Out of the Rough: The Ally Challenge (2026)

The PGA Tour Champions head to Grand Blanc Township in Michigan for this week’s The Ally Challenge.

Since its inception in 2018, the Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club has played host, just as it will for the ninth consecutive season this week.

The Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club has an extensive history, most notably for hosting the former Buick Open on the PGA Tour from 1958 to 2009.

Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club is one of six former PGA Tour sites to host a PGA Tour Champions event.

The Field

A star studded field is in line to take to Warwick Hills this week.

The charge is led by back-to-back defending champion Stewart Cink. Cink also comes into this week with five victories on the season. His most recent victory came at the Boeing Classic.

Zach Johnson also comes in with multiple victories on the season. He has four victories on the season and most recently won the Portugal Invitational.

Other notable golfers teeing it up this week include Padraig Harrington, Steven Alker, Retief Goosen, Boo Weekley, George McNeill and Ernie Els.

Other former winners of this event playing this week include Vijay Singh (2023,) Steve Stricker (2022) and Joe Durant (2021.)

The Course

Warwick Hills Golf and Country club is an original James Harrison design that plays as a par-72 and 7,112 yards.

Both nine holes at this venue are arranged into two separate “L” shaped stretches.

It is known for being long and narrow. The fairways here at Warwick Hills are flanked by mature trees and the course features many tight out-of-bounds areas.

Missing the fairways will not only have golfers having awkward tree-guarded shots or facing out-of-bounds areas, but the rough too is a thick penal Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass and fescue mix. There is a premium for finding the fairway this week.

From there, golfers will play approach shots onto some of the finest-pitted and best-conditioned greens the Tour has to offer.

These greens too feature asymmetrical knobs, allowing for tough and awkward pin placements across the week.

The greens are also a Poa annua, Bentgrass mix, meaning they’re a tough surface to putt on.

Greens are frequently guarded by strategically placed greenside bunkering and tight tree-line corridors as well. Golfers will need to be precise with their approach shots to avoid these hazards.

The course’s signature hole is the par-three 17th that features a forced carry of a pond off-the-tee. The green also slopes towards the water.

A deep front bunker gobbles up short shots and missing to the left will send the ball into one of the aforementioned tee-lined corridors. 

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Friday calls for the highest chance of precipitation this week at 25-percent. From there, Saturday calls for just a five-percent chance of precipitation and Sunday a 20-percent chance. Temperatures will be the lowest on Friday with highs of 79-degrees before increasing to 83-degrees on Saturday and 85-degrees on Sunday. Winds will also be the lowest on Friday at just six miles-per-hour before ticking up to ten miles-per-hour on Saturday and 11 miles-per-hour on Sunday.

Key Stats

• Driving Accuracy Percentage

• Ball Striking

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Scrambling

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Putting Average

• Three-Putt Avoidance

• Par-5 Average Scoring

• Birdie-or-better Percentage

Betting Card

Soren Kjeldsen (+2500)

As you’ll see with my betting card this week, I’m taking a chance of players with great value due to a slump in form coming into this week. That can be said for Kjeldsen. He placed 20th at the Rogers Charity Classic, third at the Boeing Classic, 44th at the Portugal Invitational, 44th at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open and 28th at the Kaulig Championship across his last five starts. Prior to that however, he was littering top fives and tens across the early portion of the season. Kjeldsen is currently fifth on Tour in par-five average scoring, eighth in ball striking, 11th in both driving accuracy percentage and GIR%, 12th in sand saves percentage, 21st in three-putt avoidance, 25th in scrambling and 26th in both putting average and birdie-or-better percentage. Kjeldsen placed third at this event a season ago in his only appearance. 

Boo Weekley (+5000)

Weekley has a victory on the season, winning the Insperity Invitational. Coming into this week he placed 30th in his latest outing at the Rogers Charity Classic, 19th at the Boeing Classic, 64th at the Portugal Invitational, seventh at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open and second at the Kaulig Championship. He also doesn’t have the best record here at Warwick Hills, placing 32nd a season ago, 43rd in 2024 and 48th in 2023. However, he’s been playing arguably the best golf of his PGA Tour Champions career this season as he is currently second on Tour in both driving accuracy percentage and ball striking, third in GIR%, 11th in both putting average and three-putt avoidance, 13th in scrambling, 21st in birdie-or-better percentage, 30th in sand saves percentage and 36th in par-five average scoring. 

Tommy Gainey (+8000)

As previously mentioned, I’m taking a chance on out-of-form golfers this week and that definitely is Gainey. He placed 66th at the Rogers Charity Classic, 36th at the Boeing Classic, 59th at the Portugal Invitational, 28th at the Kaulig Championship and 20th at the U.S. Senior Open Championship across his last five starts. This is a guy we were betting in the 20’s earlier this season and he definitely has the fire power to return to that form where he littered top fives and tens, including a runner-up at the Trophy Hassan II. He is currently eighth on Tour in birdie-or-better percentage, 12th in ball striking, 17th in both scrambling and par-five average scoring, 18th in putting average, 24th in GIR%, 25th in both driving accuracy percentage and three-putt avoidance and 33rd in sand saves percentage. He placed 32nd here a season ago. 

Bernhard Langer (+9000)

This is an accuracy based golf course so I had to go with the Tour’s most accurate driver of the golf ball at such a large number. Langer is currently first on Tour in all three of driving accuracy percentage, scrambling and sand saves percentage. He is also eighth in par-five average scoring, ninth in three-putt avoidance, 20th in both GIR% and putting average, 23rd in birdie-or-better percentage and 24th in ball striking. He placed 50th at the Rogers Charity Classic, 26th at the Portugal Invitational, 20th at the Kauling Championship, 20th at the DICK’s Open and 55th at the Principal Charity Classic across his last five starts. He also has a great course-history here at Warwick Hills. He placed 38th a season ago, fifth in 2024, eighth in 2023, 28th in 2022 and second in 2021.