While the participation of its title sponsor beyond next year remains in doubt, LPGA commissioner Michael Whan reiterated this week that the Kraft Nabisco Championship will remain in the California desert as long as he is at the helm.
‘I would say that the tournament and the tradition of the course and jumping into Poppie’s Pond is one of the great traditions not just in the LPGA but in all of golf,’ explained Whan as part of several pointed comments in a recent report from The Desert Sun. ‘We are not going to lose that while I am commissioner.’
Though Kraft has served as title sponsors of the event since 2002, its current contract is set to expire after the 2014 event. According to the report, Kraft representatives remain committed to the event through next year but are not yet prepared to comment on the possibility of renewing their partnership for 2015 or beyond.
Regardless of Kraft’s sponsorship decision, Whan remains firmly committed to keeping the event right where it is.
‘The LPGA, women’s golf, has a pole in the ground called the Kraft or the Dinah Shore, whatever the name,’ he explained. ‘Keeping our first major of the year at Mission Hills, the jump into Poppie’s Pond...we have to keep that tradition. We don’t have that many.’