Sports

LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship

By Brent Kelley, About.com Guide

Morgan Pressel - 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship

It's tradition for the winner of the Kraft Nabisco Championship to take a running leap into the pond beside the 18th green. In 2007, Morgan Pressel got to jump in the lake.

David Cannon / Getty Images

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About the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship:

The Kraft Nabisco Championship has been designated one of the LPGA Tour's majors since 1983. The tournament has actually been played, however, since 1972 when it was born as the Colgate Dinah Shore. From 1982 through 1999, the name of this tournament was the Nabisco Dinah Shore, then until 2001 the Nabisco Championship.

The tournament was founded, natch, by entertainer Dinah Shore, a strong supporter of women's golf and the LPGA. Shore died in 1994, but there is a statue of her at the host course. It is tradition for the tournament winner to jump in the lake next to the 18th green.
Photos: Ladies of the Lake a'Leapin

2013 Tournament
Inbee Park pulled away over the last two rounds to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship by four strokes, but her victory was more confortable than that final margin: she was never challenged in the final round. She finished at 15-under 273. So Yeon Ryu was runner-up. It was Park's first win at the KNC, but her second major - she also won the 2008 U.S. Women's Open.

2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship
Sun Young Yoo rolled in a birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat I.K. Kim and win the trophy. Both Yoo and Kim carded 69s in the final round to finish at 9-under 279, passing by third-round leader Yani Tseng. Tseng struggled to a 73 in the final round. Kim should have won the tournament in regulation - she was 10-under and had a birdie putt on the 72nd green. Kim nearly made that birdie putt, but then inexplicably missed the tap-in, which was no more than 12 inches in length.
• Shocking ending to 2012 Kraft Nabisco

Official Web site
LPGA tournament site

Kraft Nabisco Championship Records:

Most wins: 3 - Amy Alcott (1983, 1988, 1991); Betsy King (1987, 1990, 1997); Annika Sorenstam (2001, 2002, 2005)
Low round: 62 - Lorena Ochoa, first round, 2006
Low 72-hole score: 269 - Dottie Pepper, 1999
Lowest score in relation to par: 19-under - Dottie Pepper, 1999
Largest margin of victory: 10 strokes - Karrie Webb, 2000

Kraft Nabisco Championship Golf Course:

This tournament is now and always has been played at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The Kraft Nabisco takes place on the club's Dinah Shore Tournament Course (the club's other two courses are the Arnold Palmer Course and Pete Dye Challenge course), which was designed by Desmond Muirhead and tips out at 7,250 yards. For the Kraft Nabisco, the course is set up as a 6,702-yard par-72. See our profile of Mission Hills CC for more.
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Kraft Nabisco Championship Trivia and Notes:

The Kraft Nabisco is one of four majors on the LPGA Tour, but it hasn't always been that way. From its founding in 1972 through 1982, what was then called the Colgate Dinah Shore was a big event - but did not have major championship status. Winners from 1983 forward are credited with major championship wins.
Among those who won this event before it was elevated to major status were Jane Blalock and Judy Rankin, neither of whom ever won a major championship.

LPGA legends Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth and Nancy Lopez also won the Dinah Shore - before it was a major. Sandra Post won twice in those pre-major years.
The first three-time winner was Amy Alcott, whose third victory came in 1991. Betsy King joined Alcott as a 3-time champion in 1997, and Annika Sorenstam in 2005.

After Alcott's second victory, in 1988, she inaugurated what is now known as the "Champions Leap" when she spontaneously rushed off the 18th green and leaped into the greenside lake. That leap has since become a tradition at the tournament (see Why do KNC winners jump in the lake? and Ladies of the Lake photo gallery).
When Morgan Pressel won this tournament in 2007, she became the youngest-ever LPGA major championship winner. Pressel was about two months shy of her 19th birthday.

A couple of LPGA major championship scoring records were set here. The 62 Lorena Ochoa posted in the first round in 2006 is tied for lowest 18-hole score in a women's major; and Dottie Pepper's 19-under in 1999 is tied for the lowest score in relation to par in a women's major.
Brittany Lincicome won the 2009 KNC by making eagle on the final hole. It is the only time in either a men's or women's major championship that a final-hole eagle determined the winner.