RANCHO MIRAGE, Cali. — The champions dinner for golfers who have won the Chevron Championship was held Monday at the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Rancho Mirage, California. While not every past champion of the event was there, the ones who did attend were treated to a dinner crafted in part by defending champion Patty Tavatanakit.
“It was cooked by chef Thomas Keller. I was really honored to work with him on the menu and had a really nice meal,” Tavatanakit said. “All the past champions were there. Felt really honored to be there.”
Tavatanakit’s suggestion to Chef Keller was to go heavy on the meat.
“So we had short ribs, really, really good meat with some dark chocolate dessert,” Tavatanakit said. “Chef Keller did a really great job creating that menu, because I just told him I love beef.”
Junior experience
Yuka Saso, who won the U.S. Women’s Open last year, played in the Chevron Championship earlier in 2021 for the first time as a pro. But it wasn’t the first time she had played the Dinah Shore Tournament Course.
Saso was one of the golfers who participated in the junior tournament played before the Chevron Championship, playing with LPGA Hall of Famers or legends and trying to earn a spot in the field of the major championship. Saso played in 2017 and did not win the tournament, but she recalls getting great advice from her LPGA partner.
“I was just so thankful that I was able to play with the Hall of Famers,” Saso said. “You know, the first year I played with Jenny Lidback, and she gave me a lot of advice. She actually told me — oh, no, actually I asked her about how she prepares for a tournament, and she told me she focuses on her short game.”
It’s advice Saso still follows.
“So I think that really helped me, and can you believe that after four years I’m still working on my short game?” Saso laughed.
Amateur hour
The field of the Chevron Championship is 115 players this week, and five of those players are amateurs, a tradition that dates back decades for the event. Amateurs have been an issue for the tournament the last few years with the debut of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which is also being played this week at Augusta National, the home of the Masters.
The amateurs in the Rancho Mirage field this week include Brooke Seay from San Diego and Stanford University, Gurleen Kaur from Houston and Baylor University, Natasha Andrea Onn from Malaysia and San Jose State, Isabelle Fierro from Mexico and Oklahoma State, and Bohyun Park from South Korea and the University of Texas.
Late additions
Fifteen players worked their way into the field of the first major championship Sunday thanks to their performances on the LPGA this year. One of those players was Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand, who won the JTBC Classic in Carlsbad last week.
The other 14 players new to the Chevron event this week are golfers who were not yet eligible but who have reached the top 80 in the Race to the CME Globe by the end of the Carlsbad tournament.
Television times
One of the appeals of the new deal with Chevron for the LPGA is that the tournament will split time with Golf Channel and NBC next year, putting the tournament on one of the four major networks for the first time since 2011.
This week, all four rounds of the tournament will be broadcast on Golf Channel, starting on Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m. A second live broadcast from the tournament will begin at 4 p.m.