The allure of golf in the winter in the Coachella Valley has never been lost on the PGA of America.
The PGA has played a variety of tournaments in the desert in the winter months, from professional events to amateur tournaments. The latest is the PGA Club Championship, bringing more than 500 club champions from across the country to three desert facilities. Even in a week with lower temperatures and clouds, the desert is ideal for such a tournament in December, a PGA of America coordinator said.
“Comparative to a Maine or Alaska, you know we have representatives from all 50 states here over two weekends, and this is pretty warm for a lot of them,” said Matthew Thompson, city tour associate for the PGA who is coordinating the tournament at PGA West in La Quinta, Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert and the Indian Wells Golf Resort.
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The event is open to any golfer who wins a club championship and has that victory reported by their club on the PGA of America’s website. That automatically sends out an invitation to that champion to play in the event, which debuted earlier this year with a weekend at Pinehurst in South Carolina in March. The first event drew 312 players in men’s and women’s open divisions. The desert event has attracted 530 players, with the PGA Tour adding senior and champion divisions for older players. In all, more than 3,000 invitations were sent out for the current event.
“The format is straight up stroke play, no handicap,” Thompson said. “So there is a very mixed bag of playing ability. A club champion at a no-name municipal course in the middle of Iowa might not be as good as a club champion from Shinnecock or Oakmont. But from an experience standpoint, yes, there is a competition and there are winners and losers, but a lot of people just want to play in a high-level event and they want to meet people from across the country.”
The sheer number of people participating in the event limits the tournament to major golf destinations, Thompson said.
“If you think about it, the amount of players we are pulling in, trying to find the facilities that can handle that and still offer championship courses, there aren’t than many facilities that can keep up,” he said.
The event began last weekend with play in the women’s open division, the senior division (50-59) and the champions division (60 and older). Robyn Puckett of Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells won the 60-and-over division with a 54-hole score of 9-over 225, five shots better than Kristen Fenwick of The River Club in Bradenton, Fla.
The open division was won by Ali Mulhall of Round Valley Golf Course in Morgan, Utah, with a 3-under 213 total, seven shots better than runner-up Addison Klonowski of Naples Grande Golf Club in Florida. The senior division title went to Dena Levy of Saticoy Golf Club in Somis, near Santa Barbara. Levy’s 223 total was good for an 11-shot victory.
Play in the men’s open division starts Saturday, with play in the senior and champions division starting Sunday. Play will be on the Stadium Course at PGA West, the Firecliff Course at Desert Willow and both the Players and Celebrity courses at Indian Wells Golf Resort. The tournament is open to spectators for free, Thompson said.
