LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas has become home to professional golfers drawn to the area’s great weather, excellent courses, dining and entertainment options, easy access to and from tournaments and lack of state income tax.
With more than two dozen pros now calling the area home, here are the 10 most accomplished players currently on tour. This list doesn’t include a slew of golfers who played at UNLV but no longer live in Southern Nevada.
1. Inbee Park
Based on current form, Park is not at the top of the list. But until somebody else can post 22 career wins, including seven major championships, there is no doubt who is No. 1. The Bishop Gorman graduate became the youngest woman inducted into the Hall of Fame at age 27. Now 34, she will remain on the sidelines for the foreseeable future as she awaits the birth of her first child in the next few weeks.
2. Collin Morikawa
It’s been 18 months since he’s won, but what a three-year stretch before that. After Morikawa graduated from Cal-Berkeley, he won in his seventh PGA Tour start, won the PGA Championship in his first major championship appearance, and won the British Open a year later. Morikawa, who has six wins total, got as high as No. 2 in the world rankings in late 2021.
3. Xander Schauffele
The list of best PGA Tour players without a major begins with Schauffele, who has quite a bit of everything else: Gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics, Tour Championship win, three victories last season alone and a world ranking of fifth. He also has nine top-10s in the 22 majors he has played.
4. So Yeon Ryu
The LPGA star has quietly moved from Dallas to Las Vegas, bringing with her two major championship trophies, six LPGA wins and 20 professional wins around the globe. At 32, she has plenty more victories to come.
5. Danielle Kang
The unofficial Las Vegas golf ambassador, Kang has been remarkably consistent since getting her first win at a major championship in 2017. She has six wins, three other playoff losses and has been the glue for every U.S. Solheim Cup team since 2017.
6. Seamus Power
In the past two years since joining the PGA Tour, Power has become one of the top players in the world with wins in both 2021 and 2022. Since moving to Las Vegas in spring 2021, he has jumped 300 spots in the world rankings, getting as high as 28th earlier this year.
7. Kurt Kitayama
He picked up his first PGA Tour win in March at Bay Hill, but Kitayama has won all over the world as a golf nomad since leaving UNLV in 2015, including on both the European and Asian tours. Kitayama is small in stature but big on working hard as evidenced by his current world ranking of No. 20.
8. Alex Cejka
The definition of a journeyman who played anywhere and everywhere for most of his career, Cejka has found a home on the Champions Tour. He won twice in his first five starts, both major championships in the summer of 2021.
9. Ryan Moore
One of the most accomplished amateurs ever, Moore is one of only five men to win both the U.S. Amateur and NCAA championship in the same year, a group that includes Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson. He left UNLV and has remained in Las Vegas for 20 years has put together a solid PGA Tour career that includes five wins and numerous injuries that held back what could have been a phenomenal legacy. His record surpasses other local multiple winners like Scott Piercy and Nick Watney.
10. Taylor Montgomery
With so many young Las Vegas players chasing that first PGA Tour win (Maverick McNealy, Harry Hall, Justin Suh, Doug Ghim, David Lipsky, Joseph Bramlett), Montgomery is the one shining brightest. The front runner for Rookie of the Year, Montgomery has four top-10s and 10 top-25s in just 16 starts and stands 16th in the FedEx Cup standings. In just six months on tour, he already has a reputation as one of the best putters in the game.
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