Out of the Rough: DICK's Open (2026)

Grab yourself a chicken spiedie sandwich and meet me down at the Dick’s House of Sport at the Oakdale Commons so we can prepare for this week’s DICK’s Open!

En-Joie Golf Club sits just about 40-minutes from my house and is the only championship level course I have played living here in rural America.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, the title sponsor of this event, was founded in the greater Binghamton area in 1948.

Since 2007, the sporting goods giant has hosted a PGA Tour Champions event at En-Joie Golf Club. The event took over for the B.C. Open, which was a PGA Tour event up until 2006, which had been held at En-Joie Golf Club since 1971. 

The Field

As this event is followed by three consecutive major events many of the Tour’s best will be in attendance as a final tune-up.

The likes of Scott Hend and Padraig Harrington headline this week’s field as the odds-on-favorites to win. Harrington won this event three consecutive seasons between 2022 and 2024. 

Other notable golfers teeing it up this week include Retief Goosen, George McNeill, Freddie Jacobson, Tommy Gainey, Steven Allan, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Alex Cejka and Darren Clarke. 

Allan comes in as the defending champion, winning by four strokes over Jason Carron a season ago.

Other former winners of this event teeing it up this week include Doug Barron (2019,) Scott McCarron (2017,) Paul Goydos (2016,) Jeff Maggert (2015) and Bernhard Langer (2014.)

The Course

En-Joie Golf Club, nestled below the rolling hills of up-state New York and set along the banks of the Susquehanna River is an “old-school” championship layout.

It plays as a par-72 at 6,994 yards.

The course was originally designed by Ernie Smith and opened for play in 1927.

Renowned architect Dr. Michael Hurdzan spearheaded a re-design in 1998 that paid attention to the putting surfaces. In the re-design, the once flat and circular greens were transformed to large, elevated and undulating surfaces.

En-Joie Golf Club can best be described as an “old-school” straight forward golf course that requires precise drives and strong ball-striking.

Off-the-tee, golfers will be faced with tight tree-lined fairways with well-placed bunkers looking to play defense.

The greens here at En-Joie Golf Club are known to be some of the purest putting surfaces in all of Central New York.

The Bentgrass greens are known to be lightning fast and true. They are undulated and demand precision both on approach and while using the flat stick.

Around-the-green, thick, penalizing bluegrass and fescue rough guards the perimeter. It is darn near impossible to stop chip shots close to the hole while hitting out of this thick rough that too borders the fairways.

The greens are also framed by 50-sand bunkers throughout the course. The bunkers will demand precise ball striking and approach shots onto the greens.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Friday is calling for a 15-percent chance of precipitation. Saturday is calling for a 40-percent chance of morning showers as Sunday is calling for just a ten-percent chance of precipitation. Temperatures are set at 80-degrees for both Friday and Saturday before peaking at 84-degrees on Sunday. Winds will be the highest on Friday at nine miles-per-hour before dropping to six miles-per-hour on Saturday and will finish the week at eight miles-per-hour on Sunday.

Key Stats

• Ball Striking

• Total Driving

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Scrambling Percentage

• Sand Save Percentage

• Putting Average

• Birdie-or-better Percentage

• Par-Five Average Scoring

Betting Card

Retief Goosen (+1200)

Goosen did not play this event a season ago but placed T55th in 2024, T10th in 2022 and T3rd in 2020. He was a runner-up in his latest outing at the Principal Charity Classic. He also placed 16th at the American Family Insurance Championship, eighth at the Insperity Invitational, 19th at the Regions Tradition and won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. Goosen is currently second on Tour in par-five average scoring, third in GIR%, fourth in birdie-or-better percentage, fifth in ball striking, seventh in putting average, 11th in total driving, 24th in sand saves percentage and 26th in scrambling.

Darren Clarke (+2500)

Clarke is currently fourth on Tour in total driving, eighth in sand saves percentage, 13th in ball striking, 17th in scrambling, 22nd in birdie-or-better percentage, 26th in GIR%, 27th in par-five average scoring and 34th in putting average. He last played this event in 2024 where he placed T29th. He also placed T5th in 2023, T6th in 2022 and eighth in 2020. He placed 12th in his latest outing at the Principal Charity Classic. He also won the American Family Insurance Championship alongside teammate Ben Crane and placed third at the Insperity Invitational.

Dicky Pride (+7000)

Pride has played this event each of the past five seasons. He placed T59th a season ago, T29th in 2024, fourth in 2023, T31st in 2022 and T42nd in 2020. Pride is currently first on Tour in sand saves percentage, fourth in GIR%, 11th in ball striking, 12th in par-five average scoring, 23rd in both total driving and birdie-or-better percentage, 36th in scrambling and 46th in putting average. He also placed tenth in his latest outing at the Principal Charity Classic, tenth at the American Family Insurance Championship, 20th at the Trophy Hassan II, 27th at the Insperity Invitational and 15th at the Regions Tradition. 

Michael Wright (+10000)

Wright placed T5th here a season ago and T29th in 2024. He is currently sixth on Tour in putting average, seventh in par-five average scoring, eighth in birdie-or-better percentage, 28th in GIR%, 34th in sand saves percentage, 37th in ball striking, 45th in total driving and 61st in scrambling. He placed 55th in his latest outing at the Principal Charity Classic, 27th at the American Family Insurance Championship, 19th at the Insperity Invitational, 65th at the Regions Tradition and 15th at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic.