RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. – The majority of the field for The Galleri® Classic was finalized on Friday with 74-of-78 players set for the inaugural PGA TOUR Champions tournament, contested March 24-26 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at storied Mission Hills Country Club. The Galleri Classic is a 54-hole, no-cut event and its first champion in tournament history will be awarded $330,000 from a $2.2 million purse.
The Galleri Classic, named after title sponsor GRAIL’s multi-cancer early detection test, brings PGA TOUR Champions golf back to the Coachella Valley for the first time since 1993.
“We are looking to tee off next week’s first edition of The Galleri Classic with a smash, and we have a major-like PGA TOUR Champions field to prove it on a major championship-caliber golf course,” said Michelle DeLancy, tournament director of The Galleri Classic. “Our field is stacked with worldwide golfing icons and the Tour’s leading golfers, personalities and storylines. You name the PGA TOUR Champions golfer you’d like to see, and we have him etching his name on the scorecard in the inaugural Galleri Classic.”
The first Galleri Classic could be the scene for a lasting legacy on the PGA TOUR Champions. Germany’s Bernhard Langer, a 45-time PGA TOUR Champions winner, the 1985 and 1993 Masters champion and the very first No. 1-ranked golfer (upon the 1986 introduction of the Official World Golf Ranking), may look to make history in surpassing Hale Irwin to become the circuit’s all-time winningest golfer with a triumph at The Galleri Classic.
Among those with Southern California ties set to play in The Galleri Classic include part-time Coachella Valley resident and 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples, past Mission Hills CC resident and 10-time PGA TOUR Champions winner John Cook, 1998 Masters and Open Championship winner Mark O’Meara, who first took up golf as a teenager residing in Mission Viejo, and Oxnard native and 1995 U.S. Open champion Corey Pavin.
Those receiving sponsor exemptions into The Galleri Classic are long-hitting fan favorite John Daly, major champion at the 1991 PGA Championship and 1995 Open Championship, Billy Andrade, the PGA TOUR’s 2022 Payne Stewart Award winner which annually recognizes a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart’s values of character, charity and sportsmanship, Mario Tiziani, Matt Gogel and Dicky Pride.
Other leading PGA TOUR Champions golfers entered into The Galleri Classic include:
- Padraig Harrington, who won four tournaments in his 2022 PGA TOUR Champions debut season and was announced last week as part of the World Golf Hall of Fame’s 2024 induction class.
- Steve Stricker, a four-time senior major champion who has won four of his 12 PGA TOUR Champions titles in his last seven starts.
- Steven Alker, the PGA TOUR Champions‘ 2022 Player of the Year.
- Miguel Angel Jimenez, who holds 13 PGA TOUR Champions titles and two senior major wins.
- Jim Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who owns three PGA TOUR Champions titles and one senior major.
By the numbers, The Galleri Classic field features:
- Ten World Golf Hall of Famers – Bernhard Langer (Class of 2002), Vijay Singh (Class of 2006), Jose Maria Olazabal (Class of 2009), Ernie Els (Class of 2011), Sandy Lyle (Class of 2012), Fred Couples (Class of 2013), Colin Montgomerie (Class of 2013), Mark O’Meara (Class of 2015), Retief Goosen (Class of 2019) and Padraig Harrington (to be inducted among the Class of 2024).
- Six of the 25 World No. 1-ranked golfers (since the Official World Golf Ranking was introduced in 1986) in the sport’s history – Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Tom Lehman, Ernie Els, David Duval and, most recently, 34-time PGA TOUR winner and three-time major champion Vijay Singh.
- Twenty major champions. The following 10 golfers have won major titles on the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions:
- Bernhard Langer (1985 and 1993 Masters; 11 senior majors)
- Tom Lehman (1996 Open Championship; three senior majors)
- Fred Couples (1992 Masters; two senior majors)
- Vijay Singh (2000 Masters, 1998 and 2004 PGA Championship; one senior major)
- Padraig Harrington (2007 and 2008 Open Championship, 2008 PGA Championship; one senior major)
- Retief Goosen (2001 and 2004 U.S. Open; one senior major)
- Mark O’Meara (1998 Masters and 1998 Open Championship; one senior major)
- Darren Clarke (2011 Open Championship; one senior major)
- Jim Furyk (2003 U.S. Open; one senior major)
- David Toms (2001 PGA Championship; one senior major)
Other major champions (without a senior major): John Daly, David Duval, Ernie Els, Lee Janzen, Sandy Lyle, Jose Maria Olazabal, Corey Pavin, Jeff Sluman, Mike Weir and Y.E. Yang.
Daily ticket options for The Galleri Classic, including official Pro-Am rounds on Wednesday and Thursday (March 22-23) and three rounds of competition from March 24-26, are on sale at the tournament’s website, www.thegallericlassic.com.
2023 The Galleri Classic Final Field (74 of 78 players) as of March 17, 2023
Alker, Steven
Allen, Michael
Allenby, Robert
Ames, Stephen
Andrade, Billy +
Appleby, Stuart
Austin, Woody
Barron, Doug
Bertsch, Shane
Broadhurst, Paul
Cejka, Alex
Choi, K.J.
Clarke, Darren
Cook, John
Cooper, Brian
Couples, Fred
Daly, John +
Dawson, Marco
DiMarco, Chris
Duke, Ken
Durant, Joe
Duval, David
Els, Ernie
Estes, Bob
Flesch, Steve
Funk, Fred
Furyk, Jim
Gay, Brian
Gogel, Matt +
Goosen, Retief
Goydos, Paul
Green, Richard
Haas, Jay
Harrington, Padraig
Herron, Tim
Huston, John
Jaidee, Thongchai
Janzen, Lee
Jiménez, Miguel Angel
Jobe, Brandt
Karlsson, Robert
Kelly, Jerry
Labritz, Rob
Langer, Bernhard
Lehman, Tom
Lyle, Sandy
Maggert, Jeff
Mayfair, Billy
McCarron, Scott
McKenzie, David
Mediate, Rocco
Montgomerie, Colin
O’Meara, Mark
O’Neal, Timothy
Olazábal, José María
Pampling, Rod
Parel, Scott
Pavin, Corey
Pernice Jr., Tom
Petrovic, Tim
Pride, Dicky +
Quigley, Brett
Senden, John
Short, Jr., Wes
Singh, Vijay
Sluman, Jeff
Stricker, Steve
Sutherland, Kevin
Tiziani, Mario +
Toms, David
Triplett, Kirk
Verplank, Scott
Weir, Mike
Yang, Y.E.
3 Tuesday qualifiers (TBD)
+ Sponsor Exemption
MEDIA CONTACT:
Damian Secore, Brener Zwikel & Associates
951-454-6047; damians@bzapr.com
