percent increase over the inaugural LVI purse of $750,000 in 1983, it pales in comparison to the prize funds being offered in the new World Golf Championship events this year.

The Anderson Consulting Match Play Championship, the NEC Invitational and the American Express Invitational each will offer a $5 million purse -- the largest in PGA Tour history. The winner of each tournament will earn $1 million.

It also is estimated that The Players Championship and the Tour Championship will put up $5 million prize funds this season.

The $131.7 million figure takes into account the 1998 purse totals offered in the four majors in 1998 and will increase when the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship announce their 1999 purses.

The 1999 PGA Tour season tees off this week with the Mercedes Championships -- an invitational event open only to 1998 winners -- in Hawaii.

LVI coursesAlthough details have not been finalized, Baron said he expects the same three golf courses -- the TPC at Summerlin, Las Vegas Country Club and Desert Inn Golf Club -- to form the rotation for this year's tournament.

The LVI is in the final year of a three-year contract with the LVCC and Baron said the Las Vegas Founders Club has held preliminary talks with Desert Inn officials, "and it looks like we're moving forward with that."

The TPC at Summerlin once again will serve as the home course for the five-day LVI.

Bad timingThree marquee players from the PGA Tour will turn 50 this year and become eligible to play on the Senior PGA Tour -- but not in time to compete in this April's Las Vegas Senior Classic.

Tom Watson turns 50 on Sept. 4 and Tom Kite (Dec. 9) and Lanny Wadkins (Dec. 5) hit the half-century mark within a week of each other following the conclusion of the Senior PGA Tour season.

Upcoming eventsThis weekend's Mercedes Championships moves from the Southern California resort of La Costa to the island of Maui this year and will be televised Thursday through Sunday on ESPN. Phil Mickelson is the defending champion. ... Both the Mercedes and next week's Sony Open in Honolulu will be televised live in prime time on the mainland.

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