Late bogeys for leaders prove again how strong Dinah Shore Tournament Course can be
The 2024 Galleri Classic will be remembered for a long time in the desert, not so much for the stellar play, but for the mistakes that so many golfer made coming down the stretch on the difficult back nine of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.
The 2024 Galleri Classic will be remembered for a long time in the desert, not so much for the stellar play, but for the mistakes that so many golfer made coming down the stretch on the difficult back nine of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.
Eventual winner Retief Goosen said it himself when he described the closing holes were not so much thrilling as they were disastrous. It was Goosen’s ability to overcome a big mistake on the par-5 18th hole – making a par after thinning a 4-iron into the lake in front of the green – that proved the difference in the day. Playing partner Steven Alker’s own shot into the lake with a 5-iron led to a bogey, his second in the closing two holes, as Goosen won by a single shot.
Alker’s two bogeys, a three-putt from 30 feet on the par-3 17th and an inability to get up and down on the 18th hole after hitting the lake, were just some of the mistakes down the stretch for the golfers chasing the title. Consider than Alex Cejka bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes after grabbing a share of the lead with Alker. Ricardo Gonzalez simply lost his ability to drive the ball on the back nine and only hit three fairways in his entire round. In his final six holes, he had two birdies, but three bogeys.
David Toms, in contention to repeat his 2023 victory, bogeyed the 12th, 14th and 15th holes to fall out of contention. But Goosen found a way to make birdies at the 11th and 15th hole and then salvage par on the 17th and 18th holes for a deserved victory.
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“The last few holes were playing tough. You miss it in the wrong place, it was tough to get it close,” Goosen said. “I don't know. At one stage I think I was four shots off the lead I think.”
It’s rare that so many talented players make so many bogeys in the closing stretch of a tournament. The one player who didn’t make a bogey on the back nine or in his final round at all, Goosen, deserved the victory.
Course record
When Ricardo Gonzalez made 10 birdies in the second round of the Galleri Classic in difficult weather conditions on the way to a 9-under 63, it broke the course record for the tournament of 65 posted in the inaugural event last year by David Toms twice and by both Retief Goosen and Billy Andrade in the third round. But in the LPGA event played on the course for 51 years, the record was 62. That was by Lorena Ochoa in the first round of the 2006 event, when the Mexican star had 10 birdies and no bogeys. Ochoa, at the time the rising star in the women’s game, ended up losing that year’s event in a playoff with Karrie Webb. Webb holed a wedge on her third shot for an eagle on the 18th hole in regulation of the final round, but Ochoa made a six-foot eagle putt on that same hole to force the playoff.
Rain and wind
There have been some wild weather extremes in the last weekend of March and the first week of April when it comes to golf events at Mission Hills Country Club. The LPGA event saw several rounds suspended because of high winds on the course through the years, and at times the temperatures for that tournament touched 100 degrees.
But the weather for the Galleri Classic might have been the strangest for a golf event in the desert. With an record low maximum temperature of 62 on Saturday, and that coming early in the morning, with cold winds and rain on Saturday and harder rains on Sunday that never threatened to suspend play, the second Galleri Classic might have had the strangest weather of any golf tournament in the desert over the last 40 years.
The American Express has seen days of play suspended by rain and flooding, and some cold days when playoff continued in tough conditions. Arnold Palmer won his final PGA Tour event in 1973 in rain at Bermuda Dunes Country Club, and the 2017 American Express was hampered by rains as well.
The good news for the Galleri Classic is that fans still managed to find their way to the Mission Hills course despite forecasts of rain and the actually rain that fell. Crowds were smaller over the weekend than in 2023, but the weather was the chief cause.
Withdrawals
One thing you can count on at PGA Tour events, particularly a PGA Tour Champions event, is withdrawals. There were three at the Galleri Classic. Brandt Jobe withdrew before the tournament, so no reason was required from him. But Fred Couples withdrew Friday morning because of his back, while Rocco Mediate withdrew after the second round, also because of a bad back.
Additions successful
The Galleri Classic staff led by tournament director Michelle Delancy added several events to tournament week this year and they all seemed to work well. The Tuesday golf clinic with Notah Begay III at the Coachella Crossroads, sponsored by Spotlight 299 Casino, the presenting sponsor of the Galleri Classic, worked well and could easily grow in the coming years. The Sunday morning Easter service was chilly but well attended, and more than 150 children were part of the Easter egg hunt on the driving range at Mission Hills Sunday afternoon. Next year’s Galleri Classic is expected to end on March 30, but that won’t be Easter Sunday in 2025.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Galleri Classic to be remembered for bogeys and how Retief Goosen avoided them
