The newest chapter in the celebrated history of Coachella Valley tournament golf may not be a nascent narrative, but that’s just fine for a region long affiliated with some graceful aging.
Returning to Mission Hills CC in the mid-valley pocket of Rancho Mirage for the second consecutive March (29-31), the now-annual Galleri Classic has fast become a must-play for the 50-plus set on PGA Tour Champions.
“Our goal is to grow the tournament from one year to the next,” said Michelle DeLancy, tournament director of the Galleri Classic. “Last year, for our inaugural event, it was about what do people expect to see from the Champions Tour after the LPGA had played here for 51 years. I think we set the bar last year, and now it’s about raising that each year to make the Galleri bigger and better. It really comes down to the golf course, and this course is amazing. Some of the things you hear from the players is that the Dinah is the best course they’ll play all year, and that this event feels like a major.”
With a 2024 field featuring six World Golf Hall of Famers, five former World No. 1s and 19 major championship winners, the Galleri’s sophomore tee sheet reads like a luminary listing of the game’s past four decades. Along with defending champion David Toms, this year’s field included Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Vijay Singh, John Daly, Fred Couples (who had to withdraw), Retief Goosen, David Duval, Jim Furyk, Tom Lehman and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
“Yeah, it's great, this is a great spot for us. It was a great spot for the ladies when they were here and it's a good spot for us, too,” said Stricker. “The whole setup is really nice. We're here at a good time of the year where weather is usually pretty good. The course is in great shape and, yeah, the demographics, you know, it's a little bit older clientele just like we are so they can kind of relate to us, and there's a lot of name people here that they grew up watching when we were playing the regular Tour.”
In short time, the 50-plusers have proven a fine fit for a desert golf chronicle which has welcomed the PGA Tour every year since 1960 and hosted the LPGA at Mission Hills for 51 consecutive years (1972-2002), where the ladies dueled on the same Dinah Shore Tournament Course now played by the men’s senior set.
“Lots of history out here with a good, solid golf course, and it’s definitely one of the better courses we’ll play all year,” said Furyk. “They did a good job last year, building this tournament; word gets out, one way or the other, good or bad, and I think the buzz here was really good. If I were to rank the tournaments we have throughout the year, I’d definitely have the Galleri ranked up there in a pretty good spot. And, yeah, there are probably a lot of folks out here who are retired, and watched a lot of our players on TV for decades. So, this place is a good fit for us.”
With no shortage of annual Tour events in SoCal – the AmEx, Farmers, Gensis and Champions Tour’s Hoag Classic event in Newport Beach – the Galleri has fast carved out it’s niche of presenting proximity to legends paired with ease of tourney access for fans.
“The Galleri, it just has a very chill feel, and fans can get here without having to navigate big city streets or 15 different parking lots or busses just to get on to a property,” adds DeLancy. “It’s easy to just get dropped off right in front with a shuttle, enter the fan zone, the concessions are right there and so is the 10th tee box. Not a lot of walking necessarily needed to get around the course, and lots of places to sit back and see these legends in a unique way.”