The Kraft Nabisco Championship was held at Mission Hills Country Club on Tuesday March 27th thru April 1st. This is the Masters tournament of the LPGA as a lot of people call it. The players like this first LPGA major of the year. This is the one tournament the players want to win and make the leap into PoppiesPond. The tournament has such a history as it has been played here since the beginning of the tournament when it was called ‘THE DINAH’ when Dinah Shore lent her name to this LPGA event.
Amy Alcott and Dinah Shore made the first leap into the pond when it was still a dark and dirty pond. That made little difference to the player who won. The POND has been renewed and this year made deeper and safer for the winner. The leap every lPGA golfer wants to make.
The first 2 days are always the Celebrity pro-am with over 30 celebrities that play with one pro and amateurs in each group. Celebrities this year included icons in music, Alice Cooper, Don Felder, Eagles, Robbie Krieger from the Doors and Rudy Gatlin from the Gatlin Brothers. Actors such as Kevin Sorbo, Patrick Warburton, Kimberlin Brown, Dennis Haysbert, Cheech Marin, Craig T. Nelson to name a few. Sports figures like Johnny Bench, Ed Marinaro, Rich,da coach, Gilgallon and tennis star Mark Woodforde.Many other top name celebrities brought a lot of fans to the tournament.
Thursday the whole field of ladies played with a cut made on Friday, Fan Favorite Michelle Wie didn’t make the cut to play on the weekend. Another Fan favorite is the number one player on the LPGA, Yani Tsang. She was in contention for awhile but fell back on Sat. She made up a lot of points on Sunday and missed a putt on eighteen to miss a 3 way play off for the win.
There was so much drama on the 18th hole. I K Kim missed a very short putt on 18 for the win and ended up in a tie with Sun Young Yoo. Yoo made her putt for birdie on 18 during the playoff. Yoo and her caddie made the leap into poppies pond in front of a very excited crowd.
