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The LPGA Tour announced Tuesday that the major will be played at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club at Carlton Woods. The event will also move dates and is scheduled to be played April 20-23, 2023.

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“I am so thankful to our partners at Chevron, The Club at Carlton Woods and IMG for their dedication to presenting our LPGA Tour players with a world-class competition as the kick-off to our major season,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “In moving the championship to Houston, it was critical that we find a venue worthy of this historic championship and we could not be more excited about our partnership with Carlton Woods.”

The move to Houston ends a 50-year run in Palm Springs for the LPGA’s first major of the year. The Chevron Championship, which has taken on many different title sponsors over the years, was first played on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in 1972.

The Chevron Corporation agreed to be the title sponsor of the event in 2021, with the agreement that the tournament would move to the Houston area in 2023. As a part of their sponsorship, the purse was increased by 60% in 2022, up to $5 million.

“Partnership is foundational to everything we do at Chevron,” said Al Williams, Chevron’s Vice President Corporate Affairs. “We are excited to embark on this journey with the LPGA, IMG, and our new partners at Carlton Woods to take this prestigious Championship forward into a new, exciting era for women’s golf.”

The new date also means the tournament won’t have to compete with the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which has previously been played the same week, for top young talent.

Jennifer Kupcho won the final Chevron Championship at Mission Hills earlier this spring for her first major title.

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The post A Jennifer Kupcho major title, and a surreal final day at one of golf’s most storied tournaments appeared first on Golf.

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The margin on the leaderboard played a role in the apathy. Jennifer Kupcho held a six-shot lead when play began, and the lead never dipped below two. The spotlight of Sunday was twofold — one on the golf, and the other on the nostalgia.

After 50 years of hosting the LPGA’s best each spring, Sunday was the final competitive round at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Emotions were running high.

As the final twosome walked to the first tee, a Mission Hills legend joined them. Amy Alcott stood under the starter’s umbrella, taking in the moment. Longtime first-tee announcer Rich Galgallon stepped aside for the final introductions, ceding the stage to Alcott.

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“He told me, ‘This is where you need to be,'” Alcott told GOLF.com.

It’s impossible to tell the story of The Dinah without Alcott. She won the event three separate times (1983, 1988, 1991) and invented the leap into Poppie’s Pond. Her mark on this tournament is indelible, and it was only fitting to have her on hand as the last players struck their opening tee shots.

“It’s bittersweet,” Alcott said. “But I’m glad Chevron is stepping up and doing whatever they need to do to elevate the tournament for these great young players. When one door shuts, another door opens.”

That’s been a common refrain during this week’s farewell tournament in the desert. The history of this tournament and venue are undeniable, but the time has come to move on. With a Fortune 500 company investing in the event, the opportunity for growth is too good to pass up. Mission Hills just happens to be a casualty.

That fact didn’t make Sunday any less somber.

“It’s just such a special place,” said Pernilla Lindberg, who won here in 2018. “I’m just really sad that we’re not coming back for this event.”

Greener pastures await. Houston is the locale, but the exact course is still unknown. It certainly won’t have Poppie’s Pond.

The ceremonial leap into the water feature adjacent to the 18th green is one of the LPGA Tour’s only long-standing traditions. The leap has been conducted by the winner annually since 1994, with Alcott making the first plunge six years prior.

On Sunday, Kupcho made that final leap.

“To be a major winner is really special,” she said. “And to be the last person here at Mission Hills to jump into Poppie’s Pond, it’s all really special.”

Kupcho cemented her place in history with a sublime Saturday performance at Mission Hills. Her third-round 64 gave her a six-shot advantage heading into the final day, and the last round was merely a formality.

Her final-round 74 was the worst score of any woman in the top 25, but with the lead she built the day prior, it was more than enough to earn her first LPGA win. She bested runner-up Jessica Korda by two.

“I came out just trying to shoot a couple under,” Kupcho said. “I had a six-stroke lead and I shot eight under [Saturday], so I figured if someone can do that, then they deserve to be in a playoff. That was my mentality and what I was fighting for all day. Obviously didn’t get there, but still pulled it out.”

Three years ago, she was the first woman to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Now, she’s the final woman to win at Mission Hills. There are not many golfers with a more impressive set of bookends.

“It’s surreal to be able to say that I was the last person here and first person at Augusta,” she said.

Still dripping with water from Poppie’s Pond, Kupcho was presented with the trophy by Chevron executive Albert Williams. The Palm Springs crowd showered him in boos like he was Roger Goodell at the NFL Draft. This tournament is a part of them; now, it’s off to Texas.

The company line will always highlight the positives this move will have for the women’s game — more money, more exposure, a better date on the calendar — but to the people of the Coachella Valley, that’s irrelevant. There are 50 years of history at this place, and Sunday marked the final chapter.

“It’ll be a big loss,” Alcott said. “But that’s the way it is.”

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Three years ago this week, Kupcho won at perhaps the grandest stage in golf — Augusta National. Her victory at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur was as iconic as it was enthralling. It was an exclamation-point victory that cemented the then-Wake Forest senior’s place as one of the top amateurs in the sport.

Now in her third year on the LPGA Tour, Kupcho has a chance to earn an equally monumental victory. This time, at the Chevron Championship — the last played at iconic Mission Hills Country Club.

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“It’s really special just to be out here,” Kupcho said. “I love this place. I love stepping on property. You just get positive vibes.”

On a day when the top contenders were stuck in neutral (or went backward), Kupcho put the pedal to the floor. From her opening tee shot, the round had the makings of something special — a fitting omen on the morning the newest ANWA champion was crowned.

“I got to watch ANWA, so that was pretty cool, and just bring back those good memories,” Kupcho said. “I don’t know if that was positive vibes, but definitely did watch that. I think it helped to get my mind off this tournament by watching.”

Those positive vibes carried over to the course as Kupcho put together one of the finest rounds of golf the Dinah Shore Tournament Course has ever seen. Her eight-under 64 is two off the course record, and the lowest round of the week by two shots. She holds a six-shot lead heading into Sunday.

How did she play such beautiful Moving Day golf? She pointed to the oldest cliche in golf — taking it one shot at a time. That and a red-hot putter.

Kupcho needed just 25 putts to get around Mission Hills on Saturday, and her confidence grew with every make.

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The 24-year-old began the day one shot behind the 36-hole leaders, but with birdies on four of her first five holes, she quickly took control of the tournament. Kupcho added a birdie at the 8th and then ripped off three in a row to begin her back nine.

“I was just playing my game,” Kupcho said. “Taking it one shot at a time, not thinking about anything in particular.”

She might not have been thinking about anything in particular, but the rest of the golf world sure was. How low can she go? The course record of 62 was suddenly within reach — not to mention an outside chance at 59.

But just as the impossible started to seem feasible, Kupcho (finally) made bogey. The square on the scorecard at No. 13 derailed her chance at history, but it didn’t halt her momentum for long. It was the last mistake she made all day. She added another birdie at the 17th and signed for a tidy 64.

Her three-round total of 200 is the lowest ever in the 50-year history of the event.

“Everything was working,” Kupcho said.

If everything keeps working on Sunday, a date with Poppie’s Pond awaits.

Kupcho made history as the first woman to win at Augusta National. She has a chance to make a little more history at Mission Hills.

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The post From 308th to 5th in the world in a year?! Meet golf’s fastest rising star appeared first on Golf.

The post From 308th to 5th in the world in a year?! Meet golf’s fastest rising star appeared first on Golf.

Meet Atthaya Thitikul.

The 19-year-old has played some of the best golf in the world over the past year — though you probably didn’t know it. That’s just how she likes it.

When asked what she wants people to know about her at the Chevron Championship, she didn’t have to think long on an answer.

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“Nothing,” Thitikul told GOLF.com. “Just keep me this way. Keep it low key.”

If she keeps playing as well as she has though, more of the world is going to take notice.

Thitikul ranked 308th in the world one year ago. She had a terrific amateur career — with two wins as an amateur on the Ladies European Tour — but her professional success was limited to wins in her home country of Thailand. Then, everything started to click.

Thitikul picked up a win at the Czech Ladies Open last June and then finished outside the top 10 just once over her next 10 starts. No matter where she teed it up, she was in contention. Her average finish during that stretch? Seventh — and that’s with a T48 sprinkled in. She bookended the run with another victory at the Swiss Ladies Open.

In 14 weeks, she jumped up over 100 spots up in the World Ranking. She was only getting started.

Thitikul closed 2021 strong with four more top-15 finishes over her final four starts. The impressive season earned her plenty of hardware. She won the LET’s season-long points race, Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year.

She began playing on the LPGA Tour in 2022, and it’s been much of the same. In the first five starts of her rookie season, Thitikul has four top-12 finishes, including her first LPGA victory at last week’s JTBC Classic.

Now, she’s fifth in the World Ranking. Did she even expect this type of rise?

“Not at all,” she said. “[But] I’m not really focused on world ranking. I focus on what I have to improve and what I have to work on to get better.”

At the moment, there isn’t a lot to improve upon. She ranks sixth on tour in SG: Off the Tee, eighth SG: Tee to Green and 24th in SG: Approach. In fact, she ranks inside the top 60 in every advanced metric the tour tracks.

Every facet of her game is rock solid. She knows how to think her way around the course, but also possesses surprising power. On the 18th hole at Mission Hills on Friday, Thitikul bombed a drive so far down the fairway she had just an iron into the island-green par-5. She calmly hit it to the center of the green, two-putted for birdie and signed for a four-under 68.

She’s enjoying every minute of it.

“It’s really amazing to be able to live my dream competing every week with the best players in the world,” she said.

If she keeps playing like she has, she may very well become the best player in the world.

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As she lined up to hit her approach into Mission Hills’ par-5 9th hole, she felt something crawling in her shoes. When she looked down, she was greeted by a terrifying sight — fire ants.

“I looked down, and I had ants all over my feet,” Weaver-Wright told GOLF.com. “They were like coming up to my ankles. So I just slipped [my shoes] off real quick so I didn’t get bit or anything.”

As you can see in the video above, the speed with which she shed her shoes was pretty impressive.

“Panic,” Weaver-Wright said. “Absolute panic.”

The ants, she explained, were in a pile in the middle of the fairway. She didn’t notice them when she approached the ball, but it didn’t take long for her to realize something was amiss.

Fortunately for Weaver-Wright, she was afforded relief under Rule 16.2.a, entitled “Dangerous Animal Condition.”

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“A ‘dangerous animal condition,'” the rules say, “exists when a dangerous animal (such as poisonous snakes, stinging bees, alligators, fire ants or bears) near a ball could cause serious physical injury to the player if he or she had to play the ball as it lies.”

This certainly fit the bill.

The situation didn’t seem to bother Weaver-Wright too much, though. After dusting herself off and taking relief, she ended up making birdie — her first of the day.

“I think it lightened the mood a little,” she said.

Weaver-Wright went on to fire a bogey-free 70 for the day to comfortably make the cut.

Let’s hope she doesn’t run into any more dangerous animals over the weekend.

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The post One of golf’s most ridiculous streaks was finally snapped at the year’s first major appeared first on Golf.

The post One of golf’s most ridiculous streaks was finally snapped at the year’s first major appeared first on Golf.

Ko, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, fired a two-over 74 at the opening round of the Chevron Championship. The round snapped a streak of 34-consecutive rounds under par for the 26-year-old.

Ko was as shocked as anyone to see the streak come to an end.

“I don’t know what happened,” Ko said in a daze after the round.

No one on Earth — man or woman — has played as well as Ko over the last nine months.

Since the streak began last July, Ko has won five times. Her worst finish is a T6, and her scoring average is a blistering 67.18. Pretty impressive stuff.

There were also mini-streaks within the streak. Two separate times, Ko ripped off gaudy runs of consecutive rounds in the 60s. Last fall, she tied the all-time mark with 14 rounds in a row in the 60s. She fired a 71 that snapped the streak, and then started another one — this time stretching to 16 rounds in a row to own the record outright.

She won the CME Group Tour Championship by hitting 63 greens in a row in regulation. It won her the biggest check in LPGA history, and earned her the Player of the Year trophy.

There’s in the zone, and then there’s whatever the hell Ko has been in.

But as we know all too well, golf is a fickle game — and Thursday wasn’t Ko’s day.

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Her first nine (the back side) was largely unremarkable. Nine holes and nine pars. Not bad, but she’d need better on the second nine for the streak to continue.

Her bogey on No. 1 served as a harbinger of what was to come. Ko hit her drive in the fairway, but with just inside 130 yards left to a back-right pin, she mishit her approach with a pitching wedge and watched as it dropped 50 feet shy of the pin.

She looked at the club in disbelief. Such is the case when you (seemingly) haven’t mishit a shot in the calendar year.

Ko’s lag putt settled some three feet short of the hole. Her putt for par caught the left edge and spun out of the cup. Suddenly, the unflappable Korean was over par. *gasp*

The remainder of the round was much of the same. Ko’s trademark ball striking gave her some opportunities, but she just couldn’t convert. She made pars the rest of the way, save for a three-putt bogey at the 8th, and signed for a two-over round.

So, what went wrong? For the most part, Ko just couldn’t get the speed right on the greens. After lightning-fast speeds during the practice rounds, Thursday’s opening round saw the greens considerably slower — at least in Ko’s eyes.

“I was hitting lots of great shots but my putting wasn’t good on the greens,” she said. “Greens are little slow[er] than last couple days.”

Beyond the issues on the greens, sometimes you just don’t have it. Ko showed as much today.

If the last nine months are any indication though, we can expect another jaw-dropping streak to begin tomorrow.

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The post Why this pro has been trying to miss greens on purpose (yes, really!) appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this pro has been trying to miss greens on purpose (yes, really!) appeared first on Golf.

This is what makes golf practice so mystifying. You can put in the hours on the range and practice green, but when the pressure is on, all bets are off. The “clutch gene” is intangible. The best way to get better in pressure situations is putting yourself in them over and over.

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Danielle Kang is familiar with this truth, and she’s gotten quite good under pressure. The 29-year-old has six LPGA Tour wins in her career — plus a major — and she’s become one of the top names in the game.

Still, she’s still always trying to improve. Especially in high-leverage situations. And one of her methods is a bit outside the box.

When chatting with the media at the Chevron Championship, Kang admitted she missed some greens last week on purpose. Her reasoning? To create more game-time opportunities to work on her chipping.

“I’ve been chipping kind of weird,” Kang said. “So I missed couple greens on purpose last week.”

If you’re thinking the method is a bit crazy, you’re not alone.

“I was talking about it with my coach and they thought it was the most absurd thing they had ever heard,” she said. “My friend David Lipsky was like, ‘You did what?’ I said, ‘You’ve never done that?’ [He said,] ‘No, nobody does that.'”

Kang’s method might be a little out there, but her reasoning is sound. There’s no telling how you’ll react under pressure, so the best way to prepare is by creating the situation yourself. She’s thinking unconventionally, but she’s thinking big-picture.

“I have to figure it out eventually, so I have to keep chipping in a tournament scenario when I have to make an up and down,” she said. “You can’t really recreate what you feel in a competition unless you’re in competition.

“I can’t recreate that unless it’s at an event,” she continued. “I’m just trying to mishit and fail and see if I can recover the best that I can.”

Kang explained she tried three times to miss the green last week. She was able to get up-and-down just once.

Her score might have suffered, but she still has the full support of her coach, Butch Harmon.

“[Butch] is always going to say like, ‘D, I trust the work that you put in,'” Kang said. “‘However you’re going to have to get it done, just get it done. You have a job to do.’ He’ll always say that, I have a job to do.”

We can’t endorse the method for a weekend hack, but given Kang is one of the best in the world, we’ll take a step back and give her some extra leeway.

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The post How Lydia Ko rediscovered her golf game (with help from Sean Foley) appeared first on Golf.

She was searching for a win. Ko hadn’t lifted a trophy in three years — a shocking drought following her incredible run as teenage World No. 1.

She was also searching for a major championship title. If Ko’s three-year winless spell was shocking, the five years she’d gone without a major title was damn near inconceivable.

And she was searching for a simple, effective golf swing. Ko, a self-proclaimed over-thinker, had a tendency to complicate the golf swing, which had been hampering her progress for years.

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But she was close to finding it.

After teaming up with renowned instructor (and GOLF Top 100 Teacher) Sean Foley in the summer of 2020, her game had been trending in the right direction. Heading into major championship season, Ko put together her best stretch of golf in years — seven top 10s in 14 starts — and her world ranking was steadily on the rise.

The two proved to be a formidable team. Ko loves to rely on thinking and feeling her swing, and there’s not a coach in golf more cerebral than Foley.

“There were a lot of questions in my head, and I needed a bit more clarity,” Ko told GOLF.com at the Chevron Championship. “That’s what he’s helped me with the most. Defining what is right and what is wrong is more important than technically knowing what needs to happen.”

The term “swing coach” is too limiting for Foley. That’s not to disparage his fundamentals; he has a terrific understanding of the technical intricacies of the golf swing. But his teachings only begin with golf. Talk to Foley for five minutes and you’ll learn about life.

“A great coach is a friend and a mentor,” Foley told GOLF.com. “It’s not all just technical.”

He’s exactly the type of coach Ko needs. The now-24-year-old was a teenage sensation when she began her professional career. She won in bunches, became the top-ranked golfer at age 17 and was compared to the game’s all-time greats. The game looked easy.

But all of a sudden, golf wasn’t easy. The wins became more infrequent, and then they stopped altogether. She started missing cuts. She fired her swing coach. She fired her caddie. Her world ranking dropped. What once looked so easy became decidedly difficult.

“My M.O. has always been players who are at the bottom of their game,” Foley said in an episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon. “The first time they’ve ever found the game to be super, super difficult.”

Ko certainly fit the profile. She was two years removed from her most recent win when she teamed up with Foley, and she’d dropped outside the top 50 in the world.

They got to work.

From a technical standpoint, Ko’s swing wasn’t in terrible shape, but there was room for fine-tuning. Her alignment had drifted to the right at address, causing compensations in her swing that needed to be addressed. Additionally, they worked on getting the feel at the top of her swing in a comfortable place.

There was also a mental component to the work.

“He’s more than just a swing coach,” Ko said. “Sometimes I talk about life things with him. He’s worked with and met so many people, so his perspective is different. It’s nice to talk to him about golf things and non-golf things. There is no b.s. He’s very straightforward and gives grounded advice.”

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The mental aspect of the golf is perhaps the area Ko has improved the most. The scar tissue from her lost years is still present, but it doesn’t define her.

“Philosophically, she’s improved a great deal,” Foley said.

So, even though Ko was searching when she arrived at Mission Hills last season, she wasn’t lost.

Ko was largely an afterthought heading into the final round at the 2021 ANA Inspiration. A solid week left her eight strokes behind 54-hole leader Patty Tavatanakit. Then, everything clicked.

Ko lit the course on fire. She made an eagle, eight birdies and zero bogeys. Her 10-under 62 was the lowest final-round in major championship history. And although it wasn’t quite enough to catch Tavatanakit, the word was out — Lydia Ko was back.

The next week, she validated that final round with her first win in three years. She’s won twice more in the time since and risen to No. 3 in the World Golf Ranking.

She’s not done searching — every golfer is a work in progress — but Ko returns to Mission Hills this week with plenty of confidence.

“To see herself build herself back up is really dope,” Foley said. “She’s worked for everything she’s earned.”

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The post ‘Best decision of my life’: Why Lorena Ochoa has no regrets about retiring as world No. 1 appeared first on Golf.

That wasn’t the case for Lorena Ochoa.

Ochoa walked away from the game at both her peak and the peak. She was the No. 1 player in the world. She’d won 10 tournaments over the previous two years. She was only 30 years old. But on that emotional April day in 2010 when she announced her decision, Ochoa knew she was done.

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“This is the way I dreamed it,” she said at the time. “I’m ready to start a new life. You know, I just want to be a normal person. I just want to live like everyday things and be home, and be back with my family all the time that we lost in the last few years. I’m ready to move on.”

Her soul wasn’t in it anymore. After nearly a decade traversing the globe from tournament to tournament, Ochoa was ready to settle down. She wanted to spend time with her family, and she wanted to focus on her charitable foundation.

The decision was an admirable one — but it came at a cost: her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

The Hall had an eligibility requirement Ochoa didn’t meet. Players had to be LPGA Tour members for at least 10 years to be considered for induction. Ochoa had played for only seven.

Ochoa knew she was risking her spot when she announced her retirement.

“Hopefully I can be there,” she said. “It’s for sure a dream for me and something very important.”

This week, that dream became a reality.

The LPGA Tour announced on Tuesday a change in criteria scrapping the 10-year requirement. Ochoa is finally headed to the Hall. She graced Mission Hills with her presence on Wednesday to commemorate the occasion.

It was as much a homecoming as it was a celebration for the 40-year-old. Ochoa made it a point to say hello to every familiar face in the media. Old friends (and competitors) stopped in to give salutations, and plenty of new acquaintances rolled through in the hope of earning some face time.

“I’m speechless right now,” Lizette Salas — the 23rd ranked player in the world — said as she hugged Ochoa.

Back in front of the press, Ochoa was comfortable as ever. Her answers were poised and thoughtful — sprinkled with her infectious laughter — and she seemed to linger in front of the mic. Her availability went well over time, and her interview transcript dwarfs any others from the week.

The biggest takeaway? She has no regrets.

“I could really tell that it was the right time to stop,” she said. “That’s why regardless [of] the rule, I said this is not going to change my mind because really what I felt in my heart was different, and I was ready to start a family.”

The 10 years Ochoa has been away from professional golf have provided a different kind of fulfillment. She started a family with her husband, Andre Conesa, and they now have two children. She’s also been able to focus her time on the Lorena Ochoa Golf Foundation, one of her proudest achievements.

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“I have other priorities,” Ochoa said. “It’s time to spend as much time with my kids and continue working with the foundation while I have the energy and strength.”

There were things she missed being away from the tour. The competition. The camaraderie. The relationships.

But in the meantime, she found something even more valuable. Purpose.

“It turned out to be the best decision of my life,” Ochoa said. “I wouldn’t change myself for anything — the opportunity to have a family and my kids and the foundation.”

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The post Why Lorena Ochoa is (finally!) headed into the LPGA Hall of Fame appeared first on Golf.

The LPGA Tour announced on Tuesday they are modifying the entry requirements for the LPGA Hall of Fame. The most significant modification is removing the 10-year playing requirement to enter the Hall of Fame. The modification means that Ochoa, a 27-time LPGA Tour winner, is (finally!) eligible for induction.

She received the news from 48-time LPGA Tour winner Nancy Lopez.

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“It was very special to receive Nancy’s call,” Ochoa said in a statement. “When she told me I was taken aback, and I was very moved, never imagined … It’s an honor to receive this recognition. It was unexpected and very special.”

Prior to the change, LPGA Hall of Fame membership was predicated on three objective criteria.

First, players had to earn 27 Hall of Fame points; two points for a major championship victory, one point for a regular tournament victory, and one point for winning the Vare Trophy (low scoring average) or Player of the Year Award. Second, players had to win at least one major championship or season-ending award. And third, players had to have 10 years as an active LPGA Tour member.

Ochoa, 40, earned 37 points during her seven years on the LPGA Tour, including two major championship victories. She has been a World Golf Hall of Fame member since 2017.

“We have seen that the tour is strong enough now that we don’t need that requirement,” said Hall of Fame committee member Beth Daniel. “If you make the Hall of Fame in less than 10 years, more power to you. We shouldn’t keep you out of the Hall of Fame for that reason.”

The committee also announced an Olympic gold medal would be worth one point as well, benefitting the last two gold medalists, Inbee Park and Nelly Korda.

Additionally, the remaining eight of the LPGA’s 13 founders not already in the Hall of Fame will be inducted.

“The 13 LPGA Founders were true pioneers whose collective passion, determination and foresight changed the course of history for women’s sports and laid the foundation for what is today the best women’s professional sports organization in the world,” said LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “It is time to welcome them all into the LPGA Hall of Fame, recognizing the indelible impact they made on the game of golf and the doors they opened for female golfers.”

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