Past 4 champions to compete in Shriners Children’s Open

The four most recent winners of the Shriners Children’s Open will be back in Las Vegas next month.

Martin Laird will return to TPC Summerlin to defend his title, along with 2020 winner Kevin Na, 2019 champion Bryson DeChambeau and 2018 titlist Patrick Cantlay.

The four are the first names announced for this year’s tournament, set for Oct. 4-10. Players can officially commit to the event starting next week, but tournament executive director Patrick Lindsey said the four past champions will all be back.

Cantlay and DeChambeau are big gets for Las Vegas. The two stand first and second in the FedEx Cup points race heading into this week’s season-ending Tour Championship. Cantlay climbed to a career-high fourth in the world rankings this week, while DeChambeau sits at No. 7.

Both players will arrive at TPC Summerlin just two weeks after playing for the United States in the Ryder Cup.

DeChambeau will already be in Southern Nevada, having agreed to participate in the Professional Long Drivers Association World Championships in Mesquite from Sept. 28-Oct. 1.

Montgomery closer

With a tie for 18th at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on Sunday, Las Vegan Taylor Montgomery crept closer to securing his PGA Tour playing card for next season.

Montgomery is in 14th place after the first two Korn Ferry Tour Finals events. The top 25 players after this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Newburgh, Indiana, earn PGA Tour playing privileges.

Montgomery most likely needs a top-30 finish this week to secure his card. He can still get in with a worse finish depending on how the points shake out among all the finishers.

The road is much more difficult for two other former UNLV stars. Kurt Kitayama (43rd) and Harry Hall (77th) will most likely need a top-five finish in Indiana to reach the top-25 threshold.

Solheim Cup week

Arguably the best event in golf takes place this week, and we’re not talking the Tour Championship and the PGA Tour’s ridiculous weighted scoring system. While the top 30 men will be playing for a $15 million first prize, the women will be playing for pride and country at the Solheim Cup in Toledo, Ohio.

Team USA and Team Europe are pretty evenly matched on paper as the Americans look to take the cup back at Inverness Golf Club.

Team USA is led by world No. 1 Nelly Korda, Las Vegan Danielle Kang, and Ally Ewing, who won the LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek earlier this year. They are joined by Austin Ernst, Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda, Megan Khang, Lizette Salas, Jennifer Kupcho, Brittany Altomare, Mina Harigae and 19-year-old Yealimi Noh.

Women’s British Open champion Anna Norqvist leads a European team that also includes Emily Pedersen, Georgia Hall, Sophia Popov, Charley Hull, Carlota Ciganda, Leona Maguire, Mel Reid, Celine Boutier, Madelene Sagstrom, Matilda Castren and Nanna Koerstz Madsen.

The event includes four best-ball and four alternate-shot matches on both Saturday and Sunday, and 12 singles matches for Monday’s Labor Day finish.

Weston tops Helseth

Wes Weston held off defending champion Troy Helseth by one shot to claim the Southern Nevada PGA Chapter Championship last week at Cascata Golf Club.

It’s been quite a summer for Weston, who also won the Las Vegas City Professional Championship in June.

Weston shot rounds of 67 and 75 to finish at 2-under 142 for the title at Cascata.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Helseth, who had rallied on the back nine with three birdies to take the lead only to double-bogey the closing hole to lose by a stroke.

Thomas Fischer and Erik Matthewson tied for third, four shots behind Weston.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.