Attention all golf, music, and food and wine fans – get ready for the 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge, the desert’s annual PGA TOUR event, coming to La Quinta, January 17-21. This year is all about the fan experience; with the addition of new hospitality options and an after play concert series – no upgraded tickets needed! In addition to five days of world class golf featuring some of the top players on the PGA TOUR, all fans will enjoy three on-course food and beverage venues on the final three holes of the Stadium course at PGA WEST, including the VONS Fan Pavilion, Casamigos Club 17, and Michelob Ultra Beers Fore Birdies. All Friday and Saturday ticketed fans will be admitted to the CareerBuilder Challenge Concert Series presented by H.N. and Francis C. Berger Foundation. Huey Lewis and the News performs Friday, and Goo Goo Dolls on Saturday. Concerts start at approximately 4:30 p.m. on the Stadium Course driving range. Daily tickets are only $30, and a weekly badge is $75.
The CareerBuilder Challenge officially began in 1960, when a group of country club VIPs created the Palm Springs Golf Classic. Arnold Palmer was the first champion, bringing instant excitement and credibility to this newly formed event.
The Palm Springs Golf Classic attracted the biggest celebrities of the day to play in the tournament’s pro-am, including Bing Crosby, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope. Desert Classic Charities, the organization that operated the event, made charitable giving an integral part of the event. In 1965, Bob Hope lent his name to the Classic, and teamed up with former President Dwight Eisenhower to build a hospital in the desert through funds raised from the tournament. Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage became “the hospital that golf built.”
Celebrities and sports stars continued to be a part of the event for the next several decades. In 1995, history was made when sitting President Bill Clinton teed it up with Presidents George Bush and Gerald Ford during the tournament’s opening round, attracting 25,000 spectators. In 2016, CareerBuilder became the title sponsor of this nearly 60-year old event. Today, Golf Hall of Famer and 42-time PGA TOUR champion Phil Mickelson is the tournament ambassador and two-time winner of the CareerBuilder Challenge.
The CareerBuilder Challenge continues the important mission of raising charitable dollars through the event’s beneficiary, Desert Classic Charities, with over $59 million donated to local non-profits since 1960.
