Tag: Mission Hills Country Club

Unrelenting heat is forcing some high school golf teams to play morning matches

“I’ve had girls throw up … Every season I have had some kind of heat-related illness strike somebody.”

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8224″]

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — It is a solution to a problem that is so obvious that you wonder why no one thought of it before.

If it is physically demanding and perhaps even dangerous for high school girls golfers to play at 3 p.m. in desert temperatures nearing 110 degrees in August and September, why not have the girls play in the morning?

“I really think it is a great idea,” said Rob Hanmer, in his fourth year as girls golf coach at Rancho Mirage High School.

The Rattlers have played two home matches this season starting at 9 a.m. at Mission Hills North, just across Ramon Road from the high school. But the idea of morning matches is growing, with Shadow Hills High School scheduling two matches this season at 8:30 a.m. at Bermuda Dunes Country Club.

With girls golf a fall sport in California high schools, and with the start of school and athletics edging earlier and earlier in August, golf matches played in August afternoons face temperatures well over 100 degrees. CIF-Southern Section rules require players to walk the golf course, and on particularly hot days that can cause serious problems.

“I wish we had been doing it the whole time,” said Shadow Hills head coach Nick Anziano, whose team played a morning match last week against the Rattlers. “Years ago, I brought it up to a handful of coaches, and at the time I was still just trying to learn the ropes. It seems like a no-brainer.

“I’ve had girls throw up. It’s not uncommon, really,” Anziano said. “Every season I have had some kind of heat-related illness strike somebody.”

Damariz Hernandez of Shadow Hills High School tees off on the first tee at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning in a match against Rancho Mirage High School at Mission Hills North golf course. (Photo: Larry Bohannan/Desert Sun)

Courses tough to find in the fall

Like the seemingly obvious answer to other problems, Hanmer’s scheduling of morning matches for his team actually came from another issue: course availability. Hanmer discovered last fall at the Desert Empire League boys golf finals that his girls team wouldn’t have access to Mission Hills Country Club in August or October of this season.

“So I started scrambling. Mission Hills North has been unbelievable for us, but they close at noon (in August),” Hanmer said. “My athletic director was standing there, and I said we’re going to have to play some matches at Mission Hills North in August. Can we play at 9 in the morning?”

In the summer months, most public play at the Gary Player-designed Mission Hills North has teed off by 8:30 a.m., meaning the 9 a.m. slot is perfect for the high school matches.

Both Hanmer and his assistant coach, David Shaw, said there are some academic benefits from the earlier matches as well.

“We had our first match last week and missing the early classes, well, the girls don’t want to miss classes that much,” Shaw said. “Now, instead of always missing the back end (of the day), it’s half and half now. They get to see more of their back-end classes. We will get them back today by fourth period.”

Hanmer said the morning matches might solve some problems for teams, but the fall still presents issues like courses closing for overseeding in September and October. But knowing some matches won’t be played in the heat of the afternoon might improve participation in the sport.

“We are trying to create some enjoyment in the sport and some lifelong golfers,” Hanmer said. “It still comes down to golf course availability. We have to play whenever the golf courses let us play. It just worked out really well with this golf course that 9 a.m. opened up and it worked for us.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=451190010]

With the Chevron Championship at its new venue, how will Dinah Shore’s legacy continue in Texas?

The hospitality area around the 18th green will be named “Dinah’s Place” and Shore’s family has been invited.

Every time Pat Bradley walked by the statue of Dinah Shore next to the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club, she’d climb up on the little base and put her hand on Dinah’s arm and have a chat. Longtime Desert Sun golf writer Larry Bohannan recalled the scene as he considered the question: How should Shore’s legacy continue in Texas?

Bradley, like so many LPGA greats, was friends with Shore. The Hollywood superstar made such a tremendous impact on the tour in the 1970s and ’80s that they put her in the LPGA Hall of Fame as the only non-playing member.

But as the 52nd Chevron Championship, still known by many as “The Dinah,” leaves the Dinah Shore Tournament Course and heads to The Woodlands near Houston this week, it’s natural to wonder how Shore will fit in.

“You can’t create that,” said Bohannan of Bradley’s ritual, “that has to be something that’s organic.”

Shore died in 1994, before nine of the top 10 players in the world were even born. Jane Blalock, the tournament’s first champion in 1972, said Shore could be compared to a modern-day Oprah in terms of her popularity and reach.

Another burning question before this year’s Chevron: Will the champion’s leap, the most significant tradition (one might argue the LPGA’s only noteworthy tradition), carry on?

Tournament organizers told Golfweek there’s no expectation that a player will jump into the lake on the 18th next month at the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, but should the mood strike, the championship team is making sure it will be safe.

An area of the lake at the 18th green is being dredged and netted to make sure it’s deep enough for a player and her caddie and family to take the plunge. The traditional robe and slippers will also be on standby, if needed.

“Whoever wins this year needs to jump in and keep it going,” said Brittany Lincicome, a two-time champion at Mission Hills.

The hospitality area around the 18th green at the Nicklaus course at Carlton Woods will be named “Dinah’s Place” and Shore’s family has been invited to attend.

Shore’s name will also live on in the generosity of the Chevron Dinah Shore Scholarships, given to high school seniors who are pursuing a college education but not playing collegiate golf. Nominees must have a passion for women’s golf and desire to help grow the game.

[pickup_prop id=”32191″]

There will once again be a Champions Dinner with Thomas Keller, chef and proprietor of The French Laundry, creating a special menu to honor 2022 champion Jennifer Kupcho. The tournament will also bring back a Junior Legacy Pro-Am, designed to link up legends of the game with bright young stars.

The Champions Wall will be, for now, a temporary structure that will celebrate the 51 years of history that took place at Mission Hills.

Sandra Palmer, an honorary member at Mission Hills who won 19 times on the LPGA, including the Colgate Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle before it was a major, feels the championship needs to find a new identity in her native Texas.

There was talk at last year’s Chevron about the LPGA Legends staging an event in the Coachella Valley this spring. There was even a news conference about it Sunday morning before Kupcho won.

Two weeks later, the PGA Tour Champions announced that the new Galleri Classic would be held March 24-26 at Mission Hills. Fred Couples, Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer and David Duval are among those who have committed to the field.

So far, nothing has been announced in the area for senior women.

Patty Sheehan, who won at Mission Hills in 1996 and lives there now part-time behind the 14th tee on the Dinah Shore Course, signed up to volunteer at the Galleri Classic. She was given three choices: walking scorer, work the range, help out in the caddie tent.

Sheehan, who hasn’t yet decided which job she’ll take, reported that the greens are hard and fast on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course but the rough isn’t up. They’ve added a couple new tees and trimmed the eucalyptus trees to open it up more.

“They’re trying to clean up Poppie’s Pond,” she said, “in case one of them tries to jump.”

Sheehan said she’s trying to “go down the positive road” about how things have turned out.

2019 ANA Inspiration
Jin Young Ko, caddie David Brooker and agent Soo Jin Choi leap into Poppie’s Pond next to the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club after the 2019 ANA Inspiration on the Dinah Shore course in Rancho Mirage, California (Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Judy Rankin, who like Palmer and Blalock won the Dinah before it was a major, is doing the same. Rankin was part of the deep history of the LPGA at Mission Hills for five decades, right up to the final putt last year in the broadcast booth. She too would like to see the Chevron begin its own kind of history in her home state of Texas, noting that it’s probably right not to see a lot of Dinah this year, but that it’s never right to forget her.

“I think it’s part of growing old gracefully,” she said of adapting to change. “Be glad you had it, celebrate on a rare occasion, and let the new be new.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1373]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01f5k5vfbhv59szck1 image=]

How will Dinah Shore’s legacy continue in Texas at the Chevron Championship and will the winner jump? Here’s what’s planned

Among the burning questions: Will the champion’s leap, the most significant tradition, carry on?

Every time Pat Bradley walked by the statue of Dinah Shore next to the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club, she’d climb up on the little base and put her hand on Dinah’s arm and have a chat. Longtime Desert Sun golf writer Larry Bohannan recalled the scene as he considered the question: How should Shore’s legacy continue in Texas?

Bradley, like so many LPGA greats, was friends with Shore. The Hollywood superstar made such a tremendous impact on the tour in the 1970s and ’80s that they put her in the LPGA Hall of Fame as the only non-playing member.

But as the 52nd Chevron Championship, still known by many as “The Dinah,” leaves the Dinah Shore Tournament Course and heads to The Woodlands near Houston this year (April 20-23), it’s natural to wonder how Shore will fit in.

“You can’t create that,” said Bohannan of Bradley’s ritual, “that has to be something that’s organic.”

Shore died in 1994, before nine of the top 10 players in the world were even born. Jane Blalock, the tournament’s first champion in 1972, said Shore could be compared to a modern-day Oprah in terms of her popularity and reach.

Another burning question with only three events remaining before this year’s Chevron: Will the champion’s leap, the most significant tradition (one might argue the LPGA’s only noteworthy tradition), carry on?

[pickup_prop id=”32191″]

Tournament organizers told Golfweek there’s no expectation that a player will jump into the lake on the 18th next month at the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, but should the mood strike, the championship team is making sure it will be safe.

An area of the lake at the 18th green is being dredged and netted to make sure it’s deep enough for a player and her caddie and family to take the plunge. The traditional robe and slippers will also be on standby, if needed.

“Whoever wins this year needs to jump in and keep it going,” said Brittany Lincicome, a two-time champion at Mission Hills.

View of the 18th hole at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Carlton Woods. (courtesy The Club of Carlton Woods)

The hospitality area around the 18th green at the Nicklaus course at Carlton Woods will be named “Dinah’s Place” and Shore’s family has been invited to attend.

Shore’s name will also live on in the generosity of the Chevron Dinah Shore Scholarships, given to high school seniors who are pursuing a college education but not playing collegiate golf. Nominees must have a passion for women’s golf and desire to help grow the game.

There will once again be a Champions Dinner with Thomas Keller, chef and proprietor of The French Laundry, creating a special menu to honor 2022 champion Jennifer Kupcho. The tournament will also bring back a Junior Legacy Pro-Am, designed to link up legends of the game with bright young stars.

The Champions Wall will be, for now, a temporary structure that will celebrate the 51 years of history that took place at Mission Hills.

Sandra Palmer, an honorary member at Mission Hills who won 19 times on the LPGA, including the Colgate Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle before it was a major, feels the championship needs to find a new identity in her native Texas.

There was talk at last year’s Chevron about the LPGA Legends staging an event in the Coachella Valley this spring. There was even a news conference about it Sunday morning before Kupcho won.

Two weeks later, the PGA Tour Champions announced that the new Galleri Classic would be held March 24-26 at Mission Hills. Fred Couples, Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer and David Duval are among those who have committed to the field.

So far, nothing has been announced in the area for senior women.

2019 ANA Inspiration
Jin Young Ko, caddie David Brooker and agent Soo Jin Choi leap into Poppie’s Pond next to the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club after the 2019 ANA Inspiration on the Dinah Shore course in Rancho Mirage, California (Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Patty Sheehan, who won at Mission Hills in 1996 and lives there now part-time behind the 14th tee on the Dinah Shore Course, signed up to volunteer at the Galleri Classic. She was given three choices: walking scorer, work the range, help out in the caddie tent.

Sheehan, who hasn’t yet decided which job she’ll take, reported that the greens are hard and fast on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course but the rough isn’t up. They’ve added a couple new tees and trimmed the eucalyptus trees to open it up more.

“They’re trying to clean up Poppie’s Pond,” she said, “in case one of them tries to jump.”

Sheehan said she’s trying to “go down the positive road” about how things have turned out.

The 18th green at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Carlton Woods (courtesy The Club at Carlton Woods)

Judy Rankin, who like Palmer and Blalock won the Dinah before it was a major, is doing the same. Rankin was part of the deep history of the LPGA at Mission Hills for five decades, right up to the final putt last year in the broadcast booth. She too would like to see the Chevron begin its own kind of history in her home state of Texas, noting that it’s probably right not to see a lot Dinah this year, but that it’s never right to forget her.

“I think it’s part of growing old gracefully,” she said of adapting to change. “Be glad you had it, celebrate on a rare occasion, and let the new be new.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=]

Pia Babnik, the youngest player in the field at 2022 Chevron Championship, finished third in her championship debut

Pia Babnik would love to join the LPGA, but she has to finish high school first.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Califo. – Pia Babnik would love to join the LPGA, but she has to finish high school first.

At 18, the powerful Slovenian was the youngest player in the field at the 2022 Chevron Championship and still has a year and a half of school left.

“It would be great to compete among the best in the world,” said Babnik, “but long-term I want to be the best.”

Babnik, who turned pro two years ago at age 16, leaves her first trip to the California desert with a $334,972 paycheck and a solo third in her third major championship appearance.

“This course is made for her,” said Babnik’s father, Ales.

Alas, Babnik’s first trip to Mission Hills will likely be her last as the event moves to Houston next year after a 51-year run at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course.

Babnik stuffed her approached into the 18th like a player who’d done this sort of thing hundreds of times before. A two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour last year, this marked Babnik’s second trip to the U.S.

Currently ranked 109th in the Rolex Rankings, a strong showing at the desert should go a long way toward Babnik getting into the top 75 of the rankings to compete in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles next June.

Her father, a former professional badminton player for over 20 years who, like Pia, competed in the Olympics, said his daughter’s greatest strengths are her focus and speed. With the rough up this week, father and daughter agreed to dial it back about 8 mph to find more fairways at Mission Hills.

“I’m teaching her like golf a sport,” said Ales, “not golf is golf.”

Babnik recorded her first birdie in a tournament at age 4 and won at every level in Slovenia and Europe, claiming the 2019 R&A Girls Amateur Championship at Panmure before turning pro. In 2020, Babnik made the cut in every event she played on the LET. Last year, she won both the Jabra Ladies Open and Aramco Team Series – Jeddah to really begin to make a name for herself on the professional circuit.

On Sunday, Babnik chipped in for eagle on the second hole and followed it with birdie en route to a final-round 66 and 11-under 277 total.

“It was amazing,” said Babnik of the ovation she received on the 72nd hole. “The way they were cheering, it’s just unbelievable.”

[vertical-gallery id=778259060]

2022 Chevron Championship prize money payouts for each LPGA player

Jennifer Kupcho pockets the top prize of $750,000 at the Chevron Championship, the first LPGA major of 2022.

Jennifer Kupcho won her first LPGA event and her first major at the 2022 Chevron Championship.

In the process, she also banked a tournament-record $750,000 from the elevated purse of $5 million, thanks to the Chevron sponsorship which startd this year.

The tournament however, is on the move. Starting in 2023, the LPGA major will be later in the year on the calendar and will be played at a new location, a private golf course in Houston.

Position Player Score Money
1 Jennifer Kupcho -14 $750,000
2 Jessica Korda -12 $461,757
3 Pia Babnik -11 $334,972
T4 Patty Tavatanakit -10 $195,295
T4 Lexi Thompson -10 $195,295
T4 Hinako Shibuno -10 $195,295
T4 Celine Boutier -10 $195,295
T8 Hannah Green -8 $108,708
T8 Nanna Koerstz Madsen -8 $108,708
T8 Hyo Joo Kim -8 $108,708
T8 Alison Lee -8 $108,708
12 Minjee Lee -7 $88,481
T13 Georgia Hall -6 $75,841
T13 Brooke Henderson -6 $75,841
T13 Ryann O’Toole -6 $75,841
T13 Madelene Sagstrom -6 $75,841
T17 Yuka Saso -5 $57,388
T17 Sei Young Kim -5 $57,388
T17 Danielle Kang -5 $57,388
T17 Atthaya Thitikul -5 $57,388
T17 Nasa Hataoka -5 $57,388
T17 Caroline Masson -5 $57,388
T17 Xiyu Lin -5 $57,388
T17 Hye Jin Choi -5 $57,388
T25 Lydia Ko -4 $40,702
T25 Wei Ling Hsu -4 $40,702
T25 Matilda Castren -4 $40,702
T25 Charley Hull -4 $40,702
T25 Gabriela Ruffels -4 $40,702
T25 In-gee Chun -4 $40,702
T25 Wichanee Meechai -4 $40,702
T25 Sarah Schmelzel -4 $40,702
T25 Paula Reto -4 $40,702
T25 Annie Park -4 $40,702
T35 Inbee Park -3 $30,464
T35 Stephanie Meadow -3 $30,464
T35 Marina Alex -3 $30,464
T35 Pauline Roussin-Bouchard -3 $30,464
T39 Leona Maguire -2 $25,281
T39 Lizette Salas -2 $25,281
T39 Amy Yang -2 $25,281
T39 Eun-Hee Ji -2 $25,281
T39 Brittany Altomare -2 $25,281
T44 Sophia Popov -1 $19,297
T44 Ally Ewing -1 $19,297
T44 Moriya Jutanugarn -1 $19,297
T44 Melissa Reid -1 $19,297
T44 Giulia Molinaro -1 $19,297
T44 Ayaka Furue -1 $19,297
T44 Lauren Stephenson -1 $19,297
T44 Na Rin An -1 $19,297
T44 Pornanong Phatlum -1 $19,297
T53 Jin Young Ko E $13,980
T53 Pernilla Lindberg E $13,980
T53 Brittany Lincicome E $13,980
T53 Ariya Jutanugarn E $13,980
T53 Austin Ernst E $13,980
T53 Pajaree Anannarukarn E $13,980
T53 Thidapa Suwannapura E $13,980
T53 Chella Choi E $13,980
T53 Lindsey Weaver-Wright E $13,980
T53 Albane Valenzuela E $13,980
T63 Perrine Delacour 1 $11,757
T63 Charlotte Thomas 1 $11,757
T65 Anna Nordqvist 2 $10,997
T65 Cheyenne Knight 2 $10,997
T65 Jaye Marie Green 2 $10,997
T65 Alana Uriell 2 $10,997
T65 Brooke Seay 2 –
70 Jodi Ewart Shadoff 3 $10,365
T71 So Yeon Ryu 4 $9,986
T71 Bronte Law 4 $9,986
T71 Aditi Ashok 4 $9,986
74 Mi Hyang Lee 5 $9,732

[vertical-gallery id=778259060]

Jennifer Kupcho wins 2022 Chevron Championship for her first LPGA title, first major championship

“I had it rolling well and you’ve got to make putts in a major.”

Three years ago on this weekend, Jennifer Kupcho wowed the world with her performance in winning the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

In 2022, on the same spot on the calendar but in an entirely different environment, Kupcho claimed her first LPGA title and more importantly, her first major championship at the Chevron Championship.

Kupcho’s Saturday 64 got her to 16 under and staked her to a six-shot lead heading into the final round on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.

Winning is never easy but Kupcho, the 2018 NCAA Women’s Division I champion, had it on cruise control over the last 18 holes, building her lead to seven shots at one point. She shot a final-round 74 to finish 14 under to win by two shots.

2022 Chevron Championship
Jennifer Kupcho plays her shot from the first tee during the final round of the 2022 Chevron Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. (Photo: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports)

Kupcho at one point had her sights on the tournament’s 72-hole scoring mark of 19 under set by Dottie Pepper in 1999. Kupcho got it to 17 under with a birdie on No. 11, but back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14 essentially kept Pepper’s record intact.

On the 15h hole, Kupcho basically put the tournament on ice, stuffing her approach to about a foot, setting up a birdie to make the lead four shots once again.

Jessica Korda was the closest pursuer Sunday She fired a final-round 69 but never could get any closer than two shots. Korda settled for solo second at 12 under.

Pia Babnik and Hinako Shibuno tied for the best rounds of the day with 6-under 66s. The tournament’s defending champion, Patty Tavatanakit, who also won her first LPGA event and first major in this event one year ago, started the day at 10 under, six shots back, but managed just a 72 Sunday to finish tied for fourth.

Sunday was the LPGA’s 51st playing of this championship. The event moves next year to a spot later in the year on the calendar as well as to a different golf course. The front runner, Golfweek has learned, is The Clubs at Houston Oaks, a private golf course in Texas.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Chevron: Jennifer Kupcho holds 6-shot lead entering final round ever at Mission Hills

“I had it rolling well and you’ve got to make putts in a major.”

Three years ago, when the Augusta National Women’s Amateur first became a disrupting force for the Chevron Championship and the LPGA, the winner in Georgia was Wake Forest’s Jennifer Kupcho. She was the 2018 NCAA Women’s Division I champion, and someone pegged to be a star when she turned pro.

This week at the Chevron event, Kupcho is an accomplished LPGA member with a Solheim Cup berth to her credit. She still has no LPGA title on her resume, though that could easily change Sunday.

As the Chevron Championship moves into its final round ever in the Coachella Valley on Sunday, the field will be chasing Kupcho for the chance to be the final golfer to celebrate a victory by leaping into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills Country Club.

Sparked by a run of four consecutive birdies on the front nine, Kupcho fired an 8-under 64 on Saturday to reach 16-under-par 200 and forge a six-shot lead heading into the finale at Mission Hills Country Club.

Jennifer Kupcho smiles after putting on the 9th green on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course during round three of the Chevron Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, on Saturday, April 2, 2022.

The numbers and records for Kupcho on the day were staggering. Her 16-under total sets a tournament 54-hole mark, two strokes better than Patty Tavatanakit last year and Pernilla Lindberg in 2018. The 64 tied Kupcho’s low round in an LPGA event.

Kupcho is threatening the tournament’s 72-hole scoring record of 19 under, set by Dottie Pepper in 1999. Her six-shot lead is short of the event’s 54-hole margin set by Karrie Webb in 2000. Kupcho is also trying to become the second player in two years to make the Chevron Championship not only her first major but her first LPGA win of any kind.

Tavatanakit won the 2021 title and is still in contention this year at 10 under, alone in second after a 2-under 70 on Saturday. Jessica Korda is alone in third at 9 under after a solid 67 on Saturday in a tournament where her sister finished in the top three the last three years. Nelly Korda is not in the tournament this year because of a blood clot in her arm.

[lawrence-related id=778256633]

Kupcho said the entire third round was a bit of a blur. The round was a vast difference from her second round, where she shot 70 with 14 pars to open her round.

“Everything was working. I think my putting is definitely the props,” Kupcho said. “I had it rolling well and you’ve got to make putts in a major.”

Entire game was on fire

But it wasn’t just Kupcho’s putter that was working, with the 2021 Solheim Cup member missing just one fairway and only three greens in the round.

“I hit the fairways and I hit the greens and was really just trying to put some putting strokes on them,” she said.

Korda’s 67 enabled her to pass numerous contenders who struggled on a calm and warm afternoon on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course, including second-round leader Hinoka Shibuno, who shot 77 on Saturday. But Korda knows sitting seven shots back to start the day that she’ll need help to win the final Chevron Championship in the desert.

“It’s a major, so you know the girls up front are going to be nervous, and we’re kind of chasing them down and they know that,” Korda said. “You always just kind of got to think that you have a chance no matter, and that’s kind of the mentality you got to go in there with.”

Tavatanakit initially declined to talk to the media after her round, but later said she played a solid round and wasn’t too disappointed to be six shots out of the lead.

“At the end of the day, I feel like I’m out here on tour,” Tavatanakit said. “This is my — counting third year, and my coach told me that you know how to play golf, so just go out there and play golf.”

Tavatanakit’s round featured six birdies but four bogeys, including bogeys on the 13th and 17th holes when Kupcho had slowed her own scoring. Tavatanakit also missed a six-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th.

Jessica Korda of the United States tees off on nine during round three of the Chevron Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, Saturday, April 2, 2022.

Kupcho started the third round at 8 under, two shots behind Shibuno. After a par on the first hole, Kupcho birdied the easy par-5 second hole, then rolled in birdie putts of 15, 30, and 4 feet on the next three holes to reach 12 under and sole possession of the lead.

A birdie on the par-3 eighth gave her a 31 on the front nine. The back nine started just as hot with Kupcho making birdies on the 10th, 11th, and 12th, all from inside 10 feet.

The assault on par slowed with a bogey on the par-4 13th, the only green Kupcho missed in her round, followed by three consecutive pars. But a birdie on the par-3 17th pushed Kupcho to the 64. Only Tavatanakit’s birdie on the par-5 18th prevented Kupcho from a larger lead.

Kupcho, who missed just one fairway all day, said she hadn’t really felt a great round coming on Saturday and had set a score of 68 for the day in her head. She was relaxed to start the round because as she drove to the course she listened to the final round of this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

“I really was just coming out and playing this morning. I got to watch ANWA, so that was pretty cool, and just bring back those good memories,” Kupcho said.

Korda had four birdies in her first eight holes on her way to the 67 on a course she will miss when the tournament moves to Houston next year. Korda has finished fourth and sixth in the tournament in the last four years.

“I just like a lot of the layout. I love the grass. I don’t know, Palm Springs is so nice,” Korda said. “I’m definitely really sad that we’re leaving. It’s one of the golf courses you always look forward to coming back to because you know it, and the more that you know it the better you’re going to play out here.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Nichols: Wasn’t there a way to stop the LPGA from leaving Mission Hills? It’s complicated

“Think about how many tournaments – men or women – last for 50 years. It accomplished a lot, more than you could ever, ever ask for it.”

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – What will you miss the most about the Dinah?

Stacy Lewis choked back tears on Wednesday as she talked about the bench she sat on in the locker room after winning at Mission Hills Country Club more than a decade ago. She was still wet from the jump in Poppie’s Pond and in search of dry clothes.

“I sat on that bench and called my college coaches and it was like it all hit me there,” said Lewis. “It’s just the whole week.”

Sunday will be the LPGA’s last lap around the Dinah Shore Tournament Course in the 51st playing of the Chevron Championship. Next year the event will move to a different spot on the calendar in Houston. The front runner, Golfweek has learned, is The Clubs at Houston Oaks.

But honestly, right now, the only thing most folks are thinking about is tomorrow.

There’s a rumor going around that past champions will join this year’s winner in Poppie’s Pond. Whether or not that happens, there have been plenty of legends on property this week. Perhaps that’s what comes next here: a senior event. Maybe even a U.S. Senior Women’s Open.

“It’s very disappointing to see it leave here,” said LPGA Hall of Famer Patty Sheehan. “It was very disappointing to see the history be dismissed.”

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 02: A fan sits behind a sign protesting the 2023 move of The Chevron Championship to a new venue during the third round of The Chevron Championship at The Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa on April 02, 2022 in Rancho Mirage, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Wasn’t there a way to stop this event from moving? The closer we get to the end, it makes sense that the “why” question keeps coming up. But while this event has been called the Masters of the LPGA, it’s unfair to compare the two.

For starters, the buzz around this event took a sharp downturn long before the Augusta National Women’s Amateur conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting many to ask, “Where is everybody?” on more than one occasion.

As Judy Rankin has said, sometimes a community gets tired.

This week, fan support has been better than just before the pandemic, but there are certainly some folks who came back just to say goodbye.

Moving this event away from the ANWA proved more difficult than imagined given the need for a 28-hour window of live television, the club’s flexibility, Coachella, a dwindling volunteer base, and the desert heat.

Even if a blue-chip sponsor came in that wanted to keep the event at Mission Hills, there’s no guarantee that the problems that surround the event (namely the date and community support), would’ve been solved.

Besides, there isn’t a line of Chevrons waiting to do business with the LPGA. Quite the contrary. A partner like Chevron serves as a beacon to other Fortune 500 companies that the LPGA is a worthy partner.

The purse has already increased by 60 percent to $5 million. Next year, the event will move to network TV.

ANA Inspiration 2021
Patty Tavatanakit jumps into Poppie’s Pond with her caddie, Ryan Hogue, after winning the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Sunday, April 4, 2021.

It’s difficult to imagine not coming to this beautiful spot every year. The dramatic mountain views, the bright and cheery flowers, the pristine and intriguing golf course. There’s something about the beauty of this place that makes your heart smile.

The Dinah transformed the LPGA. Two-time winner Sandra Post talked about playing golf with President Gerald Ford here and Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. There were chandeliers in the pro-am tent that first year. She’d never seen such a glamorous tent.

Fans know this golf course. They remember the epic shots, the heartbreakers, and the champions.

Yes, it’s important for players to appreciate history. They must do their part, too. There was a champions dinner earlier this week, and when asked about her favorite part, last year’s winner, Patty Tavatanakit said the food, which she helped put together. Former No. 1 Lydia Ko and current No. 1 Jin Young Ko were among those who did not attend.

As the tour moves away from the place where it has the most history, the organization must make an even greater effort to help players understand what got them to this point. And that nothing is guaranteed.

Post, who won here in 1978 and 1979 before it became a major, believes the event “should go with our blessing to Houston with a bigger purse.”

“Think about how many tournaments – men or women – last for 50 years,” said Post. “It accomplished a lot, more than you could ever, ever ask for it.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

‘It’s absolutely disgusting’: LPGA veteran Christina Kim has harsh words for Augusta National as LPGA major is forced to move

“It barely qualifies as the bare minimum of allowing those girls one practice round.”

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Sunday’s final round of the Chevron Championship will mark the end of a 51-year relationship between the LPGA and its desert home in the Coachella Valley.

The tournament, dripping with history, is always the first major championship on the golf calendar and the winner’s leap into Poppie’s Pond has become a moment that fans remember and players dream of. But starting in 2023, the tournament will move to Houston and likely be played in May.

LPGA veteran Christina Kim has always spoken passionately about causes she believes in and that includes the fate of the desert’s LPGA event.

In an interview with The Desert Sun on Friday after missing the cut and therefore playing her final round at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club, the 38-year-old from San Jose had strong words for the golf power-brokers that she believes didn’t do enough to keep the event here.

“It’s very bittersweet. This tournament’s been very important to me over the years for a lot of reasons, and I’m really sad to be leaving,” Kim said. “I wish that there was more willingness from all parties including the people (making decisions) here to have found a way to make it work so that we could’ve stayed here.”

New title sponsor Chevron has stepped in to breathe new life into the tournament that has struggled to stay afloat in recent years as ticket sales lagged even before the pandemic, and as TV ratings have taken a hit with new competition from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur event which is held simultaneously.

Many current players have weighed in on the move with varying levels of vitriol. Some are outraged that the powers that be in women’s golf couldn’t rally around the iconic event, others consider it a frustrating necessity to keep the tournament alive.

Christina Kim of the United States hits her tee shot on the eighth hole during the second round of The Chevron Championship at The Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa on April 01, 2022, in Rancho Mirage, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

Kim is certainly in the first camp.

A 20-year veteran of the LPGA Tour, Kim’s most pointed criticism was saved for Augusta National. She believes the power players behind the Masters, in essence, pushed the desert tournament out by creating counterprogramming to the LPGA major that includes the ANWA from Thursday to Saturday.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the Masters treating the weekend of the Chevron Championship as a de facto preview to the following week’s Masters has hurt the LPGA major.

“Truth be told, I’m not gonna lie. I’m really upset with Augusta National. Because there’s no reason why we couldn’t continue to have this tournament be the first major in professional golf,” Kim said. “And I think it’s absolutely disgusting what they’re doing and I have no problem saying that. It’s bull hockey what they’re doing.”

Even the way ANWA is run, where the amateurs are allowed one practice round at Augusta but then have to qualify to play a competitive round on the fabled course, irks Kim.

“It barely qualifies as the bare minimum of allowing those girls one practice round and giving them a playoff to see who’s going to make the cut into the final round at that place,” she said.

Kim said she appreciates Chevron stepping in with sponsorship and wanting to elevate the tournament, but before it got to that point, she would’ve liked to see a more concerted effort by everyone involved to give more consideration to the history of this event and its ties to its California home.

Changing the weekend it is played to earlier in the calendar is an option she would’ve been in favor of, but finding the right TV window was an issue, as were potential scheduling conflicts at Mission Hills.

“I know there were attempts made to try and see if the date could change because Augusta was doing what Augusta does,” she said. “But it did not work for the region here either, so unfortunately, it would be easy to say there’s no one to blame other than Augusta National, but that’s neither here nor there. Everyone could have worked … I’m sure everyone did everything they think that they could’ve done to keep the tournament here. But the reality is we’re not coming back.”

After a slight pause, Kim added “For now at least.”

Kim, who has three career LPGA wins and two top-10 finishes at this tournament, said you never know what could happen three or five years down the road.

“Maybe a big corporation will step up and see — like the American Express did for the men — that the women belong here in the desert,” Kim said. “The golf here is incredible, the people here are amazing, the culture here is fun, it’s artsy, it’s inclusive, it’s diverse and it fits right in with the ethos of the LPGA so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have a tournament here. It’s just very bittersweet.

Christina Kim of the United States walks on the seventh hole during the second round of The Chevron Championship at The Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa on April 01, 2022, in Rancho Mirage, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

“The foundation has already been established. The people. The ones that really matter. The heart and soul of the LPGA coming to the desert are the fans. One can always hope that something can come out of this.”

Kim wanted to make one last clarification before the interview was over.

“I have no problem saying all that on the record. You can tell because I said ‘Bull hockey’ instead of what I really wanted to say.”

Shad Powers is a columnist with The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Chevron Championship: The top five moments I covered, and five I wish I had

This is my 36th year covering the major championship that has been played at Mission Hills Country Club since 1972.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — It is not true that I was on the first tee of the inaugural LPGA event in the desert in 1972. I haven’t been around quite that long, though it seems like it at times.

This is only my 36th year covering the major championship that has been played at Mission Hills Country Club since 1972. While I did not witness those first 15 years, I’ve always enjoyed diving into the archives to learn about the event and its players.

Having studied the tournament’s history and covered 144 rounds by the end of this week, I’ve been fortunate to witness some great players and memorable moments at the Chevron Championship.

As the Chevron Championship prepares to move to Texas in 2023, it is easy to look back on what I have seen here – and what I missed in those first 15 years.

Here are five things I’m glad I saw at the tournament (a completely impossible list to trim down to just five) and five things I wish I had witnessed:

Five things I saw

Annika in her prime

From 2001 to 2005, Annika Sorenstam was the best player in women’s golf and proved it with three wins in the desert major, including the last in 2005 by eight shots. She also had a second-place finish in that five-year stretch, one of three runner-up finishes for her in the event. Perhaps it was unfair of us to think Sorenstam was going to win the tournament every time she showed up, but it was hard not to think that when she was so good.

Karrie’s hole-out

Who knows how many shots have been hit by LPGA players at Mission Hills Country Club, but the one that stands out was in 2006. Karrie Webb, trailing at the time with the leaders a few holes behind her, holed a pitching wedge from 116 yards for an eagle on the closing hole of the tournament. That pushed her into a playoff with Lorena Ochoa, which Webb won. But the sheer joy of Webb after holing the shot from the fairway was priceless.

Lorena’s fiesta

When Lorena Ochoa finally won the Mission Hills tournament in 2008, you knew there was going to be a party. But the party erupted in Poppie’s Pond with Ochoa, family, and friends filling the pond with joy and laughter. That many people had never been in the pond before, and it was again wonderful to see such joy in golf.

Dinah in the lake

If you want to know how committed Dinah Shore was to the tournament she hosted, remember 1991. That’s the year Amy Alcott won her third Mission Hills tournament. Shore had promised to go into the lake with Alcott if she ever won the title again. True to her word, the 75-year-old Shore lunged into the lake with Alcott and her caddie Bill Kurre. That’s how you host a tournament.

Nancy Lopez smiles as she holds the trophy after winning the LPGA Championship in Mason, Ohio, Sunday, June 2, 1985. Lopez shot a final round of 65, 7-under-par for the day, to give her a total of 273, 15-under-par for the tournament.

Three wins by Betsy King

King is in the Hall of Fame and won six majors among her 34 LPGA victories, but she somehow still feels underrated. King won the first tournament I covered in 1987 and added wins in 1990 and 1997. She was never flashy or boisterous, but she was as good as the tour had for that 10-year period and was a pleasure to cover.

Five things I wish I had seen

Mickey winning

Wright is proclaimed by many as the best golfer to ever play on the LPGA, and her last win came in 1973 at the Colgate-Dinah Shore. She won by two shots wearing tennis shoes instead of golf shoes and walked off delighted to have won a title that seemed even then like a capstone of her career.

Nancy’s win

In the late 1970s, no one energized the women’s game like Nancy Lopez. From my first year covering the event in 1987, Lopez had chances to win the title, but her only title came in 1981 with a final-round 64, then a course record. To see her in her prime must have been something in person.

Nancy Lopez smiles as she holds the trophy after winning the LPGA Championship in Mason, Ohio, Sunday, June 2, 1985. Lopez shot a final round of 65, 7-under-par for the day, to give her a total of 273, 15-under-par for the tournament.

A true Dinah Shore sandstorm

Yes, the wind still blows at the Chevron Championship, but the sandstorms of the 1970s were the stuff of legend. Sand stinging the players’ exposed skin, players wearing goggles, and players having to hit driver and then two more woods to reach a par-4 are not myths, but true stories from the early days of the tournament when the course was exposed to the elements and today’s towering eucalyptus trees were still saplings.

The first tournament

What it must have been like to see 40 of the finest players in the world playing for a purse that was four or five times larger than the purse of an average LPGA event of the time. It was just a 54-hole tournament, but it was still monumental in the women’s game. Jane Blalock won the first event, and it was the start of a legendary desert run.

Sandra’s double

When people talk about the greats to play in the tournament, they never talk about Canadian Sandra Post. But Post was the first player to win the tournament twice, the first to win it in back-to-back years, and the first foreign-born player to win the title. Her wins in 1978 and 1979 weren’t matched until Sorenstam won in 2001 and 2002. Post won eight times on the LPGA, but she had the “Old Course” as it was called figured out.

That’s a lot to see in 36 years – and there are about a dozen other things that could have made the list – and too many things to have missed. But they are all memories from the tournament that seems to be going away too soon.

Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer, He can be reached at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4633. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_bohannan. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]