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The new home of the CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation – the TPC Stadium and Jack Nicklaus Tournament Courses at PGA WEST – not only means new challenges for some of the game’s greatest players, but new and fun ways for fans to watch those players.

Golf fans watching the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge will enjoy a spectator-friendly experience as they watch the world’s greatest golfers navigate the deep bunkers, water hazards on nine holes, railroad ties and other creations from the fertile design mind of architect Pete Dye on the Stadium Course.

Along with the return of the Bob Hope Club presented by H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, Bob Hope Square and Club 17 presented by Hyundai comes two Oases – one on the front nine, one on the back – better sightlines for spectators throughout and a liberal dose of Adirondack chairs spread among both PGA WEST courses.

Official rounds for the event, which features a $5.8 million purse are scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 21 through Sunday, Jan. 24, with Sunday’s final round returning to the Stadium Course for the first time since 1987.

“The Stadium Course was designed to allow fans maximum opportunities to see their favorite players and once again, with our enhanced hospitality venues and the perfect nature of this course for walkers, we will provide our fans plenty of ways to see and experience the CareerBuilder Challenge from an up-close-and-personal viewpoint,” Tournament Director Bill Tait said. “Our Oases are built to not only provide an extra level of comfort and services, but to provide fans with views of several holes without leaving that venue.”

The Oases are a new amenity designed to provide fans with unparalleled, three-dimensional views of the action.

Perched on elevated mounds on the Stadium Course, both feature upgraded concessions and bathroom facilities and table-and-chair seating.

The front-nine Oasis offers views of the second green in the distance, the third tee, the fifth fairway and the eighth tee. The back-nine Oasis offers great views of the 12th green, the entire 13th hole, the 15th green and the 16th tee.

The always-popular Bob Hope Square returns again with a phalanx of food trucks, giving fans a place to unwind, relax, enjoy the latest culinary creations and take part in a host of interactive golf games and promotions.

This year’s Bob Hope Square, however, will surround the practice putting green, so fans will be able to stroll around, eat, drink and watch the players practice putting.

Bob Hope Square also provides views of the range and the first and ninth holes of the Stadium Course.

“You’ll be able to have a lobster roll and watch putts roll on the putting green or the ninth green,” said Managing Director Scott Easton.

Also returning for the fourth year is Club 17 Presented by Hyundai. This time, however, Club 17 will give fans a bird’s-eye view of the Stadium Course’s notorious par-3 17th hole — “Alcatraz.”

The sports-bar atmosphere will once again be a popular gathering place to watch players take on one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking holes on the PGA TOUR. It also provides views of two other holes: the 16th green and the 11th fairway.

“Imagine stepping onto the 168-yard 17th hole with a true island green tied for the lead. It makes for one heck of a finish to an exciting tournament,” said PGA WEST General Manager Chad Johnson.

The Bob Hope Club presented by the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation will give fans a bird’s-eye view to that exciting finish.

Perched above the 18th hole of the Stadium Course, the Bob Hope Club provides the pinnacle of hospitality, with catered food from some of the top restaurants in the Coachella Valley, a fine beverage selection, comfortable seats and one of the best seats in the house to watch players finish their rounds.

One of the biggest changes from previous years is on that 18th hole. Tournament officials made it possible for fans to watch the action from right around and behind the hole – another amenity the Stadium Course provides spectators.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Desert Classic Charities, the local nonprofit entity that organizes the CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, will host their annual Charity Check distribution event today at the Boys and Girls Club of La Quinta where they will donate $925,000 to Coachella Valley nonprofit organizations based on the success of the CareerBuilder Challenge PGA TOUR golf tournament held in January.

Included in the total contributions for 2015 is a donation of $295,000 presented to Eisenhower Medical Center, the event’s primary charitable beneficiary since its inception in 1960.

“We are very proud of our role in helping establish Eisenhower Medical Center as one of the nation’s premier medical facilities, but something else we take a great deal of pride in is our role in benefiting so many wonderful organizations throughout the Coachella Valley,” said John Foster, Chairman of the Board of Desert Classic Charities, the philanthropic arm of the CareerBuilder Challenge.

“These organizations and the efforts of the tireless and selfless people who work for them make such a difference in the lives of so many people throughout the Valley.”

During the past 56 years, the event has generated more than $56 million in donations to Eisenhower Medical Center and charities within the Coachella Valley.

The tournament, now in its 57th year, returns to La Quinta Jan. 18-24. This 72-hole event features 156 professionals taking on the TPC Stadium Course (host course) and the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Courses at PGA WEST and La Quinta Country Club. Once again, the City of La Quinta is the host city for the tournament.

Representatives from the Desert Classic Charities with the assistance of several prominent community figures will announce the recipients of this year’s tournament-related donations.

As is customary, the Desert Classic Charities donations are presented to nonprofit organizations in three categories:

• Structured Programs for Children
• Rehab, Social and Support Services
• Food and Shelter for the Hungry, Homeless and Abused

In addition to Eisenhower Medical Center, 39 local nonprofit organizations will receive gifts from Desert Classic Charities.

In the Structured Programs for Children category, the recipients include: Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Desert; Boys & Girls Club of Cathedral City; Boys & Girls Club of Coachella; Boys & Girls Club of Indio; Boys & Girls Club of La Quinta; Boys & Girls Club of Desert Hot Springs; Boys & Girls Club of Mecca; Boys & Girls Club of Palm Springs; Coachella Valley Boxing Club; The John F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation for The Ophelia Project; Pathfinder Ranch and Tools for Tomorrow.

Beneficiaries in the Rehab, Social and Support Services category are ABC Club; the Alano Club of the Desert; Angel View Children’s Foundation; Coachella Valley Autism Society; Desert Arc; Desert Cancer Foundation; Guide Dogs of the Desert; Pegasus Riding Academy; Neuro Vitality (formerly Stroke Recovery Center); Visiting Nurses Association for Mourning Star; Ranch Recovery Center and United Cerebral Palsy.

Three new organizations added this year are Volunteers in Medicine, a medical clinic in Indio and Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the American Diabetes Association.

The 13 organizations in the Food and Shelter for the Hungry, Homeless and Abused group include Coachella Valley Rescue Mission; Father’s Heart Ranch; F.I.N.D; Fish of the Lower Coachella Valley; Food Now; Galilee Center; Joslyn Center for Meals on Wheels; Martha’s Village and Kitchen; Mizell Senior Center; Olive Crest; Operation Safe House; Shelter from the Storm and The Well In The Desert.

The 39 charitable beneficiaries and the attending golf fans who helped make those donations happen were treated to scintillating golf in 2015.

Bill Haas is the defending champion of the CareerBuilder Challenge, having birdied the 71st hole to break a six-man logjam and pull out a one-shot victory.

It was Haas’ sixth career PGA TOUR victory and his second in the event. He vanquished a field that included fellow 2015 Presidents Cup competitors Zach Johnson, Patrick Reed (the 2014 event champion), Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Chris Kirk, Danny Lee and Steven Bowditch.

Golf Channel on NBC’s Dan Hicks, Johnny Miller, Roger Maltbie, Gary Koch and lead golf producer Tommy Roy will be returning to familiar territory this week in the California Desert for Golf Channel’s tournament coverage of the CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation.

All were members of NBC Sports’ broadcast team for the 1998 Bob Hope Classic, the last year it was televised by NBC.

A two-time winner of the event (1975-76), Miller also returns to the tournament where he began his broadcast career when he made his on-air debut as an analyst in 1990.

Hicks (a tower announcer in 1998) and Miller will serve as play-by-play host and analyst for Golf Channel’s weekend coverage, rotating with Steve Sands and Curt Byrum.

Lead golf producer Tommy Roy also returns to the tournament where he began his NBC Sports career, working as a volunteer runner in 1979 and making his debut as a golf producer in 1993.

Golf Channel will air live coverage of the CareerBuilder Challenge Thursday-Sunday from 3-7 p.m. ET.

PGA TOUR

CareerBuilder Challenge in Partnership with the Clinton Foundation

Dates: Jan. 21-24
Venue: PGA West (TPC Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament Course), La Quinta, Calif.
La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, Calif.

Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern):

Broadcast Notes:

Hicks and Miller join broadcast team for weekend coverage: Golf Channel on NBC’s Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller will join the broadcast team for weekend coverage, marking the first time since 1998 – the final year NBC covered the Bob Hope Classic – that the duo will be calling action at this tournament.

Miller returns to familiar venue: Johnny Miller made his broadcast debut on NBC at the Bob Hope Classic in 1990. The 1990 tournament also was where Miller made his first – and now legendary – “choke” reference, directed at Peter Jacobsen, now part of the broadcast team and a colleague of Miller’s. Jacobsen, playing this week at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, is scheduled to call-in during weekend coverage to recount the 1990 event.

Mickelson making 2016 debut: Two-time CareerBuilder Challenge winner Phil Mickelson makes his 2016 debut this week, his first competition since the 2015 Presidents Cup.

Format: 156 professionals will play alongside amateur golfers over 72 holes (the event was previously played as a five-round, 90 hole event.)

TPC Stadium course returns to rotation: For the first time since 1987 and the second time in tournament history, the TPC Stadium Course at PGA West joins the rotation of courses. For the first three rounds, all three courses (TPC Stadium, Nicklaus Tournament and La Quinta CC) will be used, with TPC Stadium hosting the final round.

Haas defends: Bill Haas defeated five players by one stroke to earn his sixth career PGA TOUR win and his second at this event.

Headlining the field: Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bill Haas, Zac Blair, Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Jason Dufner, Matt Kuchar, Ollie Schniederjans and Steve Stricker.