La Paloma Country Club 'will be a challenge' for golfers in Cologuard Classic

Same tournament, new course, different challenges.

The PGA Tour Champions circuit uprooted the Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences, Tucson’s annual professional golf tournament, which started as the Tucson Conquistadores Classic in 2015, from Omni Tucson National to La Paloma Country Club after nine years. 

The 10th Cologuard Classic, which also aims to spread awareness for colorectal cancer screening, tees off Friday at La Paloma Country Club. The three-day event continues Saturday before concluding with the winner trying on the iconic Conquistador Helmet after Sunday’s final round.

The Cologuard Classic will host its tournament at La Paloma at least through 2027.

When the Cologuard Classic was in the market for switching courses, tournament executive director Geoff Hill told the Star this week that “we narrowed it down to about five properties,” however “La Paloma just turned out to be the best fit.”

The three-course (Canyon, Hill and Ridge), 27-hole setup at La Paloma was designed by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, whose company, “Nicklaus Design,” has created over 400 courses spanning four continents. La Paloma Country Club is one of two Nicklaus-designed courses in Tucson, along with Dove Mountain at The Ritz-Carlton, which hosted WGC-Accenture Match Play.

In practice and pro-am rounds this week, the biggest difference between Omni Tucson National and La Paloma is the topography. La Paloma is hilly with more slopes and isn’t as forgiving as the more flat Omni Tucson National due to the surrounding desert landscape.

“The terrain, it’s up and down,” said 2018 Cologuard Classic champion Steve Stricker, who won the Charles Schwab Cup last year. “A lot of elevated tee shots, where Omni was pretty much flat all the way around. It’s completely different. We have a desert course here where if you miss a fairway, you’re usually going to be in the desert. Probably not a very good lie in there, either, it’s pretty thick. And then the Omni was kind of a normal golf course, parkland golf course, trees and some rough. Yeah, so totally two different golf courses.”

Entering his second official season on PGA Tour Champions, Stewart Cink, who was a runner-up to Tiger Woods at WGC-Accenture Match Play in Marana in 2008, played at La Paloma Country Club as a high schooler but doesn’t “remember a lot about the course when I went out there, it’s a new course for me.”

“It’s a lot of fun. There’s some cool shots, it’s beautiful scenery," Cink said. "I know there’s a lot of really good golf courses in Tucson that are just like this. It’s just a really fun place to play golf.”

Last year’s Cologuard Classic champion, David Toms, has found success in Tucson in over three decades as a professional golfer, including a third-place finish at the Northern Telecom Open in 1992. Toms shot 15-under-par and held off Robert Karlsson by a shot for Toms’ first tournament win in two years.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing golf in Tucson,” said Toms. “It goes all the way back to my rookie year on Tour when I finished third and kind of kept my card here early in the year. It is tough when you’re leaving a golf course I played for 30 years, coming to a new venue, but it’s a great spot. I enjoy this golf course. I think it fits my eye pretty well.

“Still getting used to the greens. You know, being up here on the side of the mountain, there’s a lot going on on the greens, so you have to pay attention to slope, you have to pay attention to grain. I’m still getting used to that speed on the greens and the breaks, but if I can get that down, I’ll feel pretty good about it.”

Toms said the key to a productive round at La Paloma is “to obviously keep it in play.”

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“There’s a lot of trouble out there off the tee so you have to be accurate,” said Toms. “Even though I’m saying that, it still seems like a second-shot golf course with the way the greens are designed, and then obviously around the greens, pretty difficult if you miss them.”

Luckily for Toms and his cohorts, the 18th hole at Omni Tucson National, widely considered one of the most challenging holes on PGA Tour Champions, won’t test the players and hurt scores. There were a combined 73 bogeys and double-bogeys on the 18th hole in the final two days of the Cologuard Classic.

“Yeah, I hated it,” Stricker said.

The new challenge this year will be discovering which hole — or holes — present the most daunting challenges in tournament play.

“Well, there’s quite a few of them that can pose some problems if you’re not hitting the fairway,” Toms said. “I’m not sure which one it will actually be this year, I guess it depends on what the wind does, but I’m certainly glad coming up the last hole if you have a chance to win, I don’t have to try to play that 18th hole at Tucson National.”

Stricker said, “they’re all really challenging” at La Paloma.

“There’s some holes out there where you really have to pay attention. You can bite off as much as you want on some of the holes, cut the corners, but you could pay the price by hitting it in the desert, too,” he added. “It’s about taking care of your ball this week, keeping it in play. Greens are small, they can tuck the pins in some tough spots, so you’re going to have to pay attention to that.

“It’s new for everybody, so it will be a challenge, I think.”

Chip shots

Eight of the nine past champions will compete at the 78-player Cologuard Classic this week. The top five players in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, including No. 1 Steven Alker, will tee off this week.

Former Arizona Wildcat Ted Purdy, who received a sponsor exemption to compete in the Cologuard Classic, will tee off at 10:10 with Tom Pernice Jr. and John Senden.

Ex-Wildcat Jim Furyk is not among the players competing at the Cologuard Classic. The 53-year-old Furyk is out with a back injury. Bernhard Langer, the 2020 Cologuard Classic winner and all-time wins (46) leader on PGA Tour Champions, is out after recently rupturing his Achilles tendon.

NBC’s “Today Show” will broadcast live from La Paloma Country Club Friday morning between 6-7 a.m. leading up to the Cologuard Classic. Today Show co-anchor Craig Melvin will host live segments from “Survivor Central” near the 15th green, which will have more than 200 colorectal cancer awareness advocates from 32 states and three countries.

Cologuard Classic will host its annual concert at Rillito Park on Friday at 4 p.m. The concert lineup is Midland, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, The Jons and Drew Cooper.

Notable participants in the Cologuard Classic pro-am include Arizona women’s golf head coach Laura Ianello, former MLB star pitcher Roger Clemens, former longtime UA softball head coach Mike Candrea and UA baseball legend Terry Francona, who recently retired as manager of the Cleveland Guardians. The second day of the pro-am on Thursday was canceled due to inclement weather.