First LPGA major of the season kicks off at Chevron Championship

This week, the LPGA Tour returns to Rancho Mirage for the first major championship of the 2022 season – the 51st edition of The Chevron Championship.

The 115-player field, highlighted by 19 of the top 20 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings, will compete for a $5 million purse, an increase made by new title sponsor Chevron in their effort to elevate the historic major championship.

Leona Maguire will begin her quest for her first major championship from the 10th on Thursday with Jessica Korda at 16.19 Irish time (08.19 am local time) while Stephanie Meadow will go off the same tee at 2031 (12.21 pm local time) with Emma Talley. Tee times

All will compete for the opportunity to raise the iconic Dinah Shore Trophy and make the famous jump into Poppie’s Pond before the major moves to Houston in 2023.

Defending champion Patty Tavatanakit is back at the site of her maiden LPGA Tour victory, along with nine other past champions, including seven-time major champion Inbee Park (2013), 17-time Tour winner Lydia Ko (2016) and Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko (2019). Tavatanakit won the major with a final-round 68, securing her wire-to-wire victory on the Dinah Shore Championship course, fending off Kiwi Ko, who tied the tournament scoring record (10-under 62) on the final day to finish in solo second.

All six of the 2022 LPGA Tour winners will tee it up on Thursday, including last week’s champion, rookie Atthaya Thitikul, and Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions winner Danielle Kang, who has recorded three top-13 finishes in the past three years at Mission Hills. Seven rookies are competing this week, including 2019 AIG Women’s Open champion Hinako Shibuno. 10 Tour members are making their Chevron Championship debut, including LPGA Tour winner and 2021 European Solheim Cup team member Matilda Castren.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP: 

• This is the 51st playing of The Chevron Championship at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club; the championship was designated a major in 1983

• This is the first of a six-year partnership with Chevron, who raised the purse to $5 million and instituted a player advisory board to help ensure that The Chevron Championship supports and attracts the leading LPGA Tour players and they are at the heart of our future plans and advancements for the championship

• There are 29 different winners in the event’s history as a major, with Annika Sorenstam, Amy Alcott and Betsy King earning the most wins at Mission Hills with three each

• The overall tournament record, 19-under 269, was shot by Dottie Pepper in 1999; Lydia Ko in 2021 tied the 18-hole record of 62, first set by Lorena Ochoa in the first round in 2006

• Defending champion Patty Tavatanakit is one of 10 past champions in the field this week; Tavatanakit was the first Thai player to win the major championship and the first rookie to do so since Juli Inkster in 1984

• There are five amateur exemptions in the field: Natasha Andrea Oon, Isabella Fierro, Gurleen Kaur, Bohyun Park and Brooke Seay

AFTER SEASON OF A LIFETIME, TAVATANAKIT KEEPING CLEAR PERSPECTIVE
Patty Tavatanakit’s life changed on April 4, 2021. With a short par putt on the 72nd hole of the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club, Tavatanakit clinched her first major title, winning The Chevron Championship and becoming the first rookie since 1984 to win the season’s first major. Her name now caps the Wall of Champions that lines the walk to Poppie’s Pond, a sight that Tavatanakit has already captured in her time in Rancho Mirage.

“Honored to have my name right there next to all the Hall of Famers and past champions. Proud to put my name there. I actually took a picture with it. Just a nice feeling,” said Tavatanakit. “I mean, makes me love this place even more regardless how I do this week.”

Beyond that breakthrough win, Tavatanakit’s 2021 season included nine more top-10 finishes en route to earning Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year honors. Despite missing the Amundi Evian Championship due to travel issues, she also captured the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award on the strength of her Chevron win and top 10s at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the AIG Women’s Open. 

Now in her return to Mission Hills, Tavatanakit is revelling in her first experience as a defending champion. She had the honour of collaborating with famed chef Thomas Keller on the menu for last night’s Champions Dinner, highlighted by short ribs and a dark chocolate dessert. Her smile adorns on-course signage. Media requests came in droves for some time with the champion.

So how does a 22-year-old follow up on the week of a lifetime? Her perspective is solid – time will tell what this year will bring. This week? It’s just one step in a journey.

“I think I everything was going really well last year, happened at the right time, at the right moment, and that's golf. It's just timing. That happened to be the week,” said Tavatanakit, who will open her title defence on Thursday at 1:19 p.m. playing alongside Danielle Kang. “So I was really fortunate to grab that trophy on Sunday, but you can't really expect to do that, repeat that, because it's just life. You can't expect to do the same thing every single day because there is going to be this and that and not everything is going to be the same.”

2014 CHAMPION LEXI THOMPSON LOOKING TO LEAP ONCE AGAIN AT CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP 

For Rolex Rankings No. 12 Lexi Thompson, this week is particularly nostalgic. The Chevron Championship marked the American’s first major victory and since that leap into Poppie’s Pond in 2014, she’s carded 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th-place finishes at Mission Hills, making every cut in her 10 career starts. 

But for Thompson, it’s more than that. It’s the tradition and the history that make this event special and she counts herself lucky to be one of the names on the Dinah Shore Wall of Champions. But while she is sad to leave the desert, Thompson is grateful that Chevron will continue to elevate the championship to its highest heights and recognizes the new opportunity a new sponsor can bring. 

“What's so amazing is the history behind this tournament,” said Thompson. “To be in the same room with players that have jumped into Poppie's Pond and done great things for the sport of women's golf in general, it's very special. I definitely caught myself in the middle of (the Champions Dinner) like, wow, this is a pretty amazing dinner to be a part of. I know it'll be moving, but at the same time we're not losing an event, we're gaining a partnership with Chevron. So I think it's great to see, and I'm sure that Houston will do it right and Chevron will as well.”

Historically at The Chevron Championship, Thompson leads in five statistical categories including scoring average (69.73), most rounds in the 60s (14), top-five finishes (5), top-10 finishes (6) and score to par (-72). Ahead of the year’s first major, Thompson is more than in form with two top-10s notched already this season, a solo second at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio and a T6 at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony, and she’s feeling refreshed after taking six weeks off between the Florida and California swings. That bodes well for another impressive performance from Thompson and just maybe the last leap into Poppie’s Pond.

“I had a few really good starts to begin the year, and then I had about six weeks off, which was really nice,” said Thompson. “I didn't get much of an off-season back in December so it was nice to have a little bit of a break, but at the same time work on the things I needed to improve on. Obviously want to win, but take it one shot at a time and just have fun embracing the moments out there, embracing the fans, and enjoying every bit of it. I love the atmosphere of this event, so just being here is always special.”

LYDIA KO HEADS INTO CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP WITH DIFFERENT GAME THAN 2016 WIN

Last year, 24-year-old Lydia Ko finished runner-up in the desert, five years after securing a victory at The Chevron Championship at 18 years old. Ko recently secured her 17th career victory at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, listing her in the third spot on the Rolex Rankings. Her one-shot triumph in Boca Raton against Danielle Kangwas a surprising win, Ko said. "The week before Nona, I didn't think my ball striking was there, and for the most part, it wasn't that bad. So that gave me good momentum and a little bit of confidence going into Gainbridge." She heads into this week’s Chevron Championship with two top-10s and is optimistic that her distance off the tee will give her a huge advantage.

 "I think my game last year was very different [from] when I won here. I'm hitting it a lot longer off the tee the last couple of years than when I played and won in 2016, and the course has changed, too,” Ko explained. "I think in the last couple years, they brought the fairways in, grown the rough a lot more, so I think the course and just how I play is a little bit different."

Ko has seen many different shots and scenarios that have led to winning this event. This time around, she wants to make sure her ball-striking is more consistent and that she plays more aggressively. Ko is a combined 37-under par in this championship the last five years, second best to Lexi Thompson (-43).

"A top-10 would be nice, especially this one being the first major of the year,” said Ko. However, Coach Sean Foley has helped her see the bigger picture. "I think one of the big things he said is just because I win one event doesn't make me a better person. It doesn't, in that split second, change who I am.”

Although Ko has her eyes on being the 51st and last champion to leap into Poppie's Pond, she said, "I'm trying to get better incrementally and hopefully be more of a consistent player down the road as much as I want to play good golf now."

LPGA ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO LPGA HALL OF FAME CRITERIA, INCLUDING INDUCTIONS OF LORENA OCHOA AND THE LPGA’S 13 FOUNDERS

• LPGA Hall of Fame Committee lifts 10-year entry requirement, leading to the induction of 27time LPGA Tour winner and two-time major champion Lorena Ochoa

• Shirley Spork and LPGA Founders not already in Hall of Fame to be inducted under the Honorary Category

• Hall of Fame point now awarded to gold medalist at the Olympics

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the LPGA Hall of Fame Committee (formerly known as the Veterans Committee) announced today that the LPGA Hall of Fame has modified its entry requirements. The most significant modification includes lifting the 10-year playing requirement to enter the Hall of Fame, which makes two-time major champion Lorena Ochoa eligible for induction. Ochoa earned 37 Hall of Fame points in her eight-year playing career before retiring in 2010. 

“The Hall of Fame Committee wanted to understand why the 10-year rule was originally instituted, so we talked to the other Hall of Famers about the reasoning,” said Beth Daniel, an LPGA Hall of Famer and member of the LPGA Hall of Fame Committee. “I spoke to Carol Mann right before she passed away. Carol was president of the LPGA when the rule was set up and said it was because they needed players at that time to keep playing to keep the spotlight on the Tour. I think we have seen that the Tour is strong enough now that we don’t need that requirement, so the committee decided to do away with it. 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 elected to induct under the Honorary Category the remaining eight of the LPGA’s 13 Founders not already enshrined in the Hall of Fame, including Shirley Spork, who was monumental in creating what is now the LPGA Professionals organization.

“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. 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, and female athletes more broadly,” said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “As we honour the efforts of the Founders, we also recognize that the LPGA is in a much stronger place than it was even just a decade ago. By removing the 10-year playing requirement, we will open the Hall of Fame to players who excel at the very highest level even in shorter periods of time on the LPGA Tour. Lorena Ochoa is undoubtedly one of the greatest players in the history of our game, and we could not be more honoured to welcome her into the LPGA Hall of Fame.”