Galleri Classic looks to grow fan base and sponsorship in second year
One thing officials of the Galleri Classic learned from the inaugural event last year was that the Coachella Valley was ready for the PGA Tour Champions to return to the desert.
“I would say the community was very welcoming in year one and the Champions Tour players feel like it couldn’t have been any better," said Michelle Delancy, the tournament director of the Galleri Classic. “And we are seeing both of those for year two, which is great.”
As the Galleri Classic prepares for its second year in the valley at Mission Hill Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Delancy said that as pleased as the golfers and the sponsor Grail were with the tournament in 2023, there were things everyone learned that can make 2024 a better event.
“People learned in year one about the Champions Tour, who these players are, what a Champions Tour event is like,” Delancy said. “It is continuing to get the word out, to get more people interested in coming to the event, playing in the pro-am, volunteering. I think that’s what we learned mostly.”
The second Galleri Classic for golfers 50 and over will be played Friday through Sunday on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills. It was preceded by two one-day pro-ams on Wednesday and Thursday.
Last year’s tournament was the first PGA Tour Champions event played in the desert since 1997, when the Legends of Golf event was played for the last time at PGA West in La Quinta in 1997.
After such a long absence, Delancy said it did take a year for desert fans to reacquaint themselves with the PGA Tour Champions.
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“When people hear the word senior and then they think about who it is, and you think a senior is a John Daly, a Fred Couples and a Justin Leonard, you go, yeah, okay,” Delancy said. “The guys that you recognize, all of these legends that you would just love to come out and walk the course or have an opportunity to play in the pro-am with them.”
For David Toms, a past major champion on the regular PGA Tour and the winner of the Galleri Classic last year, the players had some learning to do in the first year, too. Much of that had to do with the Dinah Shore Tournament Course, which had hosted an LPGA major championship for 51 years but wasn’t that well known to the senior golfers. The seniors knew the desert mostly from playing in the old Bob Hope Classic, now The American Express.
“To me, it was an old style Palm Springs golf course, meaning like a Tamarisk or a La Quinta Country Club, compared to the Stadium golf course or any of the PGA West golf courses, Classic Club, stuff like that, kind of the new desert golf courses,” Toms said of the Shore Course. “It was just kind of an old tree-lined, here it is right in front of you, keep the ball in play and try to make putts.
"We had a couple of days when the wind got up at times and made it difficult, but it is an exciting golf course," Toms said. "Some of us had seen some of the holes on television when the women were playing and obviously knew about the 18th hole (a famed par-5 with an island green).”
More sponsors, more fans
Another change for 2024 is the addition of a presenting sponsor. While Grail remains the main sponsor, promoting its Galleri multi-cancer detection test, Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella is now the presenting sponsor. As part of that deal, PGA Tour Champions member and NBC golf commentator Notah Begay III held a junior clinic at the Spotlight 29 facility on Tuesday.
“As we continue to grow our roots down here, that’s where we can continue to meet more people on the sponsorship side,” Delancy said. “Which is where we got a new presenting sponsor in Spotlight 29.”
The tournament also hopes to attract at least as many fans to Mission Hills this year as it did last year. The tournament estimated 25,000 people for the five-day event last year, with Delancy saying officials learned that desert fans like to buy tickets closer to the start of the event, not weeks ahead of time. If the crowds were larger than expected, it was something the players appreciated, she said.
“The players loved the crowds last year. They love the way the course was set up,” Delancy said. “Many of them said to me and the tour that it felt like a major, the way the course was set, the organization of the tournament, which was very nice, and the amount of people that were out.
“These guys love playing in front of crowds and there are some towns they go to where just a few people come out,” she added. “I think the Coachella Valley really showed up nicely.”
Added Toms: “I thought the golf tournament was well attended, and that has a direct impact on the charities and the money we are able to raise for that."
Other changes from 2023 for the Galleri Classic will include a few new added spectator areas on the course as well as a large video board in the gallery areas off the golf course and near the Galleri testing site that will be open to all fans. Mostly, though, Delancy hopes to just grow the tournament with more people knowing what the 2023 tournament was about.
“This year is an opportunity to put an Easter service in, because it is on Easter, and put a few little things to welcome maybe more than just the golf fan,” she said. “We will continue to do that each year, to add a little something, to continue to grow the tournament without trying to do it all in year one and see how it sticks.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Galleri Classic still putting down roots for senior golf in the desert
