ANA/Dinah Shore Moving to Houston After 2022 Event

[iacas]

Exclusive: Chevron inks LPGA’s Dinah Shore event, big changes coming

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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 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.

[DeadMan]

Interesting. I like that they are getting a bigger purse. That is always a good thing for women's golf, especially a major. Moving the event on the schedule is a no-brainer, too. Conflicting with the ANWA was not good, because traditionally, a lot of the top women's amateurs compete in this event and were having to choose between the two events. Getting it on NBC is a good thing, too.

I don't know how I feel about moving the location. Although the course is probably not the most interesting, it sucks to lose the history you have there. Golf fans do recognize things like Poppy's Pond and jumping in after winning. Hopefully, they can find a way to re-create that stuff.

This is probably the first big move by the LPGA commissioner. I'm really curious how the players respond to this. They'll probably like it because the increased purse, but we'll see.

[boogielicious]

44 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

Interesting. I like that they are getting a bigger purse. That is always a good thing for women's golf, especially a major. Moving the event on the schedule is a no-brainer, too. Conflicting with the ANWA was not good, because traditionally, a lot of the top women's amateurs compete in this event and were having to choose between the two events. Getting it on NBC is a good thing, too.

I don't know how I feel about moving the location. Although the course is probably not the most interesting, it sucks to lose the history you have there. Golf fans do recognize things like Poppy's Pond and jumping in after winning. Hopefully, they can find a way to re-create that stuff.

This is probably the first big move by the LPGA commissioner. I'm really curious how the players respond to this. They'll probably like it because the increased purse, but we'll see.

Agree with your sentiments here. I would add that I also like the finishing hole here. Risk/reward par 5 with an over water approach. The tournament has been won and lost on this hole. The new course better be a good course.

[iacas]

51 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

This is probably the first big move by the LPGA commissioner. I'm really curious how the players respond to this. They'll probably like it because the increased purse, but we'll see.

I think a lot of them will talk about how much they'll miss going to the valley, etc. but really, they'll love the money and almost couldn't care less where it is (so long as it's not horrible).

[DeadMan]

This is from a local writer in Palm Springs, I believe. 

A long, slow goodbye for an LPGA major whose time might simply have run out

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An event that seemed woven into the fabric of the desert, the newly christened Chevron Championship will be ripped out of Southern California and transplanted to a yet-to-be-named course in the Houston area for 2023.

 

[iacas]