The First Look: Corales Puntacana Championship

The PGA TOUR returns to the Dominican Republic for the Corales Puntacana Championship, the fourth Additional Event of the season contested at Puntacana Resort (Corales Golf Course) alongside The Open Championship.

For 2026, this event has moved to July from April so those on TOUR will need to navigate a new season at Corales. If the wind blows it’ll play tricky, but there are plenty of stunning vistas, too.

Plenty of important FedExCup Points are on offer this week as we inch closer to the final stretch of events on the calendar.

Here’s everything else you need to know from Punta Cana.

FIELD NOTES:Taylor Pendrith will seek to continue his momentum from the ISCO Championship where he fell in a playoff to Steven Fisk. Pendrith earned some valuable FedExCup Points at a key time of the season, jumping from No. 97 to No. 79 with his solo second – his best result of 2026. … Speaking of redemption, Joel Dahmen returns to Corales, the site of his lone PGA TOUR victory, to try to slay the demons from a year ago. Dahmen went bogey-bogey-bogey to eventually lose by one to Garrick Higgo. … Higgo returns to defend his title. There has never been a two-time winner of this championship. Higgo’s best result of the season came at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, where he finished T19. … A pair of German countrymen are the two top-ranked golfers in the field with Matti Schmid and Stephan Jaeger teeing it up. Jaeger comes into the week after a T15 at the ISCO Championship. … Aaron Wise returns to action after being in the mix for the first time since taking some time away from professional golf as he navigated a personal mental health journey. Wise was firmly in the mix at the ISCO Championship and ended up T3 – just one shot back of a playoff. … There will also be upwards of 40 golfers in the field from the DP World Tour as the Corales Puntacana Championship is a co-sanctioned event on both Tours.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Bill Haas and Sangmoon Bae will both make their first starts on TOUR for 2026. … A pair of multi-time PGA TOUR winners in Kyle Stanley and Sean O'Hair are back in action. … Avinash Iyer earned a spot in the field after winning the 2026 Collegiate Showcase on April 2 at Bluejack National. Iyer, a senior at San Jose State, shot a 64. … Anthony Garcia, JJ Guerra and Nicholas Thompson round out the sponsor invites.

MONDAY QUALIFIERS: Keenan Huskey and David Liu shared medalist honors after shooting rounds of 8-under 63. … Nick Hardy and Mickey DeMorat earned the other two spots with 7-under 64s. ... The qualifier happened June 22 at The Park in West Palm Beach, Florida. … This will mark Huskey’s first TOUR start since 2021, DeMorat’s first since 2022 and Liu’s TOUR debut. … Hardy comes to Corales after finishing T21 at the ISCO Championship. His best result at Corales came in 2023 when he finished T13.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 300 FedExCup points

COURSE: Corales Golf Course, par 72, 7,670 yards. One of the longest courses on the PGA TOUR, the course – opened in 2010 and designed by Tom Fazio – is open off the tee but features difficult green complexes and often a challenging wind. The course boasts six oceanside holes and plenty of natural beauty. The Devil’s Elbow, the closing three-hole stretch at Corales, will once again be in the spotlight.

72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Dominic Bozzelli (2016 Korn Ferry Tour)

As PGA TOUR event: 265, Billy Horschel (2024)

18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Stephan Jaeger (second round, 2016 Korn Ferry Tour), Scott Harrington (sescond round, 2016 Korn Ferry Tour), Alexandre Rocha (third round, 2016 Korn Ferry Tour).

As PGA TOUR event: 62, Joel Dahmen (first round, 2025)

LAST TIME: Garrick Higgo’s even-par 72 was enough to win on the PGA TOUR for the first time in four years as he was the benefactor of Joel

Dahmen’s late meltdown. Dahmen missed a 1-foot par attempt on the penultimate hole of the championship and then won outright when Dahmen missed an 8-foot par attempt on the par-4 18th. Dahmen shot 76 and went bogey-bogey-bogey to finish after having led after each of the three previous rounds. Dahmen ended up tied for second with four others including Alejandro Tosti, whose 4-under 68 was the second lowest round of the day – a very blustery Sunday finale.

HOW TO FOLLOW:

Television:

• Thursday-Friday: 12:30-3:30 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 12-3 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Sunday: 4-6 p.m. (Golf Channel)