Fun at 40: Four Decades of the Kraft Nabisco Championship

The Kraft-Nabisco Championship is entering it’s 40th year on the LPGA tour, and its history and legacy run deeper than the famous waters alongside the 18th green at the Mission Hills Country Club.

And it all started with a woman from Tennessee named Dinah Shore.

Shore -- best known for her singing career in the 1940s and 50s, and hosting television talk and variety shows in the 60s and 70s -- was a long time supporter of women’s golf, right up to her death in 1994.

But the tournament she helped start has morphed into something more.  It changed the face of golf.

Flashback to 1972, when the LPGA added the Mission Hills Country Club and the Colgate Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle to it’s tournament schedule, with future Hall of Famer Jane Blalock taking the first ever title. 

Ten years later, in 1982, Nabisco added its name to the tournament, as the Nabisco Dinah Shore Invitational.  The combination of the desert weather, Dinah’s name, and a household name sponsor were a hit, as all four rounds were aired on national television, a first for any LPGA event. The next year, the tournament would become designated as one of women’s golf’s four major events.

To this day, what is now the Kraft Nabisco Championship is essentially the ladies version of the PGA’s The Masters, and the only of the four LPGA majors with a naming sponsor. 

Much like The Masters, the tournament is played on the same course every year. The Mission Hills Country Club has been the site of the tournament since it started in 1972. Keeping the tournament at one course has also lead to its own memories, and one of sports most endearing traditions.  

It started on a March day in 1988. Amy Alcott had just finished a round of 71, and a two shot win over Colleen Walker. Overcome with excitement, Alcott jumped into the small lake adjacent to the 18th green … starting one of the most recognizable traditions in the sport. With a few exceptions in the early 1990s, every winner at the event since has waded, jumped, or even dove into the waters of what is now known as “Poppie’s Pond.” 

Possibly the most famous jump was in 1991, when Alcott celebrated her third Nabisco win by jumping into the water with Dinah Shore herself. 

A few years later, 1993 saw the youngest player ever to enter a major, a 13-year-old amateur from Honolulu named Michelle Wie. Wie carded a 66 in the third round, tying the amateur record for a women's major championship and qualifying her to play in the final group of the championship. 

In 1999, Dottie Pepper won with a four round score of 19-under-par, the lowest under par ever in an LPGA major championship. 

The American dominance of the tournament ended in 2000, with Australian Karrie Webb firing a 14-under par to win. In the 10 years since, an American has won just two times. 

Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam became the first to successfully defend her title, following her 2001 win with an razor thin one shot win over Liselotte Neumann in 2002. Sorenstam’s try for a three-peat would be stopped by France’s Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, who would beat Sorenstam by a single stroke in 2003. Annika would win again in 2005 to join the exclusive 3-time winner club with legends Betsy King and Amy Alcott.

The winners of the tournament has more than a resemblance to the membership of the LPGA Hall of Fame, with Alcott, King, Patty Sheehan, Juli Inkster, Pat Bradley, Sorenstam and Webb all earning places in the Hall with at least one KNC win. 

Just last year, more KNC memories were made. On Easter Sunday, Yani Tseng won the tournament and the $2 million dollar prize. A non-swimmer, Tseng took a smiling leap into the waters. She was still smiling in the post-round press conference when the 7.2 Baja California earthquake shook the desert.  

As for the this year's edition of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, it’s unknown who will win, but there will be more history made, and more memories for the ages.