La Quinta is at Center of PGA Tour Stop
One of the highlights of the winter season—for the La Quinta Resort & Club and the City of La Quinta—is the annual PGA Tour event that that is all staged within the city in January of each year. Once known as the Bob Hope Classic, what is now referred to as the Career Builder Challenge is normally the first PGA Tour event every calendar year to be played on the mainland US and three courses in the city—the host TPC Stadium Course, the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club— comprise the lineup. The TPC Course and the Nicklaus are part of the PGA West complex that is accessible to La Quinta Resort & Club guests and are featured during the Golf Channel telecasts of the tournament. The resort itself takes center stage during the Challenge week—not only from the celebrity clientele that stay there—but the tournament parties and functions that have become a highlight of the season. Throughout the city, block parties, mixers, youth golf clinics and even a golf industry roundtable are part of the many activities that keep both locals and visitors busy. “The CareerBuilder Challenge gives La Quinta another opportunity to showcase our beautiful southern California city as the Gem of the Desert,” said John Peña, Former Mayor and current Councilmember in the host city. “The tournament brings visitors from all over the world and we couldn’t be happier. La Quinta offers so much by way of shopping, dining and outdoor recreation like hiking, biking, tennis and golf. The CareerBuilder creates buzz around the City and does a great job partnering with the community. We are thrilled to have this tournament in La Quinta and look forward to many more years of what the CareerBuilder will bring to the world of golf and to La Quinta!” The TPC Stadium Course at PGA West was built in 1986 and designed by Pete Dye, and at the time it was called one of the toughest courses in America at 7,300 yards, a stroke rating of 76.1 and a slope of 150. It is one of only two public Tournament Players Courses in the state of California, and is always good for thrilling tournament finishes, like this year when Hudson Swafford birdied three of his last four holes on Sunday. He made the clinching two on the 17th hole, which is a 168yard Par-3 nicknamed Alcatraz because its island green is much harder to hit than the huge lake that surrounds it. He beat Canadian Adam Hadwin by one stroke with that birdie. Hadwin had zoomed into the lead after Saturday’s round with a magical 59 at La Quinta Country Club to become only the eighth player in PGA Tour history to shoot a sub-60 round in a regulation PGA Tour event. He was also only the fourth player to shoot a 59 on a Par 72 course and the first Canadian to go that low. It is also the only PGA Tour event that has seen two 59’s—David Duval shot the same score at the Palmer Private course in 1999 to win the tournament on the last hole. They don’t call PGA West and this area the Western Home of Golf® for nothing—and the La Quinta Resort and the Career Builder keep adding to the history of this Southern California oasis.