The Woodlands Proves Major Worthy — LPGA Signature Event and Women’s Golf Find Plenty of Room to Grow in Texas

At one point, shortly before the rain, a whole group of deer sprint right up the 18th fairway. The procession goes eight, no nine, deer deep, creating quite a scene. Yes, the LPGA’s first Major of the year is in The Woodlands now. A land where no one needs to pipe in bird noises. A place where some of the massive houses along The Club at Carlton Woods Jack Nicklaus Signature Course would make a sultan feel right at home.

For women’s golf, it’s just about the perfect launch pad for something new. Something that gives The Woodlands and one of the fastest growing states in America a prominent place on the map of a tour that still deserves much more attention in this country.

“We know that with this kind of response that this is the place we should be,” Chevron Championship tournament director Jeremy Harvey-Samuel tells PaperCity. “And we need to be in this kind of environment for a Major championship.”

When Chevron stepped in to take over the sponsorship of this Major with a more than 50 year history in Palm Springs, it meant a move to The Woodlands — and in some ways a test for the area’s readiness to put on such a big international event. The leaderboard after day one carries both star power and some surprises with World No. 2 Nelly Korda one of six players one shot back of the five under of leader Peiyun Chien, a 32-year-old who had to play her way into even making this Chevron field. But Harvey-Samuel knew The Woodlands was up to this hosting task before the very first shot of this tournament was even hit.

In some ways, he could tell by the way The Woodlands even opened up its own homes to the players.

“We’ve had people in the community who’ve said we will open up our houses to players,” Harvey-Samuel says. “We want to house players. We want to create relationships with these players so they can come back and stay every year.

“It’s really made our job easier in that way. How much The Woodlands and Houston have said, ‘Come, come, come. We want this to be part of our sports landscape.’ ”

Stacy Lewis turned herself into a Major champion coming out of The Woodlands. But she never expected a Major to be held in the community where she grew up and played on a high school golf team with 29 other girls.

“It’s something that definitely growing up here, I thought would never happen,” Lewis says. “To bring a championship like this to The Woodlands. But it’s been awesome. There’s so many people walking around, so many people that I know. . .

“Just to be in a familiar place, you can drive your own car, I know my way around The Woodlands. I don’t need a map or anything like that.”

The Woodlands has long supported high school girls sports with a fervor (and dedication of financial resources) that few other communities can match. See that 30-girl strong golf team Stacy Lewis played on at The Woodlands High School. But having the women pros here is something different. Something that brings plenty of meaning for a greater Houston region that lost its WNBA team way back in 2008.

Something of real significance.

The Hope of This Relocated Chevron Championship

On my shuttle bus ride to Carlton Woods on Thursday (there are no special media shuttles at this democratic tourney), two little girls, ages 5 and 6, jumped around and showed no qualms about trying to run off the bus far ahead of their parents (mom and dad had better keep up) in excitement.

An older gentlemen asks the dad if his girls are excited, which is like asking if Taylor Swift knows how to move merchandise considering the scene on the bus. “So excited,” the father says.

In many ways, it’s this kind of excitement that will determine the ultimate success of this LPGA Major in The Woodlands. Chevron is already signed on through 2027, meaning there should be at least four more Chevron Championships in The Woodlands — and a real chance to build something.

“It’s really made our job easier in that way. How much The Woodlands and Houston have said, ‘Come, come, come. We want this to be part of our sports landscape.’ ” — Chevron Championship tournament director Jeremy Harvey-Samuel

The rain — and threat of weather — kept the crowds down on day one, even though the only actual delay in play lasted little more than an hour. The Dinah Shore, as this Major was famously known in its prior Palm Springs life, attracted crowds of more than 50,000 people combined (for the week) in its desert swan song last year. That number won’t be threatened this week in The Woodlands, but the idea is that it will be in the near future.

“The goals we set, the data that we have, if you look at what we’re ranking it against in terms of this event — 2022’s event was the final year for it in the desert,” Harvey-Samuel tells PaperCity. “We did about 50,000 t0 55,000 attendance that year. And a lot of that — it was a high attendance — and a lot of that was driven by people kind of wanting to say goodbye to the event being there.

“. . . We would love to get to a position near that 50,000 and we feel like Houston and The Woodlands being a golf town, and Houston being a sports city, we have the opportunity to do that. That’s one of the things we aspire to is to eclipse that.

“And we certainly feel like we’re in the right place.”

It is a different place, one that is literally opening its homes to players who grew used to the routines of Palm Springs. The volunteer positions required — there are about 570 of them at this championship — filled faster than Jeremy Harvey-Samuel, a veteran tournament director who’s run events on multiple continents, ever remembers them filling at any event. The perks for the LPGA players are also real — and geared around the financial reality of major golf.

“We have 132 players, the majority of those players will leave on Friday having not made any money,” Harvey-Samuel says of the weekend cut.

But unlike with most LPGA tournaments, Chevron and this tournament’s organizers are trying to make sure those players don’t leave having lost money at least. Chevron is giving every player who doesn’t make the 36 hole cut $5,000 to cover their expenses. Chevron is also even paying for some of the players’ gas this week (each player gets a courtesy car for the week).

“It’s something that definitely growing up here, I thought would never happen. To bring a championship like this to The Woodlands.” — LPGA champion Stacy Lewis

Yes, it’s a new world — a Woodlands world, with those speeding deer, those birds chirping on every hole and. . . well, a lot of space.

“I was like, ‘We’re not in Palm Springs anymore,’ ” Megan Khang, who is three shots back of the leader at two under, says of her first real scoring foray around Carlton Woods. “It’s a huge property. I joke around, I don’t carry the golf bag.

“But it’s a long walk.”

That’s not just room to roam. It’s room to grow. Hopefully something special. For The Woodlands. For the entire region. And for the future of women’s golf.