Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003 | 8:38 a.m.
The Las Vegas Invitational is not quite out of the Woods yet. It's not in them either.
With just three weeks remaining until the PGA Tour hits town for its Las Vegas stop, tournament officials still hold a bit of hope that Tiger Woods will join more than half of the Tour's top money winners at the five-day event.
Bolstering that sliver is the fact that Woods sits in third on the money list, making it possible he could play in Las Vegas to earn last-second cash to overtake current leader Vijay Singh.
"Who knows now?" said Charlie Baron, tournament director of the LVI. "He's not used to being in third place at this time of year. Maybe that will spark him to come out and play."
Woods typically does not commit to a tournament until the week before it, Baron said. With 15 of the top 30 money winners already committed, including U.S. Open champion and perennial LVI favorite Jim Furyk, Baron feels comfortable with the field, with or without Woods.
"We're showing that players want to come to Las Vegas," Baron said.
PGA champion Shaun Micheel will play, along with former UNLV stars Chad Campbell and Chris Riley. Defending champion Phil Tataurangi will not play after recently aggravating a back injury that forced him to most a good part of the 2003 season.
Baron said that Singh, Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry, and David Duval are all possible late entries into the field for the five-day, 90-hole pro-am tournament. The LVI could have as many as 20 of the top 30 on the money list when it opens Oct. 8.
Of the tournament's three courses, TPC Summerlin is most ready for the pros. General manager Chuck Bombard said that with Las Vegas receiving above average rainfall through the first eight months of the year, the biggest challenge has simply been keeping up with the grass growth.
"We're extremely excited," Bombard said. "We feel like the course is probably in the best condition it's been in a number of years."
The biggest change that both players and fans will notice at Summerlin is thicker rough. Combined with notoriously fickle winds, the tournament's traditionally low scores could be in more danger than usual.
"The rough's going to be a little bit more substantial than it's been in past years," Bombard said.
Both TPC at The Canyons and Southern Highlands are just coming out of overseeding and Baron said it will be at least a week before anyone can get a better read of how they will play.
Physical preparations for the tournament began just after Labor Day, as scaffolding and other equipment is being set up.
The tournament will operate without a title sponsor this year after losing Invensys with the 2002 event. Baron continues to work on finding a new sponsor, but he said that nothing is imminent.
"What the future holds with with the title sponsor and the format, it's in another cloud some place," Baron said.
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