26-04-2025
The Chevron Championship has lofty legacy goals, and they're based on Augusta National
The Chevron Championship has lofty legacy goals, and they're based on Augusta National
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – When Lilia Vu jumped into the lake off the 18th green of the Club at Carlton Woods two years ago, just moments after securing her first LPGA major, organizers of the Chevron Championship breathed a collective sigh of relief. The jump into Poppie's Pond at Mission Hills was a special tradition for the first women's major championship of the year, dating back to 1988. When the event moved from the course in Rancho Mirage, California, to the Woodlands, Texas, outside Houston, many wondered if the traditions that had become part of the event would come along for the ride.
So when Vu jumped, it was a pivotal moment. A bridge between the event's California past and its Texas future. But when Nelly Korda followed with a similar jump last year, it cemented the tradition. If Nelly jumped, others will certainly follow in the future.
And legacy clearly means something to the folks behind the scenes at the Chevron. For example, Glenn Weckerlin, the tournament's executive director, said the napkins in the hospitality suites are adorned with a picture of a robe, in honor of the leap. How did the Chevron braintrust get the inspiration for the napkins? They borrowed the idea from the most famous golf tournament on the planet.
"I saw them two weeks ago in Augusta. They had a green jacket on them, so I called and said, hey, let's get a design on the robe, and we did it. And we will continue to build out the traditions," Weckerlin told Golfweek inside the newly expanded merchandise tent at the Chevron. "I mean, to be fair, I look at a lot of what the Masters did over the years. The traditions they have today didn't exist in year one, and I'll guarantee you they didn't know what they were going to make. And so, they continue to grow things."
The napkins are a minor detail, to be sure, but Weckerlin's point is made crystal clear — the tournament longs to be the biggest spectacle in the women's game, following in the footsteps of Augusta national on the men's side. While that might not be feasible with the U.S. Open so firmly entrenched as the largest week, it's conceivable that the tournament could carry more clout than the other majors. And if it helps, listening to the players from the past and present will help steer the ship in the right direction.
"When we signed up, we knew we were going to move it before we signed the deal, and we sat down and formed a Player Advisory Group and said, help us figure this out. So that was a big deal," Weckerlin said. "If you listen, you know, it helps a lot. So we talk to a lot of players and a lot of the players who played in the past 50 years in Palm Springs at Rancho Mirage, and so we've carried a lot of it forward.
"We kept the trophy. We didn't rename the trophy the Chevron trophy. It's the Dinah Shore trophy. So we've carried a lot of those things over. We've been trying to do a lot of that, where it's a combination of the old stuff, and there's new stuff."
As far as listening to legends of the game, Weckerlin has made sure to do just that. The past champions are brought in for a weekend of fun and shuttled around The Woodlands in Bentleys and Rolls-Royces. Amy Alcott, Juli Inkster and Judy Rankin are among those who have been asked for input.
Among the newest traditions are handmade boots for all winners, something Weckerlin admitted makes more sense in Texas than it would have in California.
"Pretty much everything we do is focused on the players," he said. "There's no magic answer, but you know, it's probably one of those things my mother used to tell me: if you use the ears twice as much as your mouth, you'll be better off. We get a lot of help, and not just from the team. But we get a lot of help from people. It really doesn't matter if somebody walked up to me today and said, hey, I got an idea. We're going to listen to it."
