Golf in Phoenix, Tucson saw thrilling playoffs, significant renovations

The Phoenix area is lucky each year to host four professional golf tournaments, including one of the biggest parties at TPC Scottsdale. Both top-level women's tours visit and the senior circuit comes to Arizona twice, including a spring visit to Tucson.

They'll run 'em all back in 2026 starting with the WM Phoenix Open, which annually highlights the season over Super Bowl weekend.

The 48th state also has a deep roster of golf coures, many highly rated and several others with historical ties to the game. Some of them recently spent big money on much-needed renovation projects.

Here's a rundown of the year that was in 2025.

WM Phoenix Open producers another first-time winner

The Greenest Show on Grass once again had a first-time winner, this time it was Belguim's Thomas Detry, who closed with birdies on the final four holes to shoot 6-under 65 at TPC Scottsdale and beat Daniel Berger and Michael Kim by seven strokes. His clutch shot on the famed 16th hole proved his steady nerves were up to the task.

PGA Tour Champions goes to a playoff in Tucson

La Paloma Country Club in Tucson, Arizona, saw a playoff in the Cologuard Classic between Steven Alker and Jason Caron, although it lasted but one hole with Alker making birdie to end it quickly. It was Alker's ninth win and 58th top-10 in 78 starts on the Champions tour. He would later win for a 10th time on the senior circuit later in 2025.

LPGA shootout also ends in a playoff

The 2025 Ford Championship saw Lilia Vu and Hyo Joo Kim go to extra holes and this one also lasted but one hole, with Kim making birdie on 18 when they played it a second time on that Sunday in March. Kim was the sixth different winner in six tournaments in 2025, a trend that would hold up most of the year as the season produced 29 different winners, the most ever on the circuit.

Epson Tour sees a mom win on Mother's Day

It proved an especially sweet Mother's Day for Sophia Popov, who won the Carlisle Arizona Women's Golf Classic close to her Arizona home in front of daughter Maya with her dad on the bag. The last time Popov, 32, competed in an Epson Tour event was 2020, the same year she went on to win a major championship.

Stewart Cink becomes fourth to win both Schwab trophies

Cink won the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club in November for his third win on the PGA Tour Champions. Not only that, but based on the playoff points system, Cink also clinched the season-long Charles Schwab Cup title, becoming just the fourth to pull off the double since 2005.

Q-School changes end one, bring another event to Arizona

When the PGA Tour Champions eliminated Q-School effective immediately in October, the Champions Course at TPC Scottsdale lost a last-season event. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour's Q-School is still a thing with three stages spread across three different months. One of the Second Stage stops was at recently renovated The Club at Starr Pass, a golf course made famous in 1991 when Phil Mickelson won as an amateur in 1991.

Notable golf course renovations in Arizona in 2025

Starr Pass wasn't the only notable venue to reopen after a big renovation. Desert Highlands, the original host of the Skins Game some 40 years ago, is back in action for its members after a $10 million project led by Nicklaus Design Senior Designer Chad Goetz. The work put a heavy focus on playability but also to return the course to its roots. Goetz poured over as much of the old aerial video from the TV broadcasts from 1983 and 1984 as he could get his hands on, to make sure he did right by the original Jack Nicklaus design.

The No. 2 public-access golf course in Arizona reopened after a multi-million dollar renovation project, the first major work done on the course since it opened 25 years ago. Quintero Golf Club, in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria, was closed for five months this summer. Rees Jones, the original course architect, oversaw all the work.

The popular Boulders North reopened after five-month refinement project in October. Following a similar trend, the Boulders resort did the bulk of the work over the hot summer months, when the tee sheets show the least amount of play. The Boulders North Course, located in Carefree, a small enclave north of Scottsdale, is ranked 15th on the Golfweek's Best top public-access golf courses in Arizona. First opened in 1985 and designed by Jay Morrish, the par-72, 6,811-yard course is one of two (along with the South) at The Boulders Resort & Spa Scottsdale.

Golf House opens after years of planning

The Arizona Golf House opened at Papago Golf Course, one of the premier munis in the Phoenix area. The new facility, featuring offices, conference rooms and an outdoor hospitality space just feet from the 18th green, is home to 11 local golf nonprofit organizations: Arizona Alliance for Golf, Arizona Caddie & Leadership Academy, Arizona Golf Association, Cactus & Pine Golf Course Superintendents Association, Evans Scholars, First Tee - Phoenix, Greater Southwest Chapter Club Management Association of America, Junior Golf Association of Arizona, LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, Southwest Section PGA and Youth on Course.

The Arizona Golf House is:

A first-of-its-kind collaborative hub, bringing together the state’s leading golf nonprofits to serve Arizonans, advance research, champion sustainability, and promote an industry that is deeply woven into Arizona’s economy, environment and identity.