History of the Galleri Classic golf tournament on PGA Tour Champions schedule
The Galleri Classic is a spring event on the PGA Tour Champions golf schedule
How did the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club, the home of an LPGA major championship for 51 years, make such a seamless transition to challenging the top players on the PGA Tour Champions?
The man who oversees the landscape of the three courses at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage thinks he knows why.
“Out here (in the Coachella Valley), a lot of the properties are developed for housing and they throw in a golf course, albeit a lot of those golf courses are really, really good,” said Jonas Conlan, in his third year as director of agronomy at Mission Hills which will host this week’s Galleri Classic presented by Spotlight 29 Casino on the PGA Tour Champions.
“To me, this golf course seems like it is a traditional golf course, unlike most others (in the desert),” Conlan added. “It’s as if you are playing somewhere out in the Midwest or Northern California. It’s not an Olympic Club, it’s not an Oakland Hills. But it has that feel, with the trees and the tight fairways and the sloping greens front to back.”
Back in the field this year is Bernhard Langer, who missed the event last year with a torn Achilles tendon and is happy to be back in the desert venue.
“It is a fantastic venue, really beautiful golf course and in fantastic shape,” Langer said. “Michelle (DeLancy, tournament director) does a wonderful job of running this tournament. It is really a pleasure to be here all week and enjoying this hot weather at the moment.”
The Shore Course began hosting an LPGA event in 1972, and by 1983 that tournament, then called the Nabisco Dinah Shore, was officially designated a major championship for the women. That lasted until 2022, the last year the event was played at Mission Hills before moving to Houston as the Chevron Championship. But just one year later, the Shore Course became the home of the PGA Tour Champions return to the desert after three decades.
“In terms of the golf course, it’s right up there,” said Steven Alker, the reigning Charles Schwab Cup Champion who has finished second in the Galleri Classic the last two years. ” It’s a shame it’s not a little bit later in the year just preparing for some majors because it’s that type of golf course. That aspect, they look after us great this week, nice venue facilities, everyone here has always been great. It’s nice to come back.”
One golfer very familiar with the course is Fred Couples, who began a long run of living in the desert in the early 1980s and routinely played the Dinah Shore Course with friend and fellow PGA Tour player John Cook for years. Couples likely has more rounds on the Shore Course that anyone in the field this week.
“We are very lucky,” Couples said. “As everyone knows, the women (LPGA) had a long, long run here. I think this is the kind of course where if you look at it, you really have to hit a lot of shots.
“I know the course pretty well. You’ve got to be able to cut it, you’ve got to be able to draw it, you’ve got to be able to stop it,” Couples added before his pro-am round Thursday. “I’ve heard it is in absolutely perfect shape, which is not uncommon. I really like it.”
Conlan believes the Shore Course, designed by Demond Muirhead and opened in 1971 with distinctive eucalyptus trees and double-wide corridors for its holes, could do more than host the PGA Tour Champions.
“If you built a few tees, you could get a PGA (Tour) or Korn Ferry or something like that,” Conlan said.
Langer is one of the best-known players in the Galleri Classic field that includes seven members of the World Golf Hall of Fame and 18 major championship winners in their time on the regular PGA Tour. Topping that list is defending Galleri Classic champion Retief Goosen, who recorded a one-shot victory in last year’s event over Alker. Goosen is a two-time U.S. Open champion and is in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The tournament features a $2.2 million purse with the winner taking home $300,000.
Alker is not one of the major championship winners or a Hall of Famer, but he is the reigning PGA Tour Champions Charles Schwab Cup champion. He has also finished second in the Galleri Classic each of the first two years of the tournament at Mission Hills.
Other top names in the field include Couples, a former Mission Hills Country Club member and Masters champions. David Toms, the 2023 Galleri Classic winner, is also competing this week as are names like Miguel Angel Jimenez, a two-time winner this season, and other 2025 winners Ernie Els and Justin Leonard. Top names like David Duval, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Tom Lehman and PGA Tour Champions newcomer Stewart Cink are also in the 79-player field.
Tee times run from 8:10 to 10:26 a.m. on the first and the 10th tees of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course, with play Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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