Ryder Cup star Ryan Moore in Shriners Open field
Five Ryder Cup participants, including former UNLV star Ryan Moore, have committed to play in next week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin.
Moore, who helped the United States capture the Cup, will be joined by teammates J.B. Holmes, Jimmy Walker, Brooks Koepka and Davis Love III, who was the USA captain. The tournament is scheduled for Nov. 3-6.
Also in the field are defending champion Smylie Kaufman, Graeme McDowell, Ernie Els, Ryo Ishikawa and Billy Horschel. Rickie Fowler, who played in both the Olympics and Ryder Cup, decided not to play Las Vegas this year. Same for Jim Furyk, the only player to win consecutive tournaments in Las Vegas when he captured the 1998 and 1999 Las Vegas Invitational.
“We’re very excited about this year’s field,” tournament director Patrick Lindsey said. “We’ve got five U.S. Ryder Cup participants and several international stars. It would have been nice to have Rickie back because the fans love watching him, but we hope to have him back next year.”
There will be a number of players with local ties participating. In addition to Moore, former UNLV stars Charley Hoffman, Andres Gonzales and Chad Campbell are in the field as is former Bonanza High School standout Scott Piercy and Las Vegas residents Kevin Na and Alex Cejka.
Kaufman (2015), Moore (2012) and Na (2011) are among the seven former Shriners Open champions competing along with Martin Laird (2009), Jonathan Byrd (2010), Webb Simpson (2014) and Ben Martin (2015).
Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.
