Hosting tourney a major coup for region

A cloudy day did not cloud the excitement of the first major of the year on the LPGA Tour. Every day is a great day for golf, particularly for the best women’s golfers in the world.

What a time for the LPGA Tour to return to town. The Club at Carlton Woods is hosting the Chevron Championship for the first time through Sunday, and it should be a spectacular event.

Touting itself as “the leading women’s professional sports property in the world,” the LPGA Tour has never been in a better place. This year’s total purse for 33 events tops $100 million for the first time, a significant jump from the record of $85.7 million for 34 events set in 2022.

The amateur golf scene in Houston has always been strong, and girls and women have been a huge part of it.

But while the Houston Open has been a staple for the PGA Tour since it began more than 75 years ago, women’s professional golf has been in and out of the local scene over the years.

Houston is better than that. Hosting a major championship, featuring an elite field, should spread that message.

Hopefully, the Chevron Championship will be here for the long haul.

“It’s nice to come to a place where people are excited that the LPGA is here,” said Lydia Ko, the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer, who posted a 1-underpar finish in the first round Thursday. “We’re excited that we’re here, and it’s a good championship golf course, so I’m excited for how this tournament is going to start here in The Woodlands this year and just continue to grow over the next few years.”

“The Dinah,” as this event was affectionately known for half a century, thanks to its namesake founder and promoter Dinah Shore, has a rich history, literally.

In 1972, Colgate-Palmolive started the tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., with a prize pool of $110,000, then the largest on the tour.

The Chevron Championship has the sixth-highest purse on the tour this year at $5.1 million, a huge bump from the $3.1 million just two years ago.

While the tournament has been renamed, Shore, a popular singer and actress who died in

1994, hasn’t been forgotten. The winner will receive the Dinah Shore Trophy, and just off the 18th green there is a special hospitality area tabbed “Dinah’s Place.”

The event became a major in 1983 and has hosted a slew of iconic moments, great champions and memorable jumps into Poppie’s Pond, which Amy Alcott started in 1988.

That tradition, in which the winner jumps into the water at the 18th green, is something all hope will continue Sunday.

Granted, there is a fear snakes might be in the water at the finishing hole on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course, but most players have said they would take the plunge. If you’re not there for the outstanding golf, be there for the postround drama.

You should be all in for both.

That the tournament was so early in the season, and always played during the heart of the NCAA Tournament and just before the Masters, led to its receiving less love than it should have. For it to get its just due among the masses, Houston has to deliver.

Though many are sad that it had to leave the California desert, plenty of players are looking forward to its new life in Texas.

“It’s sometimes weird to have change, but I think it’s change for the better,” Ko said.

The weekend coverage on network television is a plus for the event nationally, especially if chamber-of-commerce weather comes through following a rainy forecast Friday. Strong attendance and engaged galleries would make the weekend special.

The presence of the tournament should help grow the game. Visibility and accessibility make a difference.

“That’s the biggest challenge Chevron has in coming here is how big this city is and just getting the attention that this event deserves,” said two-time major winner Stacy Lewis, who grew up in The Woodlands and helped the LPGA with the move to her hometown. “I don’t think it’s something that happens overnight, but we’ve just got to continue to push it every year and use this as a good starting point and continue to move forward.”

Here’s to Dinah and a winner’s leap on Sunday.