RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA | The “last splash†was played up as a big part of the week. Golf Channel and NBC hyped the traditional final leap into Poppie’s Pond throughout their telecasts. Callaway even made special aqua-themed golf bags for its staff players. It hasn’t been around as long as the Masters’ green jacket or the secretary of the R&A announcing the “champion golfer of the year,†but Amy Alcott’s tradition of jumping into the water by the 18th green of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course was the one thing women’s golf had.
On Sunday it came to a close.
Jennifer Kupcho, the final winner of the golf season’s first major – a 51-year-old event that old-school fans still refer to as “The Dinah†– did not disappoint. Heading into the final round of the Chevron Championship with a six-shot lead and a new 54-hole tournament scoring record to her name, Kupcho needed only to play defense and avoid big numbers, which she did. A closing 74 featured five birdies and seven bogeys, the last one coming with an insignificant three-putt on the last green. No one ever got closer than a couple of shots back.
Then came the jump, a last splash that was much like the player herself, long and unflashy. Kupcho held hands with her husband on one side and her caddie on the other and jumped almost to the center of the thing, all smiles as her hat came off and her hair got wet.
Just a couple of minutes later, a gaggle of past champions took one final dip as well. Patty Sheehan did an impressive front flip at age 65; Sandra Palmer fell before getting to the water and then waded in knee deep; Patricia Meunier-Labouc did a semi-cannonball; and Alcott dove in as if she were swimming a 400-meter race.
It was a cool way to put a capstone on this event, one that, throughout the years, has been so much more than a body of water and a bathrobe.
You saw players throughout the week stop on the practice range and putting green, still and quiet as they drank in the surroundings one last time. The San Jacinto Mountains look different every hour, with the sun hitting them at angles that make them look two-dimensional and less than real, like some fantasyland created in a Hollywood CGI studio. More than one player made the point that there’s plenty of good golf in Houston, but there’s nothing in Texas like the views in the Coachella Valley.
“Monday morning when we were sitting in the clubhouse having breakfast and looking out over the mountains, I said, ‘There are not many clubhouses that can beat this view,’ †said 2018 champion Pernilla Lindberg. “It's just such a special place. I have loved it from the first time I stepped foot here.â€
“It certainly has a special place. I mean, it's surreal to be able to say that I was the last person (to win a major championship) here and first (woman to win) at Augusta.â€
Jennifer Kupcho
And the culture can’t be replicated. The entire valley is built on old California entertainment. The trek to Mission Hills Country Club from any hotel in the area travels along or passes over streets named after Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Lawrence Welk, and of course, Dinah herself, who was adored by all. Hope’s old estate still sits on a hill looking down on old Palm Springs and the Arnold Palmer Restaurant out near Bermuda Dunes (the place where Golf Channel had Judy Rankin’s farewell dinner) is filled with memorabilia of “The King,†including several staff bags full of his clubs and one of the many workbenches he kept near his offices and homes around the country.
The whole place gives a vibe of an era of martinis, tuxedos and big bands, a time when, if Dinah Shore asked for a favor, you showed up. President Gerald Ford, who also has a street in his name that runs past Walter Annenberg’s old place, retired to the valley and would always take Dinah’s calls and say yes to almost every request, including playing in her pro-am.
She used to have something called “Dinner with Dinah†as part of the event. In a private gathering, Shore put on a variety show. She sang, told stories and invited a few of her friends. Hope did a standup act, and there were special appearances by Sinatra. His standard opening line was, “I was in town and had a suit.†Nine or 10 songs later, the crowd knew they were someplace special.
All those people are gone. Ford was the last, passing away in 2006 at age 93 about four miles from where Kupcho tapped in her final putt. Now, the event that kept the area relevant for years has, like many other families and businesses in California, packed the U-Haul and headed for Texas.
Despite the eventual move, the champion couldn’t have been happier. After capturing an NCAA championship for Wake Forest, and breaking into the golf consciousness at the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019, Kupcho recorded her first LPGA Tour victory that also was Rancho Mirage’s last major.
“It certainly has a special place. I mean, it's surreal to be able to say that I was the last person (to win a major championship) here and first (woman to win) at Augusta,†Kupcho said. “Hopefully that isn't a continuing pattern. We aren't stopping a lot of places soon. So hopefully I just keep playing. But it's really exciting to say that I was the last.â€
Everything in life changes. Chevron wants the event in its corporate hometown. Given the commitment this international company has made to women’s golf, the move is the least we can do. But that doesn’t mean The Dinah won’t be missed.
It will be. As it should.
Top: Jennifer Kupcho, her husband, Jay Monahan (right), and caddie, David Eller, take a dive into Poppie's Pond after Kupcho won the Chevron Championship.
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