Tour Guide 2026: Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass

In May 2025, Superintendent Chase Green accepted an opportunity to serve Phoenix, Ariz.’s Whirlwind Golf Club. During his first few months of employment, he worked at the club’s Devil’s Claw course, one of its two 18-hole championship courses.

Later in the year, he was asked to serve the club’s Cattail Course instead. The timing couldn’t have been better. A few months beforehand, Cattail had been announced as the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass’ host site. Although he had never served as a superintendent before, he felt he was prepared to help host the LPGA Tour event in 2026 due to his array of past experiences. 

For starters, he interned at two renowned golf destinations: Muirfield Village Golf Club and TPC Colorado. In addition, he served as an assistant superintendent at Cleveland’s Canterbury Golf Club and Hilton Head Island, S.C.’s The Golf Club at Indigo Run.

“At Muirfield Village, I was fortunate to learn from some of the best and gain the knowledge of what it takes to host a professional tournament,” Green says.

This knowledge led to his present opportunity, which he simply couldn’t pass up.

“What brought me to Whirlwind was an opportunity — an opportunity to be a part of a great club,” he adds. “(It’s) a club that really cares for the courses in themselves and appreciates the efforts our agronomy team puts into the product day in and day out.”

Reseeding for March

Since Cattail is a winter overseed golf course, Green prefers to have cooperation from Mother Nature while preparing to host the Ford Championship in late March. Unfortunately, in October 2025, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate the way he had hoped.

Two major storms occurred during the middle of his team’s overseed process. As a result, some fairways washed away, and each green had to be completely reseeded. A one-week process suddenly became a roughly three-week process, requiring full clean up and reseeding.

“Moments like these are when I’m grateful to have such a good group of guys,” Green emphasizes. “They knew what had to be done and buckled down and got the job done with time to spare.”

As Green looks ahead to the Ford Championship, he’s now focused on ensuring Cattail is prepared in a way that he wants it to be viewed — by LPGA Tour members, spectators and sponsors — throughout the tournament.

“We hope to produce a firm and fast golf course. That, in itself, is a challenge,” he says. “It requires daily input and a tremendous amount of a balancing act between plant health and playability.”

Adamant about data collection

In recent months, Green and his team have become more steadfast in tracking data and logging it every day. By doing so, they’ve been able to adjust their daily practices — along with their overall agronomy plan — whenever necessary.

As the Ford Championship quickly approaches, they’ve been tracking categories like clipping yield, firmness levels, greens moisture levels and greens speeds. Furthermore, they’ve been collecting data about daily irrigation totals and weather.

“I believe that the more information you have at the end of the day, the more likely you’re able to make better informed decisions for the course,” Green says. “Our ability to continue collecting data will only continue to benefit us and (provide) us something to look back on if issues arise.”

Network, network, network

Without question, Green will fully use his past experiences with other professional golf tournaments as he prepares for the Ford Championship. In particular, he helped host the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament and volunteered at two PGA Championships held at Southern Hills Country Club.

“The biggest thing I’ve taken away from those experiences is to continue to learn from previous years or past experiences,” he notes.

He also advises superintendents — those who are also preparing to host professional tournaments — to remember that their courses were chosen for a reason. The tours that have chosen the courses not only have faith in the courses themselves, but the superintendents as well.

“This will be my first Ford Championship at Whirlwind, and I’ve leaned on the guys that were here for the 2025 event,” Green says. “(We’ve talked) about what worked, what didn’t work, what should be changed and what was a major emphasis in the past.”

The bottom line? Superintendents should use their network as much as possible while seeking advice from them. As they do, it’s important to not only acquire their insights, but also remember that every course is different.

“Every superintendent and course does things differently,” Green adds. “It’s important to find what works for you and your property.”