Las Vegas golfer ready to take on big events in Europe

Harry Hall gets his first chance to defend a PGA Tour title this week when the ISCO Championship takes place in Louisville, Kentucky.

Hall will be 3,800 miles away, however.

Thanks to his strong play this season, the Las Vegas golfer is instead in the field for the Scottish Open, allowing Hall to bypass the secondary tournament in Kentucky and play with the game’s biggest names in Europe.

He’ll do it again the following week. Hall will make his first appearance in the British Open after finishing second in a qualifier July 1 at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club, just a 90-minute drive from his hometown of Cornwall, England. Dozens of family and friends made the trek to cheer him on in the qualifier, and they’ll likely be there for him again these next two events.

Hall, who played at UNLV, has been enjoying the spoils of his success this week. He fulfilled a lifelong dream of his mother by taking her to Wimbledon. He also showed up at a career day for his sister, who is a vice principal at a local school.

Hall arrives in Europe on quite the roll, with 11 consecutive made cuts and six straight top-25 finishes. That includes a pair of top 10s and a tie for 19th at the PGA Championship in May.

Those efforts moved him to a career-best 73rd in the world rankings last week, and place him 47th in the FedEx Cup standings. If he holds that spot, Hall could find himself in the first two playoff events with their massive $20 million purses the first two weeks of August. The St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, is for the top 70, and the BMW Championship in Owings Mills, Maryland, is for the top 50.

Academic honors

Five members of the 2024-25 UNLV women’s golf team were named All-American Scholars by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association.

Recent graduates McKenzi Hall, Mayumi Umezu and Toa Yokoyama each earned the honor for the fourth time, while rising junior Zi Yu Foong and rising sophomore Amber Chen each earned it for the first.

The Rebels placed at least three student-athletes on the list for the seventh straight year.

To be eligible for the honor, student-athletes must carry a minimum GPA of 3.5 and play in 50 percent of a team’s competitive rounds during the year.

Canadian debuts

Recent UNLV graduates Caden Fioroni and Ben Sawaia made their debuts over the weekend on PGA Tour Americas, earning their first paychecks as professionals at the Explore NB Open in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Sawaia tied for 24th at 10 under, while Fioroni tied for 50th at 7 under. Both got off to impressive starts, with Sawaia in third after an opening-round 64 and Fioroni in fifth after a 65.

Former Las Vegas prep star Matthew Manganello, who played at Tech and then at Fresno State, also made his debut and tied for 22nd at 11 under.

U.S. Senior Am qualifier

Joe Sawaia ran away with a qualifier for the U.S. Senior Amateur at Red Rock Country Club on Monday. Sawaia had a bogey-free 7-under 65 to claim medalist honors, with Jerry Pearsall claiming the second available spot with a 1-under 71.

John Turk is first alternate and James Corey second alternate after both finished with 72s.

The U.S. Senior Amateur will be played Aug. 23-28 in San Antonio.

John Deere Classic

Last week’s John Deere Classic event showcased the plethora of local talent on the PGA Tour, with six Las Vegas players among the top five on the leaderboard at some point during the weekend.

David Lipsky finished one shot out of a playoff in a tie for third, while Kurt Kitayama tied for fifth.

Rico Hoey (T-11), Doug Ghim (T-31), Taylor Montgomery (T-31) and Seamus Power (T-44) all made runs at the lead. Ghim led after both the first and second rounds before struggling on the weekend.

Reach Greg Robertson at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.