For a tour that was founded in 1950, the LPGA doesn’t have many traditions. Longevity is a precious commodity in the women’s game, even when it comes to major championships. Which is why word that the ANA Inspiration is getting a facelift – new name, new location, new purse – is blockbuster news.
The LPGA and IMG are set to announce Chevron as the event’s new title sponsor, Golfweek has learned, signing a six-year contract with the global giant.
“This partnership elevates us to a whole different level,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan told Golfweek.
The Chevron Championship will stay at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills for 2022 in its traditional spot ahead of the Masters, and ANA will stay on as a partner for next year. The purse will increase 60 percent from $3.1 million to $5 million, putting it now ahead of the $4.5 million purses both the Amundi Evian Championship and KPMG Women’s PGA awarded in 2021.
After 2022, however, several more significant changes are in store.
The event will move away from Mission Hills, its only home since the event’s founding. The tour is looking to potentially relocate the tournament to the greater Houston area, home to roughly 8,000 Chevron employees and contractors.
There are also plans in place to move the tournament dates to later in the spring in 2023, allowing the event to be shown on NBC. The LPGA’s first major has been shown solely on Golf Channel in recent years. The current dates have also conflicted with the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which airs its final round on NBC.
The ANA Inspiration celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021, though fans weren’t allowed on property for a second straight year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 edition is set to take place March 31-April 3, giving players one more chance to take a final leap into Poppie’s Pond.
President Gerald Ford, actress Dinah Shore, golfer Judy Rankin and Colgate-Palmolive president David Foster at the Colgate Dinah-Shore Winners Circle tournament, which was held in the late 1970s at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. (Photo: Desert Sun)
Colgate-Palmolive CEO David Foster created the event in 1972 and tabbed Dinah Shore as hostess on the new Mission Hills course. It was a marquee tournament from the start. The first purse at the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle was $110,000, at a time when the average purse on tour was roughly $30,000.
“It took the LPGA from being great women playing golf to celebrity status,” Jane Black, winner of the first Dinah, once told Golfweek.
Even though Dinah Shore was officially dropped from the event’s title in 2000, many still unofficially refer to the event as “The Dinah.” Amy Alcott became the first to leap into the pond on the 18th in 1988 to celebrate her second victory at Mission Hills.
While the future of traditions like the champion’s leap is unknown at this point, Ed McEnroe, senior vice president of golf events at IMG, said finding ways to honor the tournament’s history going forward remains a priority in this new era. To that end, the tournament will have a special Player Advisory Board to help shape what comes next.
“We have such a responsibility with this event,” he said.
This marks Chevron’s first big sponsorship with a women’s sports league. Al Williams, vice president of corporate affairs at Chevron, said the global nature of the LPGA and shared core values made the partnership a natural fit.
Lexi Thompson interacts with fans at the ANA Inspiration.
For Lexi Thompson, the 2014 ANA champion, taking a leap into Poppie’s Pond with her family has been the highlight of her career. It’s a venue players have looked forward to for decades.
LPGA rookie Patty Tavatanakit went wire-to-wire to win the 2021 edition in thrilling fashion over 2016 ANA champion Lydia Ko, who closed with a 62.
“The views are great, and as we said, the history, too,” said World No. 1 Nelly Korda last spring. “I’ve always said, it’s kind of like the Masters for us in women’s golf, so it’s definitely something you as a professional golfer, you want to win.”
All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline, had been the title sponsor since 2015. ANA staged two majors in the span of seven months during a global pandemic that crippled the travel industry.
Former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan once said that signing a contract with ANA to replace Kraft Nabisco as title sponsor was his best day on the job. Securing and elevating the events that form the cornerstones of the LPGA is an ongoing priority for every commissioner.
“If you go back to why David (Foster) and Dinah (Shore) founded this event, they really wanted to have a platform to advance women’s excellence,” said Chevron’s Williams. “That’s something that we look forward to continuing to collaborate with the tour, with the players and really advancing women’s excellence.
“It’s amazing, you fast forward 50 years and our work is not done.”