The PGA Tour Champions is back at it this week with the Cologuard Classic. It’s the fourth of 28 tournament on the 2026 schedule.
The tournament will be held at La Paloma Country Club for a third time with Cologuard serving as title sponsor for the ninth year in Tucson, Arizona. This will also be the 64th time for the Tucson Conquistadores to host a professional golf event in the city.
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The Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences will have 78 players including the defending tournament champion, the reigning Charles Schwab Cup champion and Cologuard ambassador Jerry Kelly.
La Paloma Country Club in Tucson, Arizona.
Record-high temperatures are on the horizon
The West Coast heat wave won’t leave Tucson out. The Accuweather forecast as of Sunday for the week shows triple-digit highs for each of the three tournament rounds.
The Accuweather forecast for Tucson, Arizona, for March 20-22, 2026.
2026 Cologuard Classic field has eight past champions
Previous winners of the tournament set to make a run at another title include Steven Alker (2025), Joe Durant (2024), David Toms (2023), Miguel Angel Jimenez (2022), Kevin Sutherland (2021), Bernhard Langer (2020), Tom Lehman (2017) and Woody Austin (2016). The tournament will also have each of the three winners so far in 2026: Stewart Cink (the 2025 Schwab Cup winner), Toms and Zach Johnson.
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Zach Johnson looks to go 2-for-2
Johnson won his Champions tour debut in the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame invitational, becoming the 22nd golfer to win in his first time competing on the senior circuit. Phil Mickelson in 2020 was the first to win his first two Champions events, so Johnson will look to join that exclusive club.
Steven Alker looks for first repeat in Tucson
There has yet to be a repeat winner of the Cologuard Classic but twice a player finished runner-up one year and then won the tournament the next. Steve Stricker did that in 2017 and 2018 and Alker won in 20-2025 after finishing second in 2024. Alker’s playoff win over Jason Caron a year ago marked the first time the Cologuard went to overtime.
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How much money is up for grabs in Tucson?
There is a $2.2 million purse. The winner will pocket $330,000.
La Paloma was one of the golf courses in movie Tin Cup
The 1996 Kevin Costner hit Tin Cup turns 30 this year. La Paloma Country Club (La Paloma means dove in Spanish) was one of the real-life movie sets for the film.
The golf course ties for 28th on the Golfweek’s Best public-access courses in Arizona. The Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course that opened in 1984 and has three nine-hole layouts.
Measuring 6,856 yards, La Paloma will play as a par 71 and the tournament will use a composite route using parts of all three courses:
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Holes 1 – 9: Ridge Course holes 1 – 9; holes 10 – 13: Canyon Course holes 1 – 4; holes 14 and 15: Canyon Course holes 8 and 9; holes 16 and 17: Hill Course holes 3 and 4; hole 18: Hill Course hole 9.
The ninth hole on La Paloma Country Club’s Hill Course serves as the 18th hole for the Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions.
About Exact Sciences, Cologuard, Conquistadores
Exact Sciences provides cancer screening and diagnostic tests through its brands such as Cologuard and Oncotype DX. Cologuard, developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, is a noninvasive colorectal cancer screening option for adults 45 years and up who are at average risk for the disease.
Since 2017, tournament proceeds and fundraising efforts by Exact Sciences and the Tucson Conquistadores have supported colorectal cancer awareness, food insecurity in Southern Arizona, and Tucson youth athletic programs.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: What to know about Cologuard Classic in Tucson on PGA Tour Champions
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