“Because of that ace, I would have to say that this is my favorite hole at Shadow Creek,” Riley says. “And this is my favorite course, along with Augusta National. I’ll never forget when [UNLV Coach] Dwaine Knight first brought me here in the fall of my senior year on a recruiting trip. The first person I saw in the clubhouse was Doctor J. Julius Erving. When Coach told me that this would be our home course, and that I could play here every day, I was just blown away.”

Riley interrupts his thought to announce that he’s going to hit a high fade for his next shot. Instead, the ball flies straight as a crow at the pin. “Need to work on my slice,” he says, then carries on. “I was a kid who grew up on municipal courses in San Diego, a lot of them were dirt tracks, and here I was being invited to play on a course that’s considered one of the very best in the world, and probably the most beautiful. Shadow Creek was the single most important factor in my choosing to become a UNLV Rebel.”

Riley would go on to earn All-American honors all four years at UNLV, before earning his Tour privileges in 1998. Since then, he’s won over $7 million in official earnings, and last summer came within one stroke of making the three-man playoff for the PGA Championship Crown at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. But there was plenty of consolation in his fourth-place finish as it vaulted him from 18th to 10th on the Ryder Cup points list and gave him an automatic berth in the tournament.