HOUSTON — A time-honoroed LPGA tradition will live on at the 2026 Chevron Championship.
And it will continue at a six-figure cost.
Jim Crane, a Memorial Park financier and Houston Astros owner, told Sports Illustrated that a temporary swimming pool will soon be installed to the right of the 18th green at Memorial Park Golf Course, the site of this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open on the PGA Tour and, next month, the Chevron Championship, which is the season’s first LPGA major.
It’s tradition that the Chevron champion takes a leap into water near the 18th hole, which dates back to 1988, when the event was staged at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and winner Amy Alcott spontaneously grabbed her caddie and jumped into the murky water. The tradition was spurred on by then-host Dinah Shore and eventually took hold as one of the signature moments on the LPGA’s calendar.
When Chevron signed on as a sponsor, the event was moved to Club at Carlton Woods in Texas in 2023. A dock was installed, along with a protective gator net, off the pond near the 18th hole so the jumps could continue. Last year’s edition was particularly harrowing, as winner Mao Saigo jumped in despite not knowing how to swim. It took some extra help to get her safely back to shore.
This year the event is moving here to Memorial Park, which has no natural water feature on the 18th hole. So, a granite-surface pool will be dug four feet into the ground at an estimated cost of $100,000 to keep the tradition, if not the winner herself, afloat.
The LPGA is hosting a pre-tournament press conference in Houston on April 2nd and will reveal more details about the unique project, along with the event’s $8 million total purse. Saigo will return to defend.
“It’s something they (Chevron) really wanted to do, they got the approval of the LPGA, and we are getting ready to go,” said Giles Kibbe, President of the Astros Golf Foundation, who is running this week’s PGA Tour Children’s Houston Open and is heavily involved in the Chevron Championship, which will be held April 23-26.
He added that plans are in the works for a more permanent water feature for the 2027 tournament.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Chevron Championship Has a Wild Plan to Continue the Traditional Winner’s Water-Jump.
