Chevron Championship: Hall of Famers, surprise winners highlight long history of LPGA in the desert

A look at each of the Chevron Championship tournaments since its inception in 1972:

1972: Jane Blalock, 213. $110,000 purse, $20,050 winner. Runner-up, Carol Mann, Judy Rankin. Note: Only time the tournament was played to just 54 holes.

1973: Mickey Wright, 284, $135,000 purse, $25,000 winner. Runner-up, Joyce Kazmierski. Note: It was the last of Wright’s 82 career wins.

1974: Jo Ann Prentice, 289. $179,000 purse, $32,000 winner. Runner-up, Jane Blalock, Sandra Haynie. Note: Blalock lost the playoff in search of second win in two years.

1975: Sandra Palmer, 283. $180,000 purse, $32,000 winner. Runner-up, Kathy McMullen. Note: Palmer also won the U.S. Open that year.

1976: Judy Rankin, 285. $185,000 purse, $36,000 winner. Runner-up, Betty Burfeindt. Note: Rankin had lost the 1972 event in a playoff

1977: Kathy Whitworth, 289. $240,000 purse, $36,000 winner. Runner-up, JoAnne Carner, Sally Little. Note: Still tied for highest winning score in tournament history.

1978: Sandra Post, 283. $240,000 purse, $36,000 winner. Runner-up, Penny Pulz. Note: The Canadian was the first foreign-born player to win the event.

1979: Sandra Post. $250,000 purse, $37,500 winner. Runner-up, Nancy Lopez. Note: First time a player won the event in consecutive years.

1980: Donna Caponi. 275. $250,000 purse, $37,500 winner. Runner-up, Amy Alcott. Note: One of five wins for Caponi that year, the most in her career.

1981: Nancy Lopez, 277. $250,000 purse, $37,500 winner. Runner-up, Carolyn Hill. Note: Lopez rallied with a course-record 64 in the final round.

1982: Sally Little, 278. $300,000 purse, $45,000 winner. Runner-up Hollis Stacy, Sandra Haynie. Note: This was the second time in a playoff at the event for Haynie.

1983: Amy Alcott 282. $400,000 purse, $55,000 winner. Runner-up. Beth Daniel, Kathy Whitworth. Note: This was the first time the event was played as an official LPGA “major.”

1984: Juli Inkster 280. $400,000 purse, $55,000 winner. Runner-up, Pat Bradley. Note: Inkster was the first rookie to win the title, and she did it in a playoff.

1985: Alice Miller, 275. $400,000 purse, $55,000 winner. Runner-up, Jan Stephenson. Note: Miller won eight times on the LPGA, but this was her only major title.

1986: Pat Bradley, 280. $430,000 purse, $75,000 winner. Runner-up, Val Skinner. Note: Bradley’s win came two years after she lost a playoff in the event to Juli Inkster.

1987: Betsy King, 283. $500,000 purse, $80,000 winner. Runner-up, Patty Sheehan. Note: This was King’s first of six major championships in her Hall of Fame career.

1988: Amy Alcott, $500,000 purse, $80,000 winner. Runner-up: Colleen Walker. Note: This is the year Alcott ran into the lake at 18 to celebrate, starting the tradition.

1989: Juli Inkster, $500,000 purse, $80,000 winner. Runner-up, Tammie Green, JoAnne Carner. Note: Inkster became just the third player to win at Mission Hills twice, joining Post and Alcott.

1990: Betsy King, 283. $600,000 purse, $90,000 winner. Runner-up, Shirley Furlong, Kathy Postlewait. Note: King joined the list of two-time winners in the desert with the victory.

1991: Amy Alcott, 273. $600,000 purse, $90,000 winner. Runner-up, Dottie Pepper. Note: Alcott recreated her run into the lake, joined this time by hostess Dinah Shore.

1992: Dottie Pepper, 279. $700,000 purse, $105,000 winner. Runner-up, Juli Inkster. Note: Pepper won the title in a playoff, stopping Inkster from third win.

1993: Helen Alfredsson, 284. $700,000 purse, $105,000 winner. Runner-up, Amy Benz, Tina Barrett. Note: The win was the first for Alfredsson on the LPGA in just her second year on tour.

1994: Donna Andrews, 276. $700,000 purse, $105,000 winner. Runner-up, Laura Davies. Note: Andrews birdied the 72nd hole, while Davies bogeyed, to switch places on the leaderboard.

1995: Nanci Bowen, 285. $850,000 purse, $127,500 winner. Runner-up, Susie Redman. Note: This was the only win in Bowen’s career.

1996: Patty Sheehan, 281. $900,000 purse, $135,000 winner. Runner-up, Annika Sorenstam Kelly Robbins, Meg Mallon.

1997: Betsy King, 276. $900,000 purse, $135,000 winner. Runner-up, Kris Tschetter. Note: King joined Alcott as three-time winner of the major title.

1998: Pat Hurst, 281. $1 million purse, $150,000 winner. Runner-up, Helen Dobson. Note: Hurst is remembered for only going into the lake up to her ankles, not jumping in.

1999: Dottie Pepper, 269. $1 million purse, $150,000 winner. Runner-up, Meg Mallon. Note: Pepper cruised to the title with a tournament-record 19-under par

2000: Karrie Webb, 274. $1,250,000 purse, $187,500 winner. Runner-up, Dottie Pepper. Note: Webb’s record 10-shot margin of victory included a hole in one in the final round.

2001: Annika Sorenstam, 281. $1,500,000 purse, $225,000 winner. Runner-up, Karri Webb, Janice Moodie, Dottie Pepper, Akiko Fukushima. Note: Sorenstam has eight wins and six second-place finishes in the year.

2002: Annika Sorenstam, 280. $1,500,000 purse, $225,000 winner. Runner-up, Liselotte Neumann. Note: Sorenstam became just the second back-to-back winner in tournament history.

2003: Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, 281. $1,600,000 purse, $240,000 winner. Runner-up, Annika Sorenstam. Note: Meunier-Lebouc did not defend in 2004 because she recently had a baby.

2004: Grace Park, 279. $1,600,000 purse, $240,000 winner. Runner-up, Aree Song. Note: Song eagled the 18th hole, but Park birdied it moments later for the win.

2005: Annika Sorenstam, 273. $1,800,000 purse, $270,000 winner. Runner-up, Rosie Jones. Note: Winning by eight shots, Sorenstam joined Alcott, King as three-time winners.

2006: Karrie Webb, 279. $1,800,000 purse, $270,000 winner. Runner-up: Lorena Ochoa. Note: Webb famously holed out from 18th fairway Sunday for eagle to force playoff.

2007: Morgan Pressel, 285. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up, Suzann Petterson, Brittany Lincicome, Catriona Matthews. Note: At 18, Pressel became the youngest winner of a major at that time.

2008: Lorena Ochoa, 277. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up, Suzann Pettersen, Annika Sorenstam. Note: Ochoa finally won the tournament, and it produced the largest number of people in Poppie’s Pond in tournament history.

2009: Brittany Lincicome, 279. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up: Cristie Kerr, Kristy McPherson. Note: Lincicome’s brilliant hybrid set up a short eagle to win by one shot.

2010: Yani Tseng, 275. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up, Suzann Petterson. Note: This was Petterson’s third runner-up finish in the event in four years.

2011: Stacy Lewis, 275. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up, Yani Tseng. Note: Tseng nearly won back-to-back, but did touching the trophy on the first tee jinx her?

2012: Sun Young Yoo, 279. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up, I.K. Kim. Note: Kim will always be remembered, unfortunately, for missing a two-foot putt for the win in regulation.

2013: Inbee Park, 273. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up, So Yeon Ryu. Note: The smooth-putting Park was on a major roll, this being the first of her three majors for the year.

2014: Lexi Thompson, 274. $2 million purse, $300,000 winner. Runner-up, Michelle Wie. Note: Thompson shot 68 in a Sunday showdown with Wie, who shot 71 in the final pairing.

2015: Brittany Lincicome, 279. $2,500,00 purse, $375,000 winner. Runner-up, Stacy Lewis. Note: Lincicome again eagled the 18th to force a playoff, then won the playoff on the third hole.

2016: Lydia Ko, 276. $2,600,000 purse, $390,000 winner. Runner-up, InGee Chun, Charley Hull. Note: Ko won her second consecutive major, making birdie on the 18th hole Sunday.

2017: So Yeon Ryu, 274. $2,700,000 purse, $405,000 winner. Runner-up, Lexi Thompson. Note: This will always be remembered as the year Thompson was assessed four penalty shots.

2018: Pernilla Lindberg, 273. $2,800,000 purse, $420,000 winner. Runner-up, Inbee Park. Note: The epic playoff lasted eight holes and two days before Lindberg’s first LPGA win.

2019: Jin Young Ko, 278. $3 million purse, $450,000 winner. Runner-up, M.H. Lee. Note: Ko won her first major championship with a weekend of 68-70.

2020: Mirim Lee, 273. $3,100,000, $465,000 winner. Runner-up, Nelly Korda, Brooke Henderson. Note: This tournament was played in the heat of September because of COVID-19 pandemic postponements.

2021: Patty Tavatanakit, 270. $3,100,000 purse, $465,000 winner. Runner-up, Lydia Ko. Note: Played for the second year with no fans, the tournament saw its first winner from Thailand.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: LPGA: Chevron Championship has produced dramatic wins for 50 years