Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: New golf course on the Strip will feature an island green

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

Brian Curley and Lee Schmidt are not the most recognized golf course architects in the business, but that may change when Bill Walters' new course at the south end of the Strip opens a year from now.

Curley and Schmidt have designed the new course, which has yet to be named, that Walters will build on 140 acres near Las Vegas Boulevard and Russell Road.

Based on the early plans, Curley and Schmidt have designed a course that is unique to Southern Nevada. Instead of the typical desert course with forced carries, the 7,042-yard, high-end, daily-fee golf course will feature wide fairways, plenty of water and palm trees, and an island green on the par-3 16th hole.

More importantly, Walters said, golfers won't need to worry about destroying their golf clubs if they get off the fairway.

"I hate desert golf courses with a passion," Walters said. "If you notice, every golf course I own is wall-to-wall grass; I don't own a golf course that you've got to have a welder's mask to play on.

"Even the wash that runs through this course is grassed. It's wall-to-wall fairway; there is no rough on this golf course. The fairways are going to be huge. This is going to be a real open, very friendly type of golf course."

Walters said he couldn't be happier with the design Curley and Schmidt, who work out of Scottsdale, Ariz., came up with.

"I'm just ecstatic," Walters said. "These guys who designed this golf course for us, behind the scenes they've been doing the work for (Jack) Nicklaus and (Pete) Dye for 20 years.

"People in the industry know who these guys are and, in my opinion, I think we hired the two best golf course architects in the United States today."

Walters said he will break ground on the project in early October and the course should be open for play in September, 2000.

* LVI COMMITMENTS: Justin Leonard, winner of the 1997 British Open and a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, was among the most recent high-profile players to announce their intentions to play in next month's $2.5 million Las Vegas Invitational.

Leonard was joined by fellow Ryder Cup member and defending LVI champion Jim Furyk, Rocco Mediate, Duffy Waldorf and Tim Herron this week in formally committing to play in the 17th annual LVI.

Leonard will be playing in his fourth LVI. He tied for sixth place in last year's tournament, six shots behind Furyk.

* LOCAL GOLFER NAMED: Mark McKinley of Las Vegas will represent the Candlelighters for Childhood Cancer and Fletcher Jones Lexus at the 1999 Lexus Champions for Charity National Championship Dec. 9-11 in La Quinta, Calif.

* COLLEGE RANKINGS: UNLV is ranked fourth in Golfweek's preseason top-25 poll released this week.

Clemson, which returns all five starters from last year's squad, is ranked first, followed by Arizona State and Oklahoma State.

The Rebels open the fall season this weekend in the Ping/Golfweek NCAA Preview on the Lake Course at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National in Auburn, Ala.

The field will include defending national champion Georgia as well as Arizona State, Auburn, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Florida, Georgia Tech, Houston, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Texas and UCLA.

* CHIP SHOTS: Unlike many courses in the Valley, The Revere at Anthem in Henderson will not undergo overseeding and will remain open for play throughout the fall.

Because of The Revere's elevation above the rest of the Valley, course developers were able to plant the fairways and roughs with rye grass, which does not require overseeding. Clark County residents can play The Revere for $75 Monday through Thursday from Sept. 17 to Nov. 21, and $100 on Friday and Saturday. Call 259-4653 for tee times. ...

The "Divine Nine" par-3 course at the Callaway Golf Center will reopen for play Friday after being closed the past 10 days for reseeding. Call 896-4100 for tee times.

* LVI VOLUNTEERS: The Las Vegas Invitational is seeking volunteers to assist in a variety of areas, including tournament scoring, with this year's event. Call Michele at 242-3008 for additional information.

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