By Kent Paisley
It started with a single signed golf ball. When Hannah Green serendipitously handed Lily Kostner the pearl at the 2019 ANA Inspiration, little did she know the impact she would have on the youngster from Minneapolis — and the bond that would follow.

Instantly, Green had a new No. 1 fan. The then-seven-year-old third-grader was so taken with the Australian golfer that when she was asked in her poetry class to write about an individual she admired, Kostner chose Green. A few months later, Kostner delivered the poem to Green on the seventh hole during the final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National.

Green went on to claim the title, winning wire-to-wire for her first LPGA victory. After the round, she shared the contents of Kostner’s poem and credited the simple words for keeping her grounded en route to victory.

Now three years removed from the touching exchange, as Green attempts to win the title once more at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, the two remain close, having built a unique connection that inspires both.

“I just feel grateful and special that I get to experience and know a pro golfer,” Kostner said, “someone like that is kind and like good at the sport.”

“It’s become a really cool friendship,” Green said.

MORE: Officials double KPMG Women’s PGA Championship to $9 million

Indeed, the two remain close, sharing videos every few months. Lily sends updates from her golf camps or other sports she’s been playing. Green shares where she has put the framed poem in her house and the puzzles she’s solving. “Through COVID she sends me little videos asking how I am and what I’m up to,” Green said. “They’re really cute.”

Like with the poem, Green keeps Lily’s videos accessible on her phone. The biggest challenge for Kostner’s parents, Justin and Jessica, is to keep Lily’s desire to message her idol in check. “She would’ve certainly sent her a video message every day in the early days,” Jessica said, “And we were like, no, you know, we’re not going to do that.”

In April, the Kostners traveled again on their usual trip to Palm Springs for the Chevron Championship (formerly the ANA). Jessica and her family grew up travelling to the Dinah Shore, and it was an important tradition to maintain with Lily and her youngest daughter Claire. Before heading out for their first reunion since Green’s major victory, Lily wrote another poem and brought a Minnesota-shaped necklace to give to her friend.

“She was warming up and we went over there,” Lily said, “and it just felt special because I hadn’t seen her for so long. But it felt like we’d known each other for a while.”

The reunion between Lily and Hannah Green. (Photo courtesy of the Kostner Family).

Moved by the gesture, Green wore the necklace all week and finished T-8. Throughout the championship, Green spent time with the Kostners as they cheered her on. She provided the family tickets for the week, gave Lily high-fives and chatted with her while waiting between holes.

MORE: 5 players to watch at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

The Kostners expressed to Green’s caddie, Nate Blasko, that they felt bad for taking up her time. But he reassured them that she loved every minute of it, modeling the behavior of an idol a parent could only dream of.

“She [Green] does have that bit of awe,” Jessica said, “but then to have her come down and be this like very authentic, just real person in interacting with Lilly. I know for a fact she soaks it in, and I think she inspires her beyond just golf, but all of her athletic endeavors and whatever else [she does].”

Green’s relationship with Lily further inspired Claire to search for an LPGA idol of her own. At seven, Claire was the same age Lily was when she had her fateful encounter with Green.

Claire Kostner got her own ball at the 2022 Chevron Championship from Stacy Lewis. (Photo courtesy of the Kostner Family)

On the lookout at the Dinah Shore course, she gave a high-five to Stacy Lewis during the US Solheim Cup captain’s round. Lewis went to her bag, grabbed a ball, and signed it for Claire, hooking the younger Kostner to the Lewis wagon.

Unfortunately for Claire, the exchange didn’t end with a Lewis leap into Poppie’s Pond, as she missed the cut. The newfound passionate fan couldn’t hold back her sadness at the end of the day on Friday. “Claire cried her eyes out at our Airbnb that night,” Jessica said.

Even still, that moment turned Claire into a passionate fan. With the Chevron moving from Palm Springs to Houston next year, the Kostners are trying to figure out another tournament to make an annual trip to so their daughters can see the action in person. Both Lily and Claire passionately pull for their favorites when watching the LPGA on TV, all sparked by a seemingly innocuous moment of handing a young, impressionable fan a signed ball.

“I never really thought anything would’ve come out of it by giving Lily a golf ball,” Green explained, “I think it’s just what we feel is the right thing to do as players is to try and inspire the next generation, but to actually get a close relationship with someone that I have [inspired], it’s really special.”

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Starting in 2023, the former ANA Inspiration will be the Chevron Championship and will be played in the Houston area, where roughly 8,000 of the company’s employees live and work. Though the date and course have not been finalized, the event will still be the first major of the year. The tour said it will be played later than the usual date of the last week of March, with the goal being to have the event aired on network television (NBC).

The 2022 tournament will be played next March for the final time at the tournament’s home since its inception in 1972—Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The new name will be in place with the overall purse jumping from $3.1 million to $5 million.

Originally called the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle, named in honour of the Hollywood celebrity who helped create the event along with then Colgate-Palmolive chairman David Foster to help promote women’s golf, the tournament celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. Previously it’s been one of two LPGA majors played at the same course annually. With that history at one venue comes plenty of traditions; among the most memorable is the tournament winner jumping into Poppie’s Pond beside the 18th hole, begun in 1988 by Amy Alcott.

The winners of the event include a large number of LPGA or World Golf Hall of Fame members: Kathy Whitworth, Annika Sorenstam, Mickey Wright, Juli Inkster, Nancy Lopez, Sandra Palmer, Judy Rankin, Donna Caponi, Karrie Webb, Patty Sheehan, Betsy King, Inbee Park, and Lorena Ochoa.

The tradition of the Mission Hills winner jumping into Poppie’s Pond, as So Yeon Ryu and family did in 2017, will be repeated one last time in 2022. Kelly Kline

It was Alcott who began the tradition of jumping into the lake next to the 18th green to celebrate her 1988 win, the second of her three wins at the event. King and Sorenstam also won the event three times.

Before moving away from the tournament’s long-time home, event organizers enlisted the support of Dinah Shore’s daughter, Melissa Montgomery, and established a Players Advisory Board make the transition as smooth as possible and help promote the championship moving forward.

LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, in making her the biggest announcement since taking the job in May, says that the decision to move the event was not taken lightly.

“The response that we received so far [from players] has been very positive,” Marcoux Samaan said. “Obviously, the history and the traditions at Mission Hills and the partnership there are very important to all of us and to everyone. So we have talked through that and again, overall, the response has been extremely positive.

“I think people know that this is an opportunity for us to sustain this major moving into the future, build new traditions, still honour the past and honour the great work that’s been done. But again, I think everyone realizes that this takes us to a whole different level.”

• • •

Given the big news regarding the LPGA’s first major, we asked Golf Digest staff to give their thoughts on the changes that are being made.

What are your initial reaction to the changes?

Nicole Rae: I’m sad to see the tournament move locations. The LPGA Tour has built such a strong fan base at Mission Hills, and I know it’s a huge event for the community. The residents and members really enjoy welcoming players and fans each year.

Hally Leadbetter: When I heard all of the changes being made to the Dinah, it made me really sad, too. I’ve heard so many of the pros call it “their Masters,” and I think a lot of that had to do with coming back to the same iconic venue again and again.

Keely Levins: Leaving Mission Hills after more than half a century is going to be tough, but the timing of this is right. The Augusta National Women’s Amateur occurs now at the same time, and it won’t be moving its date, as it aligns with the Masters. The ANWA gets network coverage, which the LPGA major did not. Moving the event to Houston gives the tournament the ability to shift to a date where it can pursue network coverage, and both the ANWA and the first major of the year can have their own spot on the golf calendar. I think it’ll boost viewership for both events, which is definitely a good thing.

Ariya Jutanugarn trades high fives with the fans during the 2016 ANA Inspiration. Sean M. Haffey

Does the increase in prize money and exposure on TV outweigh moving the event from its 50-year home?

KL: When I heard another name change was coming, I didn’t think it would necessarily be a good thing for the event. But when you look at what comes with this name change—namely the purse increase of more than 60 percent—I think change in this case is good.

Tod Leonard: Emphatically, no! As Hally mentioned, moving the Dinah (and we’ll call it that because most fans, thankfully, still refer to it as such) is akin to taking the Masters to—oh, let’s pick a random place—Idaho. There is no LPGA event that is more tied to time and place than the tour’s first major of the year. The sunshine in April, the palm trees, the perfectly manicured Mission Hills course—they all have defined the very best in the women’s game. And let’s not forget the scroll of champions, which includes most of the greatest players in each era. Yes, the increased purse and TV exposure are welcomed for a circuit that desperately needs both in the U.S., but this really does smack of a sellout by the LPGA of one of its prized traditions. Chevron could have chosen to gracefully up the purse and keep the venue.

HL: I do think the huge increase in purse and exposure for the event does outweigh the changes, but that doesn’t make it any less heart-wrenching. I hope they hold another LPGA event at the course so fans in the area will still have an event to rally behind.

What’s the biggest tradition at Mission Hills that you’ll miss?

HL: The biggest tradition I’ll miss is the jump into Poppie’s Pond and the robes that the players get to put on after. Going back to comparing it to the Masters, it’s similar to the green jacket ceremony in that sense. It’s sad that tradition will come to an end.

NR: I’ll definitely miss the leap into Poppie’s Pond! It’s disappointing that players who always dreamed of that moment won’t be able to see that through anymore. Hopefully, they can begin a new tradition with the move-in locations!

TL: It’s easy to say Poppie’s Pond, but I’ll remember two things about the 18th hole. First, it was a great par-5 finisher with so many possible outcomes—tremendous or heartbreaking—for the leaders coming down the stretch. And then there was the walk past the packed, cheering grandstands, where the players happily high-fived and connected with their people. Not another scene like it in golf, and that’s soon gone forever. You can try to do the same in Houston, but you can’t recreate the vibe at Mission HIlls.

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By Kent Paisley
Brooke Henderson was flying higher than a flock of Canadian geese at the end of 2019. She had just set the record for the most LPGA wins (nine) by a Canadian in only five years on tour and polished off her fourth straight season with multiple victories. At 22, her career trajectory was as high as her 48-inch driver was long.

Like much of the rest of the world, however, the COVID-19 pandemic grounded Henderson’s flight. The 2020 season was the first winless one of her career (with the caveat that she played just 10 events). In a testament to her overall consistency, Henderson’s current stretch of 29 starts without a victory, dating from the 2019 Meijer LPGA Classic to the ANA Inspiration two weeks ago, is the longest of her career.

“I’m eager to be back in the winner’s circle,” Henderson said on Tuesday at the Lotte Championship, which begins Wednesday and ends Saturday. “It’s not really something that you can push too hard towards. You kind of have to get the breaks and you have to play really well and be smart. Hopefully it’s in the near future.”

Henderson has made recent changes to her game and approach hoping that future becomes a reality as soon as this week. She comes to Hawaii as the event’s two-time defending champion after wins in 2018 and 2019 (and with the 2020 edition canceled due to COVID).

MORE: Juli Inkster, age 60, set to attempt to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club

Last year’s shortened season forced Henderson to change her practice during off weeks to emphasize competition. It was a difficult adjustment, as she prefers to play as much as she can. From 2016 to 2019, she averaged nearly 30 starts per season, racking up 154 in her career to date.

“You can practice every day, but if you’re not in competition mode you won’t play as well,” Henderson said. “So just trying to capture that is a big thing for us.”

She’s also changed her putting style multiple times already in 2021, going back and forth from using a left-hand low grip on putts inside 10 feet most recently at the ANA to a regular grip from that distance during practise rounds this week.

These adjustments are amounting to Henderson’s next attempt to take off. She’s finished in the top 10 in nearly half of her starts since her last win, 10 percent higher than her career average, including a playoff loss at the 2020 ANA. She has the opportunity to become the first Canadian to 10 victories, a significant milestone in her mind that would come in a significant event to her career. The 2019 Lotte Championship is where Henderson tied fellow countrywoman Sandra Post for the most in Canada’s history (at eight).

Even with it being played on a new course in 2021—Kapolei Golf Club—the good vibes of the event have Henderson believing that setting another record in the Aloha state is within her grasp.

“It was sad to see that streak end last year, but I’m definitely excited to get back to winning multiple times. I’m just really excited for the next win,” Henderson said. “To be in double digits is really meaningful and so hopefully [it] can happen soon.”

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By John Strege
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — When taking the measure of LPGA rookie Patty Tavatanakit, it would do well to start with a tape measure. She is a home-run hitter in a single hitter’s frame and her power helped distance herself from the rest of the ANA Inspiration field on Saturday.

Tavatanakit, 21 and 5-feet, 5-inches tall, opened her round with tee shots measuring 300, 337 and 360 yards, wind-aided, she said, but no matter. They set up birdies on the first three holes on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course en route to a five-under 67 and a five-stroke lead through 54 holes.

“It’s always nice to have a good start,” she said. “It helped to make me feel comfortable out there. I was really pleased with how everything played out.”

On Sunday, in this only her 18th start as a member of the LPGA, Tavatanakit will be pursuing a wire-to-wire victory, one that would make her just the second rookie to win this women’s major championship. The other? World Golf Hall of Fame Juli Inkster in 1984.

Five shots is a nice cushion, but whether it’s a comfortable one in the final round will depend on how she handles pressure dialed up to extreme, more so with a strong cast of pursuers that include defending champion Mirim Lee (tied for second with Ally Ewing) and Shanshan Feng, who trails by six. Inbee Park, a past champion here, trails by seven.

Among the legion of youth who drew inspiration from Tiger, Tavatanakit appreciates Woods’ ability to have closed out victories, that whatever he led by, he attempted to extend it.

“I’ve got it mind,” Tavatanakit said, hinting at her approach on Sunday.

“You know, today I’m going to leave it behind. It’s a great day, acknowledged it, and it’s in the past now. All I can think about is what can I do tomorrow, what can I improve from today’s round? I was getting a little tired at the end. What can I do to keep my energy level up throughout the day tomorrow? That’s going to be my goal. And just stay calm out there. I feel like I did that pretty well. So whatever the outcome is I’ll be really happy. It’s been a good week so far.”

Tavatanakit had seven birdies and only two bogeys, the latter coming on the back nine on another long, hot day, with the wind kicking up. She described it as “a good round in tough conditions. I just kept staying in the present, taking it shot by shot and hole by hole.”

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By John Strege
The 18th green on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course that unexpectedly took a starring turn in the 2020 ANA Inspiration will again garner attention this week, but this time for reasons that aren’t likely to invite controversy.

For the second straight year, the ANA Inspiration that begins on Thursday will be played without spectators and thus without the grandstand that, pre-pandemic, was always erected behind the 18th green. Last September, a structure, dubbed by Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols “the Great Wall of Dinah,” was put there to replicate the grandstand.

Several players, including the winner Mirim Lee, used the structure as a backstop for their second shots on the par 5 to prevent their golf balls from running through the green and into the water behind it.

The structure is not there this year, which will force longer hitters, at least, to decide between laying up short of the water or going for the green in two and running the risk of the ball reaching the penalty area.

MORE: How the ‘Great Wall of Dinah’ played a controversial role in the outcome of the ANA Inspiration

“When they have the tee back, I won’t be going for it, especially with this wind, with it being into,” Lexi Thompson, a past champion here, said on Tuesday. “But once they move the tee up, if I get a good number, I hit 4-iron in today and just placed the ball there and it stopped. It has to be a really good number for me to go for it.”

Sponsor signage that appears to be immovable has been erected behind the 485-yard tee box at 18, and word is that the hole will play at that length of shorter all four rounds. Wherever the LPGA decides to place the tees, they are likely to create even more interest on a hole that already historically proved interesting.

The greens here this time of year play firm and fast, adding to the challenge.

“It’s pretty firm,” Canada’s Brooke Henderson said of the 18th green, “so I think 3-wood is definitely out. If I can hit maybe a high 7-wood into the wind it will hold and a hybrid will hold for sure.”

Nelly Korda, who had a chance to win last September but fell to Lee in extra holes, summed up the dilemma based on her practise rounds this week.

“You’re definitely going to think about going for it,” Korda said. “I hit a 6-iron just short of the green and it rolled up to the middle and then I also tried to hit like a little 5 yesterday to land it in the middle of the green and it went over. So it definitely is going to be very hard to hold.”

Last September, Lee used the backboard to stop her second shot there on the 72nd hole of the tournament, then chipped in for eagle to erase a two-stroke deficit. In a playoff with Korda and Henderson, Lee again used the backboard, leading to a winning birdie.

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By John Strege
Yealimi Noh is only 19, yet already she has made news for the right reasons and now has done so for a wrong reason. Noh, here to make her debut in the ANA Inspiration, received a $10,000 fine for slow play at the Kia Classic last week, the LPGA confirmed.

Noh, a Korean American who won the U.S. Girls Junior in 2018, had been fined for slow play in her LPGA debut at the Gainbridge LPGA last summer, and twice received a slow time in a round at Aviara last week, according to a report by Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols, before she was assessed the substantial fine for one who tied for 61st and earned only $4,247, resulting in a net loss of $5,753.

“I can’t appeal because it’s obviously my fault,” Noh told Nichols here on Tuesday. “A couple rookies got fines. Like OK, it’s a heads-up for us rookies to catch up or whatever.”

Noh, who tied for third in the Cambia Portland Classic and tied for second in the Volunteers of America Classic in 2020, is 47th in the Rolex Rankings.

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By John Strege
Sophia Popov, with her stunning victory in the AIG Women’s British Open last summer, conceivably might have considered it tainted with a broad brush of rancor directed at the LPGA. Condemnation of the tour in the aftermath was swift and unsparing.

The general tenor of the reaction was summed up succinctly by this headline to a column in the Guardian: “Sophia Popov snub is as extraordinary as it is shameful for women’s golf.”

The hostility was unleashed by the LPGA’s decision not to deviate from protocol that granted nonmembers (of which Popov was one at the time) who won a major championship only a two-year tour exemption rather than the five years given to members. The tour also declined to grant Popov an exemption into the 2020 ANA Inspiration that had been postponed from March to September, claiming the field was set and that Popov’s ANA exemption technically didn’t begin until 2021.

Yet the 28-year-old German native declined to allow it to taint one of the best golf stories of 2020, a woman ranked 304th in the world, winning a major championship, the pivotal point of a career that finally found some traction.

Popov learned within minutes after winning at Royal Troon of the strident rules surrounding her victory, “which was fine,” she said. “I was a little bit bummed. But I didn’t really care about anything at that moment. I just wanted to celebrate and to go home and celebrate with my family. I didn’t really want those things to be a downer. I didn’t even think about that until a couple days later.”

The celebrations went on unfettered, and Popov finally will get her day in the desert sun. She makes her ANA Inspiration debut on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, Calif., this coming week.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Popov said via telephone recently from her home in Fountain Hills, Ariz. “I’m excited to see the course and condition. I think the last time I played the course was in Q [qualifying] school in 2014.”

Richard Heathcote/R&A
A late qualifier for the major championship, Popov was emotional in the wake of her first career LPGA win.

Popov also called it “a fun major to watch,” which she has done onsite, when it was still called the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She, too, was part of its television audience in September, and it convinced her that had she been given a choice of playing it then or in April, she would have chosen the latter. “I think that made that part easier for me.”

So did the $675,000 that turned up in her bank account for winning the British Open. “At first I’m thinking, ‘Gosh, illegal activity?’ she told CNN. “But then I saw it sit there, and I go, ‘Well, this is what you have worked for for six years. This is not a paycheck for one week of playing. This is for all the work you put in since you graduated college, and even before then.’”

They were six lean years that were unforeseen given her college success at the University of Southern California, with five individual victories and a national team championship in 2013. She earned LPGA membership in 2015, but made only $34,626 in 19 starts over the next five years and lost her tour card. She played full time on the Symetra Tour in 2016 and 2017 with modest success that had not transferred to the LPGA.

She had two options: Keep grinding or quit, and she considered both.

“I never fully lost hope,” she said. “But I was definitely on the verge of quitting the game. There are moments in every professional golfer putting themselves in my shoes. Some weeks nothing is happening or you’re missing cuts by one every single time. There were probably five or six heartbreaking moments over the last six years that put things in perspective, whether you want to put yourself through the mental battle every week. Deep down I knew I had the ability and I loved the game.”

Perseverance is mandatory for those hoping to survive in a fickle game that promises nothing, and for Popov it sustained her. Two weeks before the Women’s British Open, she played in the Marathon LPGA Classic and tied for ninth to earn one of the 10 exemptions accorded those not already qualified to play at Royal Troon. A week prior to that, she caddied for Anne van Dam in the LPGA’s first tournament back after the COVID-19 hiatus.

Holding both U.S. and German citizenship, Popov returned to Europe without expectations beyond playing well for a second straight event.

“Essentially, every time you tee up you’re hoping to win the tournament,” she said. “But I saw it as a bonus week, to go out and have fun, to enjoy links golf, to play the best I can. Halfway through the tournament, my game was in really good shape. The weather was so bad the first few days, I was trying to survive more or less. But it definitely helps to go out there seeing it as the bonus week it was. You go out and if you play well, great. If not, it doesn’t really change anything.”

Matthew Lewis/R&A
Popov pours a celebratory drink into the trophy following victory at the AIG Women’s Open.

Popov entered the weekend tied for second, then shot 67-68 and won by two, followed for a week or so by the ensuing controversy, including a statement LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan gave five days later explaining himself.

“Everything he says makes sense,” Popov said. “I tried to emotionally detach myself from the situation, because in the end I have to realize that rules are rules. It was a very tough position for him to be in. What is he supposed to do? What would you do if you were him?”

After another nonmember, A Lim Kim, won the U.S. Women’s Open in December and faced the same situation as Popov, the LPGA announced in February that it was amending its rules moving forward, extending the five-year exemption to nonmembers as well

Even the high road has potholes, and for Popov, one of them was the fact that she had previously been a member of the LPGA and Symetra tours. “I almost spent about $50,000 in entry fees and I was considered a nonmember. That was hard for me to take.”

But the euphoria from her victory that helped mitigate any ill will hasn’t entirely waned in the ensuing months.

“The trophy is sitting on the kitchen counter, so I have an opportunity to look at it every day at home,” she said, its luster the same as the day she was handed it.

Untarnished.

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By Tod Leonard
Michelle Wie West hasn’t competed in an LPGA Tour event in nearly two years, but the woman who literally grew up before our eyes still commands our fascination. In August 2019, she married Jonnie West, the son of L.A. Lakers legend Jerry West, in a lavish Beverly Hills ceremony. In June 2020, the couple welcomed their first child. In November, she worked the Masters for CBS. Last month, Wie West publicly fired back at Rudy Giuliani after he made objectifying remarks about her.

It’s all compelling stuff, but it’s not picking up a club and striking a ball in the heat of competition.

Is that about to change?

On Monday, Kia Classic tournament director Lindsay Allen confirmed that Wie West is on the entry list for the event, which is scheduled for March 25-28 at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, Calif. It appears the Kia might serve as a tune-up for Wie West to play in the first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, Calif., which is scheduled for the week after the Kia.

The ANA field officially closes on Wednesday. The Kia field closed on Friday.

“We’re excited Michelle is currently in the field for the 2021 Kia Classic. We’re looking forward to welcoming her back next week to the LPGA Tour,” Allen said via email.

The former U.S. Women’s Open champion, however, has yet to announce whether she’s playing in either event.

Wie West, 31, last played on the LPGA in June 2019 at the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship and currently ranks 534th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Struggling with a painful wrist injury, she shot 84-82 at Hazeltine National in the Women’s PGA. Due to injuries, Wie West played in only five events in 2019, making the cut just once. She played a full schedule in 2018, and that March notched the latest of her five career victories at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. That win ended a nearly four-year victory drought following her greatest triumph in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, after which she reached a career best at World No. 6.

Wie West has never ruled out competing again, saying that she would like her daughter, Makenna, to one day see her play on the LPGA. She has played the Kia Classic nine times, with a best finish of T-6 when it was played at La Costa in 2010. In six appearances at Aviara from 2013-18, her best finish is T-16 in 2014. She tied for 22nd in 2018.

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By Keely Levins
It was huge. It was blue. It was controversial. It was… a backstop on the 18th green at a major? At the 2020 ANA Inspiration, the hospitality tent that usually sits behind the 18th green wasn’t there. With no fans on-site, there was no need for any sort of stands. The 18th is a par 5, reachable in two if you have enough firepower. The hospitality tent historically prevented balls that were coming in too hot from running off the back of the green, into the water. To keep that from happening in 2020, an enormous blue wall was built. It became known as the “Great Wall of Dinah” in a nod to the previous name of the tournament and the name of the course, the Dinah Shore Tournament Course. The large fence behind the green kept—among others—eventual winner Mirim Lee’s ball from going into the water. Players spoke openly about using the wall as a backstop during the event. Those displeased with the wall’s involvement in the tournament didn’t hold back.

But good news for all those who didn’t like the wall: Even though there won’t be any fans at the 2021 ANA Inspiration in order to follow COVID-19 protocols, the wall also won’t be there.

A statement from the tournament explained that in this 50th anniversary of the major, the 18th green will be played the same way it was in 1972: as an island green. As the final groups come down 18, they’ll have to strategize differently, no more confidently ripping a fairway wood onto the green knowing the wall will keep it in play.

One player who is certainly happy is Nelly Korda, who lost to Lee in a playoff. She said early in the week in 2020 that she didn’t like the wall. “Honestly, I wish they didn’t have that wall there because I think it would play really cool as like an island green,” Korda said.

The ANA was moved in 2020 to September because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in 2021 it returns to its early-season slot in the first week of April.

The post Haters rejoice: The ‘Great Wall of Dinah’ won’t be part of 2021 ANA Inspiration appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
There was a story at the ANA Inspiration about how one of the first-round contenders paid for her own set of irons, bringing golf Twitter into a frenzy questioning why exactly a player capable of being in contention at a major wasn’t getting her clubs for free.

In this episode of Local Knowledge, Golf Digest’s new podcast, we use that circumstance as a jumping point into the real issue at hand: How financially hard is it really for women on the LPGA Tour?

You can see the stars on tour who’ve been able to sign good deals: like Lexi Thompson with her Cobra deal and Red Bull logo on her hat, Brooke Henderson with Ping, and women like Lydia Ko sporting PXG amongst other logos. But Thompson, Henderson and Ko aren’t the average LPGA Tour pro. What’s it like for the women out there who haven’t won a tour event, let alone a major? If you’re an average LPGA Tour player, what’s the financial reality of your tour life? And why is the gap between being 100th in the world on the LPGA Tour so different from being 100th in the world on the PGA Tour?

We talk to tour players both past and present, LPGA Tour commissioner Mike Whan, and equipment representatives to map out what it’s like to be an average LPGA Tour player and ask, is this where we should be?

The post Our latest podcast examines the financial realities of the average LPGA Tour player appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.