Patty Tavatanakit ready for ‘bittersweet’ defense of last LPGA major in the desert

RANCHO MIRAGE, Cali. — Patty Tavatanakit begins the defense of her Chevron Championship title with a feeling no other defender has faced in the tournament’s 51-year history.

“It’s a bittersweet goodbye I guess,” Tavatanakit said as the last player who will defend the LPGA major championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. The event will move to the Houston area next year, meaning whoever wins the title this week won’t come back to the Dinah Shore Tournament Course a year from now.

“Having to move this event out of California, out of the desert, it’s sad,” said Tavatanakit, who played in the tournament twice as an amateur while at UCLA. “I love coming back here. But we’re evolving and changing, and we always look forward to what’s new.”

For all the memories and sadness from players over leaving the Shore Course, there is still the immediate reality of a major championship to be won Sunday with the traditional leap into Poppie’s Pond. For Tavatanakit, that means trying to become just the third player in tournament history to win in consecutive years, joining Sandra Post (1978-79) and Annika Sorenstam (2001-02).

Tavatanakit will lead a field of 110 professionals and five amateurs into play Thursday. That field includes World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, the 2019 champion of the Chevron title and winner of six of her last 11 starts on the women’s tour. Jin Young Ko is one of 10 past champions in the field. That list includes 2016 winner Lydia Ko, who was second in the event to Tavatanakit last year while shooting a course record-tying 62 in the final round.

“Obviously, there is so much history here with Amy Alcott being the first one to jump into Poppie’s Pond,” Ko said of Alcott’s famous jump into the lake at the 18th green in 1988. “That kind of started I think a lot of dreams for many girls out there to want to jump in Poppie’s Pond. I’ve seen so many different shots, so many different finishes that led to players jumping in there.”

For the 22-year-old Tavatanakit, the 2021 Chevron Championship remains her only win on the LPGA. But she also finished fifth in the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship and AIG Women’s Open, two other LPGA majors. That helped her to the LPGA Rookie of the Year award.

Despite not winning in the last 12 months, Tavatanakit says she believes her overall game is better than the game that pushed her to 18-under par in last year’s Chevron event, just one off the tournament’s scoring record.

Better than last year?

“It’s just a feeling. It is, I would say it is better. That’s just how I feel with my game,” Tavatanakit said. “If anything, last year I was working on some stuff and I happened to execute better than this year. Because if you were to ask me 10 more times, 100 times, I would say it is better than last year. Scores are scores. You can’t really control that, but you can control what you’re doing with the process, what you can do to become a better player.”

For Lydia Ko, both her game and the Shore Course itself have changed since she won in 2016 as an 18-year-old. Ko said she hits the ball farther than she did six years ago, but the course remains demanding.

“It’s so important to be on the fairways here because the greens are pretty firm as well and the rough are quite juicy,” said Ko, whose win at the Gainbridge Classic in Florida in February was her 17th LPGA title. “So to kind of be on the fairways is going to be a huge advantage, and I’m sure that the days that I played well I did that well. And then was able to putt and take advantage of the times that I put myself in good position.”

Lexi Thompson signs an autograph for Izzy, center, Willa, and their father Jesse Bergland during the Chevron Championship pro-am at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, March 30, 2022.

Concentrating on golf will be fine for most of the week, but many players would embrace being the last champion at Mission Hills and the last player to jump into Poppie’s Pond, including 2014 winner Lexi Thompson. Thompson played in the tournament when she was 14 and is playing in her 11th consecutive Chevron event as a pro.

“A lot of great memories, a lot of special ones since I was very young,” Thompson said. “It’s definitely unfortunate that it will be moving from this special venue at Mission Hills. I think we’re all a bit bummed out about it, but at the same time, we’re not losing the event, we’re just losing the location.

“Hopefully something will happen out of it,” Thompson added. “Maybe we have another event here, anything. Anything can happen.”