By Ingrid, Bag It Bag recipient and volunteer
The 2025 Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences
March 2 – 9, 2025
Three rounds of golf were played on March 7, 8, and 9 at La Paloma Country Club and The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona. It’s a beautiful Jack Nicklaus-designed course. The purpose of the Cologuard Classic golf tournament is to bring awareness to colon cancer, the importance of early detection, the available treatments, the innovations in detection and treatment, the prevention, recognize those affected, and to answer the huge number of questions that people have about colon cancer. What an exciting and busy weekend! Much walking was involved. Thank you to the Tucson Conquistadores and Exact Sciences and many others for coordinating this event.
Seventy-eight PGA champion golfers were paired with colon cancer patients/survivors. I was one of those survivors who had the honor of being paired with a golf pro. He wore a blue ribbon with my name on it on his cap, and he played in my honor. We got to meet our pro and chat for a few minutes before they teed off. Then, we could walk as much of the course as we wanted or were able. We could follow the golfers on several well-placed giant televisions inside and outside.
We were able to attend and participate in some fun and informative activities in the “Advocacy Expo Area”, yummy food was readily available in Survivor Central and other areas, there was some TV coverage of the opening ceremonies on the Today Show, there were some workshops/presentations inside the main hotel about treatment options, diagnoses, giving our feedback about our cancer experiences, and treatment innovations. I would like to have been able to attend more because they all sounded very interesting. Some of us touched base with fellow survivors and had personal conversations. I was able to give one of the new CRC (Colorectal Cancer) Bag It Bags to a lady from South Carolina. She and I went to her room and I gave her the guided tour of the Bag. She was extremely grateful to receive the bag. The look of gratitude on her face was rewarding. We exchanged contact information and we’ll stay in touch.
The third and final round was played on Sunday. It was fun sitting, chatting, eating and watching the golfers at the 15th green, Survivor Central with other survivors/loved ones. Individuals representing 17 different cancer advocacy groups were in attendance and bringing awareness to colorectal cancer. There was a 15th hole walk by many of the survivors/loved ones to show awareness and a play-off between the top two players to cap off the tournament. The winner of the trophy was Steven Alker; he came in 12 under par for all three days.
I found out that there were 361 colorectal cancer patients, survivors, caregivers and loved ones from 36 states and Canada who attended this year’s Cologuard Classic.
It was definitely a weekend well-spent.
Important Reminder: Get screened for colorectal cancer! Screening is vital in detecting cancer early. Learn more about Cologuard®.
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