Inaugural Galleri Classic takeaways: Cigars, carts, great golf and a laid-back vibe
I just took in my first-ever PGA Tour Champions (senior tour) event, the inaugural Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage, and the vibe was a fun combination of competitive, laid back and friendly.
As a new member of a certain age decade — let's just say that I am now eligible for the senior tour — it was fun to see the golfers who were in my age range. It was a little bit of a time capsule moment for me as every group seemed to feature someone I loved watching when we were both in our 20s: John Daly, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Ernie Els and David Duval to name a few. Add in some of the all-time greats in their 60s like Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer and golf fans like me really had to keep our heads on a swivel to see all of our favorites.
Tooling around the grounds this weekend, these were the things that caught my eye:
Cigars and carts
Being a golf reporter in the desert means I've seen a lot of PGA Tour and LPGA Tour competitions, but the senior tour has some specific things you don't see on the other two circuits.
I watched Vijay Singh stripe a perfect drive on the first hole Saturday, his caddie took off down the fairway and Singh made a beeline toward the gallery surrounding the tee box. "Oh, he's going to say hi to a friend or family member," I thought.
But Singh ducked under the rope, parted the crowd without saying a word, hopped into a cart and zoomed off toward his ball. Only about 15% of the players in the event used a cart, which is perfectly allowed on the senior tour, but it still caught me off guard. As one member of the gallery quipped as Singh weaved through the crowd, "Vijay's a good driver, both of the golf ball and the cart."
Cigars were quite prevalent. Rocco Mediate, for example, started his round with a big old stogie in his mouth. Mediate stepped up to the first tee, threw the cigar on the ground, hit his drive, picked his cigar back up, tapped off some of the grass and put it back in his mouth. It was a funny visual for me, especially as I imagined, let's say, Lydia Ko or Nelly Korda doing the same thing on the same tee one year ago.
Colored golf balls
I remember in the 1980s that using a colored golf ball was all the rage. A sleeve of those fluorescent yellowish-green balls was a great birthday gift for a 13-year-old me. So much so, that if I came to a hole where I had to go over water, I might switch out my colored ball for a lame-old white one, just in case it got wet. So this weekend definitely brought back the nostalgia. Anyway, you see a lot of them on the senior tour, yellow, orange, pink. Not sure if it's because they all played during that colorful golf ball era or because the colored balls are easier to see for aging eyes. Perhaps less romantically their sponsors are asking them to. Whatever the reason it was noticeable.
Laid-back vibe
It's not a surprise that there is a little more of a laid-back vibe to a senior event than a PGA tournament or an LPGA major, but to see it and be immersed in it was fun. The field is smaller, it's only three days, and the monetary stakes aren't quite as high.
This is not to besmirch the competitive nature of these guys, of course. But I thought about David Toms on the first tee on Sunday. He was the leader, about to start the final round, having slept on the lead. That's usually a recipe for nerves, but Toms, and all these guys have played through almost every scenario in their careers, so almost nothing that happens in a regular senior tour event can rattle them.
A smaller crowd than we're used to at the LPGA event, enjoying perfect weather, going from hole to hole, saying "Go get 'em" to John Daly as he drives by in a cart. That's the vibe, and I can get used to it.
Grail not Galleri
Your first assumption might be that a company called Galleri is the sponsor of this event, but the company is actually called Grail. Galleri is the name of the early-detection cancer screening test they have created, where a simple blood sample can reveal warning signs of up to 50 different types of cancer. All the players were allowed to take the blood test which requires a 10-14 day window for results. Champion David Toms even mentioned it in his final address to the crowd on the 18th green during the trophy ceremony.
"It's been a great week and I hope my test comes back negative," he said to a laugh, before adding "but seriously that's something we all need to do, especially at our age and we really appreciate your involvement."
The combination of the senior tour, the cancer-screening focus and the desert community was an excellent match. There seemed to be a lot more cohesion between all the parties involved out here than the closing years of the ANA and Chevron sponsorship of the desert's LPGA event.
Long putters
I had forgotten about the long-putter since you almost never see them anymore on the PGA or LPGA Tour, but as a card-carrying member of the Bad Back Club, I was happy to see them being employed this week. Vijay Singh, Bernhard Langer and Billy Mayfair were among the men using the extra-long putter this week.
Gallery ebbs and flows
For those wondering about the size of the crowd, my best guess is that it felt to me like it was about 70% as large as a normal crowd for the LPGA event. What was very noticeable, and kind of unusual, is that the crowd on Saturday was much more robust than the crowd on Sunday. Not sure if that's normal for senior tour events, but it was quite a stark difference.
It's a hit
The primary and most important takeaway from the inaugural Galleri Classic is that it's a hit. The field was as strong as any of the major championships played on the senior tour. Players honestly seemed to enjoy it and the small-but-appreciative galleries enjoyed their three days in the idyllic desert weather.
Toms said that this felt like an important event and he's confident that the players who were here will come back and the players who weren't here will find out what it was like and be here next year.
When Toms addressed the crowd after his win, he had a simple message during his thank you speech.
"Most people think we're over the hill, but I think we showed this week that we can still play pretty well out here," he said. "Hope you enjoyed it, hope you had a great time and tell your friends. Bring a friend next year and we'll be back trying to entertain you once again."
Those sound like marching orders from Toms, so be ready in 2024. Next year's Galleri Classic will be back in the desert March 29-31.
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Galleri Classic: Why my first PGA Tour Champions event was a success
