Local golf hall nods surprise ex-Rebels

The Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame has its own timetable, however, and is honoring the former UNLV players tonight at TPC Summerlin. Joining Hoffman and Moore as inductees will be former course superintendent Don McCoy and the Valley View Golf Club.

“It’s sort of weird,” said Hoffman, a member of UNLV’s 1998 national championship team. “I still haven’t come close to achieving everything I want to in golf.”

Moore, who won the 2004 NCAA individual title and the U.S. Amateur later that year, is similarly puzzled by the timing.

“I’m not even 30,” he said. “But it’s certainly an honor, especially to be going in with Charley.”

Both players call Las Vegas home and continue to be made to feel welcome by the local golf community despite having long since left UNLV.

“I know a lot of people here” in Las Vegas, Moore said. “I’ve always appreciated the support from the city, and even though Las Vegas has become a big city, it still has a small-town feel to it where you feel like you know everybody.”

Hoffman said: “When I turned pro and went home to San Diego, where I grew up, I’d ask to play a golf course and it was like pulling teeth. In Vegas, when I’d call and ask to get on somewhere, they’d say, ‘Come on over.’ They made me feel welcome.”

Tonight’s ceremony is a lead-in to the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The tie-in with the PGA Tour event is a first for the hall, which has been in existence since 1991. Hoffman will host a ProAm event Monday at TPC Summerlin that raises money for several local children’s charities. The event is in its third year.

“We just want to bring smiles to the faces of the kids,” Hoffman said.

Moore, who will become a father for the first time next month, is finishing his year with a flourish. He was third at the recent Tour Championship and likes his chances of winning the Shriners Open, which begins Thursday.

“I’m really happy with my game and the way I’m playing,” said Moore, who has made $2,048,944 this year. “Everything’s coming together, and this is my last tournament of the year. I would love to finish with a win in Las Vegas.”

Hoffman, who has banked $1,276,663, said if he can get hot on the greens, he can have a chance.

“It’s all about making putts,” he said. “You know you have to go low to have a shot at winning. But it would be amazing to win in Vegas.”

McCoy was a fixture in local golf long before Hoffman and Moore arrived on the scene. He became superintendent of Las Vegas Municipal Golf Course in 1952 and stayed on the job until 1981. He co-designed and oversaw construction of the nine-hole addition of the course, now known as Las Vegas Golf Club.

The Valley View Golf Club was formed in the 1950s to promote the sport in Las Vegas’ African-American community. The organization’s first tournament was in 1958, and through its membership’s efforts, the doors to the city’s golf courses were eventually opened to men and women of color.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.