Las Vegas Senior Classic breakdown
By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Tuesday, April 25

Details
When Friday-Sunday
Course TPC at Summerlin, Las Vegas
Par/Yardage Par 72; 6,963 yards
Purse $1.4 million (Winner: $210,000)
1999 champion Vicente Fernandez
Tournament record 13-under 203 (Al Geiberger, 1987; Raymond Floyd, 1994)
Television Friday: 3-5 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Saturday-Sunday: 5:30-7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

The tournament
  Hole by hole
  Hole Par Yards
  1 4 408
  2 4 424
  3 5 492
  4 4 429
  5 3 187
  6 4 407
  7 4 382
  8 3 190
  9 5 531
  Out 36 3450
  10 4 420
  11 4 415
  12 4 413
  13 5 579
  14 3 156
  15 4 341
  16 5 560
  17 3 196
  18 4 433
  In 36 3513
  Total 72 6963
The Senior Tour leaves the misery of weather problems for an oasis of sun in Las Vegas this week.

Seven weather delays and nine inches of rain played havoc with last week's PGA Seniors' Championship, turning the year's second major into a five-day, 54-hole event won by Doug Tewell.

The first-time Senior Tour winner hopes to continue his hot streak in Las Vegas, which features a new format this season. Formerly a 72-hole event played on two courses, this year's edition has switched to a 54-hole format on a single course, the TPC at Summerlin.

The TPC at The Canyons had been used exclusively or in combination with Summerlin the past three years.

Most of the top players on the Senior Tour are in the field this week, with only three players in the top 25 on the money list not entered. Tom Kite, Tom Watson and John Bland are skipping this week.

That leaves defending champion Vicente Fernandez with plenty of competition, including former champions Hale Irwin and Jim Colbert. Irwin won back-to-back Vegas titles in 1997 and 1998, while Colbert pulled off the same trick in 1995 and 1996.

Bruce Fleisher, Dana Quigley, Allen Doyle, Larry Nelson, Gil Morgan, Bruce Summerhays and Lanny Wadkins are among the top players in the field.

The TPC at Summerlin is one of the longest courses the Seniors will play this season, but the 6,963 yards are somewhat deceiving. At nearly 3,000 feet, the altitude and dry air will make the ball carry as much as one club farther.

The key to Summerlin is the weather. When the wind blows -- which it usually does at some point during the week -- it becomes a monster of a course. When it's still, however, the wide fairways and accessible greens make for good scoring opportunities.

The stop in Las Vegas is a one-week stint on the West Coast for the Seniors, who head back to Alabama next week for the Bruno's Memorial Classic, then on to North Carolina for the Home Depot Invitational.

ALSO SEE
Nelson proves he's too good to be two in Vegas

Nelson shares lead, eyes non-runner-up finish

Tewell keeps tooling along in Las Vegas

Andy North Diary: Drying out in Vegas

Las Vegas Senior Classic field

1999 Las Vegas Senior Classic results

Las Vegas Senior Classic past champions

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