PALM DESERT, Calif. — Major champions Fred Couples, Ernie Els and Jim Furyk join Steve Stricker as among the first players to commit to the Galleri Classic, the tournament that marks the return of the PGA Tour Champions to the Coachella Valley.
Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, has been a resident on and off in the desert for decades and played golf at Mission Hills Country Club during his time representing Landmark Land in the Coachella Valley. Els is a two-time winner of both the U.S. Open and the British Open. Furyk is a 12-time PGA Tour winner including the 2003 U.S. Open. Stricker has won 12 times ach on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions and was the captain of the victorious U.S Ryder Cup team in 2021.
The Galleri Classic, named after title sponsor Grail’s multi-cancer early detection test, debuts March 24-26 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club.
Couples, Els, Furyk and Stricker will be part of a 78-player field, the first Champions tournament in the Coachella Valley since 1993. The golfers will play 54 holes March 24-26 for a purse of $2.2 million, with pro-am play set for March 22-23.
“The Galleri Classic is thrilled to welcome Fred Couples, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker to help us establish a new, special desert golf tradition,” said Michelle DeLancy, tournament director of The Galleri Classic, in a statement announcing the commitments. “This foursome is proof positive of our commitment to bringing many of golf’s icons, fan favorites and the strongest field possible to a community that is perfectly matched for the PGA Tour Champions.”
Couples and Els share in the honor of induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame (Els inducted in 2011, Couples in 2013). They are two of 25 golfers to have been No. 1-ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Couples, who owns 14 PGA Tour Champions victories to go with his 15 wins on the PGA Tour, has won two Champions majors as well as the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2013.
Regarded as one of South Africa’s two most accomplished golfers in history, Els counts the 1994 and 1997 U.S. Open and crowns at the 2002 and 2012 Open Championship among his 19 career PGA Tour victories. He enters his third Champions season while having recorded 32 top-10 results in 59 starts on the circuit.
Stricker is the Champions tour’s hottest golfer, claiming the season-opening tournament last week in Hawaii to win his third consecutive PGA Tour Champions…
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