RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. – Golf’s most elite PGA TOUR Champions players continue to answer the roll call for the second-annual Galleri Classic Presented by Spotlight 29 Casino as a trio of past World No. 1-ranked golfers – 2006 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Vijay Singh, David Duval and Tom Lehman – and two-time U.S. Open champion and World Golf Hall of Famer Retief Goosen will take to the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at the famed Mission Hills Country Club from March 25-31.
The Galleri Classic, named after title sponsor GRAIL’s multi-cancer early detection test, will feature 78 PGA TOUR Champions professionals playing 54 holes (three rounds) of stroke play for a $2.2 million purse.
The Galleri Classic‘s ticket options are available online at www.TheGalleriClassic.com. Ticket offerings (March 27-31) include daily and weekly grounds tickets for $30 and $65, respectively, and clubhouse tickets (good only March 29-31) for $75 per day or $150 for all three competition rounds.
“We welcome Vijay, David, Tom and Retief – all classic champions – back for a return engagement at Mission Hills,” said Michelle DeLancy, tournament director of The Galleri Classic. “The inclusion of Vijay, Tom and David give our event five of the 25 golfers to have ever held the World No. 1 ranking. The Galleri Classic is lining up a long list of legends for spectators to enjoy watching here in Rancho Mirage later this month.”
Singh is the greatest golfer ever produced from Fiji and has won five titles on the PGA TOUR Champions to go with his 34 PGA TOUR victories (including three major championships), which rank 14th on the TOUR’s all-time win list. Singh finished in a tie for fifth place (10-under-par 206) in last year’s inaugural Galleri Classic.
For much of the decade of the 2000s, Singh was regarded as one of the world’s three best golfers, along with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. He became the PGA TOUR’s second FedExCup champion, after Woods, in 2008. Singh won the 2000 Masters and the PGA Championship in 1998 and 2004 – the latter title highlighting Singh’s career year in which he won a staggering nine times on the PGA TOUR. That was sandwiched by two years (2003 and 2005) in which he won four tournaments each.
Goosen, the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open champ and 2002 and 2007 Masters runner-up, was a six-time Presidents Cup International team member. The South African owns seven PGA TOUR victories and two PGA TOUR Champions titles, including a major triumph at the 2019 Kaulig Companies Championship. He shot an 11-under-par 205 and tied for third place in last year’s inaugural Galleri Classic.
In 2019, Goosen was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and named PGA TOUR Champions Rookie of the Year. His DP World Tour accolades include 12 titles (outside of his U.S. Open wins), a 2001 Player of the Year award and Order of Merit crowns in 2001 and 2002. Goosen spent over 250 consecutive weeks (from 2001-07) ranked in the world’s top 10 and achieved his highest ranking – No. 3 – in 2006.
Duval is a 13-time PGA TOUR winner who has often served as a GOLF Channel analyst in recent years. The 2001 Open Championship winner unseated Woods from the World No. 1 ranking in 1999, which was the same year by which Duval achieved fame locally in the Coachella Valley for firing a final-round 59 – still a course record on the Arnold Palmer Private Course at PGA WEST – to win The American Express.
Lehman, a winner of 12 PGA TOUR Champions and five PGA TOUR titles, reached the summit of the Official World Golf Ranking in 1997 on the heels of his winning the Open Championship, the TOUR Championship and being named the PGA TOUR’s Player of the Year in 1996. Lehman owns three senior major titles, achieved at the 2010 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and consecutive Regions Tradition titles in 2011 and 2012. He won the Charles Schwab Cup in 2011 and 2012 and was the 2011 PGA TOUR Champions Player of the Year.
Singh, Goosen, Duval and Lehman join 2023 PGA TOUR Champions Player of the Year Steve Stricker, 2023 Galleri Classic champion David Toms, World Golf Hall of Famers Fred Couples and Ernie Els, two-time major champion John Daly, Steven Alker, Stephen Ames, Jerry Kelly and Alex Cejka among The Galleri Classic’s early entrants. Stricker will raise awareness of multi-cancer early detection as an ambassador for Galleri.
A 13-time PGA TOUR champion and winner of the 2001 PGA Championship and the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, Toms led wire-to-wire and made birdies on six of his last 10 holes en route to winning the Galleri Classic with an overall score of 16-under-par 200 (65-70-65). It is the most recent of Toms’ four PGA TOUR Champions titles, as he became the circuit’s first two-time event winner in 2023.
In celebration of The Galleri Classic’s final round occurring on Easter Sunday (March 31), the event will host an Easter Celebration. This includes a 6:30 a.m. (PT) morning service in the bleachers surrounding the 18th green and an Easter egg hunt for children at noon on the driving range in kicking off its Championship Sunday.
In 2024, The Galleri Classic will continue its partnership with six cancer-related, non-profit organizations based in the Coachella Valley – American Cancer Society/Palm Desert, The Desert Cancer Foundation, Eisenhower Health, Hanson House, Pendleton Foundation and Shay’s Warriors Life After Cancer – and will direct a portion of its proceeds from the event to fund these local charities. The Galleri Classic’s fans play a part in supporting the tournament’s off-course charitable endeavor when securing tickets online at www.TheGalleriClassic.com.
The Champions Club on 18 provides The Galleri Classic’s most sophisticated spectator experience. Day-specific Champions Club tickets (good only during competition rounds March 29-31) can be secured for $350 per day, or Weekly Champions Club tickets (good March 29-31) are available for $1,050.
Limited availability remains for spots in The Galleri Classic’s official Pro-Am on March 27-28 (Wednesday and Thursday of tournament week). The Galleri Classic Pro-Am provides an unmatched opportunity for golf enthusiasts to go inside the ropes for a fantasy-like, bucket-list experience of playing on Mission Hills CC’s Dinah Shore Tournament Course while rubbing elbows with legends of the game. Amateurs interested in playing in the Pro-Am can seek more information and register at www.TheGalleriClassic.com/pro-am.
The Galleri Classic invites those 18 and older who are interested in a behind-the-scenes experience of how a professional golf tournament operates during tournament week (March 25-31) to join its invaluable team of more than 500 volunteers. Those interested in volunteering can learn more about each committee and submit a form of inquiry towards registration at www.TheGalleriClassic.com/volunteers.
Stay updated on The Galleri Classic at www.TheGalleriClassic.com and by following the event on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/gallericlassic), Instagram (@GalleriClassic) and Twitter (@GalleriClassic).
About GRAIL
GRAIL is a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. GRAIL is focused on alleviating the global burden of cancer by developing pioneering technology to detect and identify multiple deadly cancer types early. The company is using the power of next-generation sequencing, population-scale clinical studies, and state-of-the-art computer science and data science to enhance the scientific understanding of cancer biology, and to develop its multi-cancer early detection blood test. GRAIL is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA with locations in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and the United Kingdom. GRAIL, LLC, is a subsidiary of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) currently held separate from Illumina Inc. under the terms of the Interim Measures Order of the European Commission.
For more information, visit grail.com.
About Galleri®
The Galleri multi-cancer early detection test is a proactive tool in finding cancer early. With a simple blood draw, the Galleri test can identify DNA shed by cancer cells (unique “fingerprints”) to help screen for some of the deadliest cancers that don’t have recommended screening today, such as pancreatic, esophageal, ovarian, liver, and others.** The Galleri test can be used to screen for cancer before a person becomes symptomatic, when cancer may be more easily treated and potentially curable. The Galleri test can indicate the origin of the cancer, giving healthcare providers a roadmap of where to explore further. The Galleri test requires a prescription from a licensed healthcare provider and should be used in addition to recommended cancer screenings such as mammography, colonoscopy, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, or cervical cancer screening. It is recommended for people over the age of 50, or those with an elevated risk for cancer due to genetics, family history, environmental exposure, or other risk factors.
For more information about Galleri, visit galleri.com.
**Editor’s note: Sensitivity in study participants with –
Liver/bile duct cancer: 93.5% overall (100% stage I, 70.0% stage II, 100% stage III, 100% stage IV).
Esophagus cancer 85.0% overall (12.5% stage I, 64.7% stage II, 94.7% stage III, 100% stage IV).
Pancreas cancer: 83.7% overall (61.9% stage I, 60.0% stage II, 85.7% stage III, 95.9% stage IV).
Ovary cancer: 83.1% overall (50.0% stage I, 80.0% stage II, 87.1% stage III, 94.7% stage IV).
About Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians and Casino Properties
Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, are a Chemehuevi people whose traditional territory includes parts of California, Utah, Arizona, and Southern Nevada. In 1867, a group of Chemehuevi settled at the Oasis of Mara in Twentynine Palms, California. The Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians are their descendants. Today, the Tribe’s lands consist of two Reservations, which are located adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park and the City of Coachella. Spotlight 29 Casino, Coachella Crossroads and Tortoise Rock Casino are wholly owned business operations of the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. The Tribe continues to focus on providing opportunities of growth and prosperity for their future generations and the overall communities where their Reservations reside. For more information about the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, its culture, heritage, and traditions, visit 29palmstribe.org.
About PGA TOUR Champions
PGA TOUR Champions is a membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older, including 35 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. The Tour’s mission is to provide financial opportunities for its players, entertain and inspire its fans, deliver substantial value to its partners, create outlets for volunteers to give back and generate significant charitable and economic impact in tournament communities. Follow PGA TOUR Champions online at PGATOUR.com, on Facebook, on Twitter (@ChampionsTour), on Instagram (@pgatourchampions) and on TikTok (pgatourchampions).
All events are televised in the United States on Golf Channel, the exclusive cable-television partner of PGA TOUR Champions. Internationally, PGA TOUR Champions coverage is available in more than 170 countries and territories via 22 media partners.
