LAS VEGAS -- The Las Vegas PGA Tour event has a new name and a new host. The Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open is this week at TPC Summerlin.

In 2007, George McNeill won his first Tour title when he outlasted D.J. Trahan by four strokes at TPC Summerlin and TPC Las Vegas. McNeill will defend his title at only TPC Summerlin, with Timberlake, a Grammy Award-winning singer, hosting the tournament.

This season, McNeill is 98th on the money list. He needs to earn a little less than $75,000 in his final events to pass the $1-million mark for the second consecutive season. McNeill has two top-10 finishes in 2008, including a runner-up showing at the PODS Championship.

Beginning this year, the 132-player field of PGA Tour professionals will compete solely at TPC Summerlin for all four tournament rounds (Oct. 16-19). In the former pro-am format the tournament employed, players competed at both TPC Las Vegas (formerly TPC Canyons) and TPC Summerlin, with the final 36 holes being contested by professionals only at TPC Summerlin. With the new pro-am format, amateurs will have the opportunity to play alongside PGA Tour professionals hosted by Justin Timberlake on both Monday and Wednesday.

There are four former University of Nevada-Las Vegas graduates playing this week in the town where they attended college. They are Chad Campbell (1996, hotel administration), Chris Riley (1996, communications), Ryan Moore (2005, communications and public relations) and Charley Hoffman (2000, communications).

In his sophomore season on the PGA Tour, defending champion George McNeill has continued his first-year success with nearly $1 million in earnings in 2008. His best finish was a tie for second at the PODS Championship. McNeill became the fourth consecutive player to win his first Tour event in Las Vegas, posting four rounds in the 60s to win by four over D.J. Trahan.

Seven players who were among the 30 players participating in The Tour Championship are scheduled to tee it up at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The players, with their FedExCup finish in parentheses: Mike Weir (6), Kevin Sutherland (11), Hunter Mahan (18), Ken Duke (22), Billy Mayfair (23), Ryuji Imada (25), Chad Campbell (29).

Besides tournament host Justin Timberlake, other celebrities participating in the Wednesday pro-am at TPC Summerlin are Amanda Beard, Josh Duhamel, Josh Kelley, Chris Kirkpatrick, George Lopez and John O'Hurley.

George McNeill captured the 2007 tournament in his 32nd career PGA Tour start. He was 32 years, 13 days at the time of his win. He became the seventh first-time Tour winner in tournament history. The others are Jim Furyk (1995), Tiger Woods (1996), Phil Tataurangi (2002), Andre Stolz (2004), Wes Short, Jr. (2005) and Troy Matteson (2006).

Justin Timberlake becomes part of a unique group of celebrities this week when he hosts the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. A celebrity hosting a professional golf event goes back to 1937 when Bing Crosby lent his name to an annual tournament in the Monterey Peninsula now known as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Even in death, Bob Hope's name is still attached to his annual tournament in Palm Springs, Calif.

The Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open is the second Tour event in Nevada this year, following the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open. Of the players who finished in the top 10 at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, eight are playing this week in Las Vegas, including Parker McLachlin, who picked up his first PGA Tour title when he won the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open in August.

The other top-10 finishers in Reno who are playing this week, with their Reno finishes in parentheses, are Brian Davis (tied for second), John Rollins (tied for second), Martin Laird (tied for fourth), Eric Axley (tied for fourth), Mark Wilson (tied for eighth), Jason Gore (tied for eighth) and John Merrick (tied for eighth).

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