LAS VEGAS – Professional golf returns to the Valley for the third time in six months as the Paiute Las Vegas Championship, a Korn Ferry Tour (www.kornferrytour.com) event, will be played April 12-18, 2021 at Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort (www.lvpaiutegolf.com), organizers announced today.
Local members of the Tour, who are competing as a part of a season-long points race to earn one of 25 PGA TOUR cards 2021, include Harry Hall, David Lipsky, Taylor Montgomery and John Oda. The tournament will have a full field of 156 players who will compete for a $600,000 purse.
“We are excited to bring the Korn Ferry Tour to Las Vegas and continue building on the tremendous history between this community and the PGA TOUR,” said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. “With bd Global, we have a vibrant partner with a great track record of building spectacular events across a number of sports platforms, and we know our debut next April will further that tradition. The Sun Mountain Course at the Paiute Resort is an ideal venue to host the next generation of PGA TOUR stars and will provide our players a world-class experience both on and off the course throughout the duration of tournament week.”
In October, the PGA TOUR’s Shriners Hospital’s for Children Open played its traditional week in the calendar at TPC Summerlin, and was followed by the relocated CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, which was moved from South Korea due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, several international events on the Korn Ferry Tour were canceled for the upcoming season, so bdG Sports, the organizer, went searching for a new location stateside.
“Given that we’re a 54-hole club, we had the flexibility to offer up our Sun Mountain course and the desire to showcase our resort to the professional golf world,” said Jeff Reid, General Manager at the Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort Golf Resort. “We are glad that we are in position to host the Korn Ferry Tour during these uncertain times while bringing much needed economic impact to Las Vegas, as well as to help continue to grow the game of golf. This will be a win-win for all involved.”
Montgomery, who earlier this month won the Nevada Open, has played all 18 events on the abbreviated 2020 Korn Ferry Tour season, and currently sits 23rd in the regular-season points standing. His former college teammate at UNLV, John Oda, finished T2 at the Tour’s first event of the season, the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay. Lipsky, who resides in Las Vegas after completing his collegiate career at Northwestern, is 11th in the points standings after winning the TPC San Antonio Challenge and finishing T2 at the WinCo Foods Portland Open. Harry Hall, another UNLV alum, earned Korn Ferry Tour status halfway through the 2020 season but capitalized with three top-10s in the first nine starts of his career. The top 25 at the end of next summer’s regular season earn PGA TOUR card for the 2021-22 season. An additional 25 cards will be awarded following the Korn Ferry Tour Finals events.
The field will be tested on the Sun Mountain Course, a 7,112-yard, par-72 desert course located just 25 minutes from the world-famous Las Vegas Strip. Paiute has played host to the World Series of Golf, the World Long Drive Championships and the ESPN Golf Challenge, but never a professional tour event.
“We have a short runway for planning and preparation and needed to find a course that could offer up a championship-ready challenge in a destination location, and the Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort checked both boxes,” said Brooks Downing, CEO of bdG Sports (www.bdglobalsports.com), a global sports management firm which has been operating events in Las Vegas for the past decade. “And to have a community that boasts such outstanding local professionals, this may end up being one of the most popular stops on the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour schedule.”
The tournament’s official pro-am will be held on Wednesday, April 14, and the tournament action gets underway on Thursday, April 15 before a champion is crowned on Sunday, April 18. Parties interested in sponsorship or participating in the pro-am can contact Tournament Director Josh Franklin at 859.494.3932 or [email protected].
Complete tournament information can be found at www.paiutechampionship.com or on social media at @PaiuteLVChamp. The availability of any general spectator tickets will be determined at a later date in consultation with local health authorities.