The organization that handles the annual PGA Tour stop in Milwaukee is dissolving after failing to find a sponsor, leaving the future of professional golf in the area on shaky ground.

The move virtually guarantees the Tour won’t return to Milwaukee next year. Tournament director Dan Croak said Thursday the organization has run out of money after paying its bills and other financial obligations, including a donation of more than $520,000 to charities.

“We have run out of funds and, thus, cannot continue to operate,” Croak said. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the organizers’ decision to dissolve.

The tournament, originally known as the Greater Milwaukee Open, has been in operation since 1968. Tacoma’s Ken Still won the event in 1969. Among its notable moments was Tiger Woods’ professional debut in 1996.

But the tournament’s popularity had been in decline of late, especially after it recently was moved to a date opposite the British Open, and U.S. Bank announced its sponsorship of the tournament was ending.

Pernice continues roll

Champions Tour winner Tom Pernice Jr. shot a bogey-free 9-under-par 62 for a share of the first-round lead with Troy Matteson and Spencer Levin in the PGA Tour’s Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.

The 50-year-old Pernice, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour who won the SAS Championship on Sept. 27 in his Champions Tour debut, birdied his final two holes – Nos. 8 and 9 – at TPC Summerlin. Levin had an eagle and seven birdies in his bogey-free round, and Matteson, the 2006 winner, had 10 birdies and a bogey – on No. 17.

Italian leads in Portugal

Italy’s Francesco Molinari shot a 9-under 63 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura.

Molinari had an eagle, nine birdies and a bogey to match his best score on the European Tour.

tracking ryan moore and kyle stanley

This week: PGA Tour’s Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children, Thursday through Sunday, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nev.

Moore’s first-round score: 4-under-par 67.

Stanley’s first-round score: 4-under 67.

Position: Moore and Stanley are tied for 26th, five strokes behind co-leaders Tom Pernice, Jr. and Troy Matteson (62).

Recap: A birdie-birdie finish, including one on the par-4 finishing hole, where he canned a 13-foot putt, put Puyallup’s Moore in good position. He knows this course extremely well as a former collegiate star at UNLV. ... Stanley used a six-birdies-in-eight-holes binge (Nos. 9 through 16) to go from 1 over to near the lead.

Moore’s tee time today: 11:58 a.m. PDT off the 10th tee.

Stanley’s tee time today: 1:05 p.m. PDT off the 10th tee.

Todd Milles, The News Tribune