Las Vegas Weekly

May 15, 2009 · 12:54 PM

Poker pro wins World Series of Golf and $300,000 top prize

By Robin Leach

World Series of Golf.

Photo: World Series of Golf

Poker professional Jody Garaventa topped a sell-out field of 125 amateur golfers from across the globe to win the 3rd Annual FullTiltPoker.Net World Series of Golf and $300,000! The 33-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., outlasted players from 100 cities, 31 states and six countries to capture the title at the Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort.

“I’ve played in a lot of high-stakes poker games, but this was a whole different kind of pressure,” Jody said. “There were a lot of times out there when I missed shots because my hands or knees were shaking, but it’s an unbelievable rush.”

The FullTiltPoker.Net WSOG, a hit-and-bet tournament that combines golf with no-limit hold ’em poker, began Tuesday and ended after a long day yesterday. The field of players included everyone from an entrepreneur from New Zealand to actor Ray Romano to former MLB all-star pitcher Greg Maddux.

The rest of the Top Five were Kevin Dumont, a 53-year-old bar owner from Pittsburgh, 2nd place, $100,000; K.J. Fohannesen, a 37-year-old property manager who splits time between L.A. and Las Vegas, 3rd place, $50,000; David Morton, a 44-year-old native of Elon, N.C., who works in real estate, 4th place, $40,000; and Jorge Campos, a 42-year-old from L.A. who is a former World Cup footballer for Mexico and who played soccer for the L.A. Galaxy and Chicago Fire in the early 1990s, 5th place, $30,000.

Television coverage of WSOG will be aired this summer and fall on WGN, with a total of 26 hours of coverage via 13 original one-hour episodes and a replay of each on Saturdays and Sundays from June 27-28 through Sept. 19-20. Mark Ewing was the first $250,000 winner in 2007, and Andy Johnson won the $250,000 prize in 2008.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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