The Ally Challenge is a

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...

event at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in

Grand Blanc Township, Michigan Charter Township of Grand Blanc is a charter township of Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 39,846 at the 2020 census, a slight increase from 37,508 at the 2010 census. The city of Grand Blanc was formed out of p ...

, just south of

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

, which debuted in September 2018. The tournament is sponsored by Grand Blanc-based McLaren Health Care.

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

-based

Ally Financial Ally Financial is a bank holding company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The company provides financial services including car finance, online banking via a direct bank, corporate lending, vehicle insurance, mor ...

is the title sponsor. Beyond the tournament, the Ally Challenge event includes a pro-am on Wednesday and Thursday, The Ally Challenge Community Concert on Friday and Adidas 5K Challenge run/walk event on Saturday morning. Net proceeds from the tournament were earmarked for Community Foundation of Greater Flint and Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan plus additional charities could participate in the Birdies for Charities fundraising program. Grand Blanc Community Schools benefits by using their parking lots to generate revenue.

Background

Previously, the area had the

Buick Open The Buick Open was a PGA Tour golf tournament from 1958 to 2009. In 2007, the tournament was held at the end of June, a change from its traditional spot between The Open Championship and the PGA Championship. Regardless, many prominent players ...

from 1958 through 2009 at the Warwick Hills Golf Club, as one of six former PGA Tour sites hosting PGA Tour Champions events. Since that tournament left, the golf club had been looking to get a replace in a PGA Tour Champions event. The main issue was finding a title sponsor.

History

The Ally Challenge was announced by the PGA on August 26, 2017 as a PGA Tour Champions tournament playing September 10–16, 2018. An agreement is in place for the $2 million purse tournament until 2020. The Challenge would also included a pro-am on Wednesday and Thursday. On November 10, 2017, the tournament announced McLaren Health Care as presenting sponsor. Plus, they indicated tickets were on sale, a

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a solo ...

concert would be held after the first round and a 5K run would also be held. The Birdies for Charities fundraising program was announced in May 2018 for additional 501(c)3 charity to join. The 5K run/walk was announced on June 22, 2018 to be sponsor by Adidas as the Adidas 5K Challenge held before the second round with benefiting non-profits as the Community Foundation of Greater Flint and Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan. The Genesee County Board of Commissioners embroiled the tournament in a controversy over their April 2, 2018 approval, 7–1, of using veterans millage funds towards sponsoring the event as "outreach". With the sponsorship, the county would get free access for veterans to the tournament and a "Patriot Pavilion" at the 18th fairway for all active and reserve military, veterans and their dependents. On April 9, 2018, after a commissioner sponsored petition with 500 signatures and an hour of mostly veterans speaking against the sponsorship, the board reversed it vote, initially 6–2–1 before voting switching made it unanimous.

Paul Broadhurst Paul Andrew Broadhurst (born 14 August 1965) is an English professional golfer. He won six times on the European Tour and played in the 1991 Ryder Cup. Since turning 50, he has had success in senior events, winning the 2016 Senior Open Champi ...

was the inaugural 2018 tournament winner with a 15-under-par 201 score to beat

Brandt Jobe Brandt William Jobe (born August 1, 1965) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Champions Tour. He has also played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and the Japan Golf Tour. Early life and amateur career Jobe was born ...

by two strokes. All three rounds of the tournament was broadcast on the

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC S ...

. On August 2, 2020, major champion

Jim Furyk James Michael Furyk (born May 12, 1970) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. In 2010, he was the FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 200 ...

won the tournament in his

debut, becoming the first golfer to have won the former

held here to win The Ally Challenge.

Winners

References

External links

*
Coverage on the PGA Tour Champions official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ally Challenge PGA Tour Champions events Golf in Michigan Recurring sporting events established in 2018