Patty Tavatanakit is the defending champion of the LPGA’s first major of the year – or, as we refer to it, The Tournament Formerly Known As The Dinah Shore, which begins Thursday in Rancho Mirage.
Three years ago she was an amateur, a sophomore at UCLA, with a choice to make.
She was good enough to earn an exemption to this tournament, then titled the ANA Inspiration. She also had received an invitation to Augusta National’s inaugural Women’s Amateur, which was basically an attempt by the good old boys who bring you the Masters to bigfoot the LPGA major. Worse, it was a classic bait-and-switch, with only the final round of the 54-hole amateur event actually held on the legendary Augusta National course.
Tavatanakit made the right choice. She played Mission Hills Country Club and finished as the top amateur when she tied for 26th after shooting 4-under on Sunday. And, as she told me at the time, she learned a lot about what it takes to compete on the professional tour.
We can debate whether she would have won at Mission Hills in 2021, holding off Lydia Ko to win by two shots and becoming only the second rookie to win the tournament, had she gone to Augusta instead of Rancho Mirage in 2019.
But as we know now, the arrogance of Augusta won in the end.
Tavatanakit and the LPGA tour return to the Coachella Valley for the last time this weekend, the 51st and final edition of this tournament and the first with spectators since that 2019 event. It is now sponsored by an oil company in anticipation of a permanent move to Houston in 2023, a decision announced last October.
The reason: To allow a change of date away from Augusta’s event to later in the spring, a change that would be impossible in the Coachella Valley with two major music festivals over the following four weeks and searing desert heat after that.
The newly named Chevron Championship – or maybe we should call it the (Seven Dollars A Gallon) Championship – will offer a $5 million overall purse this year, an increase of some 60 percent over the ANA Inspiration’s $3.1 million in 2021. This year’s winner gets $750,000 as well as the fluffy bathrobe that comes with the traditional leap into Poppie’s Pond.
That’s still chump change compared to the Masters’ $11.5 million total purse and $2.07 million winner’s share. But hey, money talks, and in this case, a piece of the sport’s heritage walks.
If the competitors seem conflicted, it’s hard to blame them. You get the sense they’ll greatly miss Mission Hills and all that comes with it, but they’re not going to knock their new benefactor.
“It’s a bittersweet goodbye, I guess,” Tavatanakit said during a pre-tournament news conference on Tuesday. “What Chevron did to this tournament, raising the purse and really growing the women’s game, it’s something truly what we’re after, what everyone is after.
“I was at the Champion’s Dinner (Monday) night and Juli Inkster said the goal is to grow the game, and that’s what we’re heading towards, which is a great thing. At the same time, having to move this event out of California, out of the desert, it’s sad. I love coming back here. But we’re evolving and changing, and we always look forward to what’s new.”
Lydia Ko finished second in the desert last year, shooting a final round 62 to tie the tournament scoring record and push Tavatanakit to the finish line. She’s made that leap into Poppie’s Pond herself, in 2016 as an 18-year-old, and let’s just say it’s going to be hard to transfer that tradition – started by Amy Alcott in 1988 – to the new site.
Along those lines, would they dare continue to give out the Dinah Shore Trophy to the winner of a Houston event? Shore gave this tournament its gravitas from its origin in 1972, and her name remained in the title six years after her death in February 1994. The tournament course at Mission Hills is named after her, as is the walk to the 18th green with its plaques honoring past winners.
“To be able to walk up to the 18th green and see my name there, it’s pretty special,” said Lexi Thompson, the 2014 winner.
Trying to transfer that identification and those traditions to another venue in another state would be … well, like playing a postseason college football game in Arlington, Texas, and trying to pass it off as the Rose Bowl. It’s just wrong.
“I’m going to miss the tradition of … every year hoping to be the one that gets to make that leap” into the pond, Ko said, but then added: “When KPMG took over the LPGA Championship everybody was sad because there is so much tradition and history at that event, but what KPMG has done to that event, they’ve upgraded it on every level to the golf courses we play, the hospitality. And I think sometimes it is hard to take that step, but hopefully – I’m sure Chevron will do that and will make it an even better tournament for the future generations and for us playing.”
Although, as Thompson noted, that was happening in the Coachella Valley before the sponsorship change: “Over the years everything has improved – the hospitality, the way they treat us, the golf course. Nothing ever lacks.”
As for that choice that Tavatanakit made three years ago?
“It was a tough decision because you’re giving up an opportunity to go to Augusta National,” she said. “I mean, at the end of the day (I) want to stick to what was best for me. At the time I was at UCLA. It just didn’t make sense for me to fly across the country, three hours ahead and being on the East Coast, when I can just literally drive to a major championship.
“If I were to go back in time I would still do that with my full heartbeat. It was just a tough decision, but that was where it was laying out for me. … I (wanted) to have the experience of playing in majors and just the nerves, and it was just – (it made) more sense to me.”
But, she added, “I’m really happy that no one has to pick and choose between Augusta and a major, because it is a tough choice.”
It shouldn’t have had to be a choice in the first place.
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