Past Bob Hope winner John Cook, fan favorite John Daly added to Galleri Classic field

John Cook, a two-time winner of the desert’s PGA Tour event who grew up at Mission Hills Country Club, and Corey Pavin, who won the desert’s PGA Tour title in 1987 and 1991, are among the latest group of PGA Tour Champions players to commit to the debut Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage in March.

Mark O’Meara, who lost consecutive playoffs in 1991 and 1992 at the tournament then known as the Bob Hope Classic, and fan favorite and two-time major championship winner John Daly are also now committed to the Galleri Classic. That new PGA Tour Champions event will be played March 24-26 at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Already committed to the field are Fred Couples, who won the Hope tournament in 1998, along with another World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els, former U.S. Open winner Jim Furyk and 12-time PGA Tour Champions winner Steve Stricker.

More:Fred Couples, Ernie Els lead early commitments to desert's new senior golf event

The $2.2 million Galleri Classic will feature 78 golfers playing three days at the Shore Course, the former home of the LPGA’s Chevron Championship major event. The event will be televised by Golf Channel.

Cook lived at Mission Hills while a teenager, learning the game under then-head pro at Mission Hills Ken Venturi. He maintained a home at Mission Hills well into his professional career. As a pro, Cook lost the Hope tournament, now The American Express, in a playoff to Donnie Hammond in 1986, then won the title in a five-man playoff in 1992 and again in 1997 with a 33-under-par total for 90 holes.

Past desert winners

Pavin won one of the most famous Hope tournaments in 1987, the first year the event was hosted at the Stadium Course at PGA West. Despite complaints from players about the difficulty of that course that saw the Stadium Course leave the event after 1987, Pavin finished at 19 under for the week, including a week-best 5-under 67 on the course in the final round, for a one-shot win over Bernhard Langer. In 1991, Pavin set a 90-hole PGA Tour scoring record of 29 under but still had to beat O’Meara in a one-hole playoff at Indian Wells Country Club.

O’Meara, who was part of the five-man playoff in 1992 won by Cook, posted six top-10 finishes in the Hope in 24 appearances. He would later go on to win both the Masters and the British Open in 1998.

Daly exploded into golf with an unlikely victory in the PGA Championship in 1991, then added the British Open title in 1995 at St. Andrews in Scotland. A winner of five PGA Tour events, Daly’s length off the tee and blue-collar approach to the game has made him one of the most popular players of the last 30 years.

Tickets for the Galleri Classic as well as berths in the two one-day pro-ams March 22 and 23 and information on volunteering for the event can be found at thegalericlassic.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: PGA Tour Champions: John Daly, Mark O'Meara, John Cook, Corey Pavin join Galleri field