Tiger Woods, Johnny Manziel top Las Vegas golf scene

Johnny Manziel and Tiger Woods highlighted a busy time in Vegas golf.

Manziel teamed with member Dave Evans to win the recent member-guest tournament at Southern Highlands. Manziel is a former Texas A&M quarterback and Cleveland Browns first-round draft pick whose football career was hampered by off-field issues.

Manziel, an avid golfer, was featured on the Golf Digest cover after being drafted in 2014. He grew up playing junior golf and his family lived on the 16th tee of Hollytree Country Club in Tyler, Texas. He is also a huge Tiger Woods fan.

“I had everything Tiger. I wanted to be just like him,” Manziel said in Golf Digest. “I got my dad to get me that Scotty Cameron putter that Tiger used for all of those years. I wanted one exactly like it.”

As for Woods, the recent Masters champion held his annual Tiger Jam fundraiser in Las Vegas last weekend that featured a poker tournament at MGM hosted by world champion Phil Helmuth, a golf tournament at Shadow Creek — where Woods lost to Phil Mickelson in “The Match” last November — and a private dinner prior to the Janet Jackson concert at MGM on Saturday night. The event has been in Las Vegas for 20 years and raises funds for the Tiger Woods Foundation.

During his clinic, Woods called the recent $85,000 winning bet on him at the Masters “a (expletive) great bet,” but labeled the bettor, James Adduci, an “(expletive)” for following that up by betting he would win all four majors.

Vegas on leaderboard

Southern Highlands member Kevin Na fired a second-round 62 en route to his win at the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge and topped several pros with Vegas ties who had solid weeks. Nick Watney tied for eighth, Charley Hoffman tied for 13th and Scott Piercy tied for 19th.

At the Senior PGA Championship, John Riegger finished seventh, Tommy Armour III was 13th and Bob May was 60th.

Cool tourney

The Ely Rotary Club tournament June 8 at White Pine Golf Club in Ely, a four-hour drive from Vegas, features a wine tasting and cash drawing Friday night and a barbecue following play Saturday. Cost is $125 per player and registration is through dlberbidge@gmail.com. Bonus: Ely is usually about 30 degrees cooler than Las Vegas due to its 6,870-foot elevation.

Weekly deal

Visit SNGA.org to buy the gift of golf for $99 ($109 for non-SNGA members and includes a membership) and get rounds at Coyote Springs, Revere and Las Vegas National.

UNLV PGM honor

Cole Christensen, a UNLV PGA Golf Management program student at UNLV, was one of 11 students selected nationwide for the PGA Global Internship Program. Christensen will intern at the Els Performance Golf Academy in Vietnam.

Stars on, off course

Las Vegas’ Anthony Netto finished fourth at the ParaLong Drive Cup in Mesquite last week. He drove the ball 350 yards strapped to a Paramobile machine. He’s also 56, more than three decades older than winner Evan Mathias, 23, from Indiana.

The golf notebook appears Wednesdays. Freelance writer Brian Hurlburt is a two-time author who has covered golf in Las Vegas for more than two decades. He can be reached at bhurlburt5@gmail.com or @LVGolfInsider.