![]() ![]() The list of multiple champions is an honor roll of women’s golf. She was fighting for women’s equality a long time ago." She always called me sweetie and she’d hand me an envelope with $100 in it. “Dinah was such a gracious lady and wonderful host. “The venue is part of what makes the event special – playing the same course every year,” says Killeen. ![]() This year, he hopes to share that leap into Poppie’s Pond with Lizette Salas. Four times he has carried players to LPGA major wins, but not at the ANA. Veteran caddie John Killeen has worked all but two ANA Inspirations since 1984 – missing twice because he was working on the PGA Tour. No one knew it at the time, but it was the last of Wright’s 82 LPGA victories. The ANA got a special validation in 1973 when the legendary Mickey Wright took home the title in the second playing of the event. The Past Champions dinner has enhanced the glory and perpetuated the prestige of winning the tournament.” “The presence of the walk of fame and Dinah's statue have created an aura which sends chills to all of us who have been lucky enough to have experienced it. “I actually felt like a celebrity following that victory with the cover on Golf World, appearances on talk shows and the general worldwide attention never experienced before in women's golf.” “Several of us were featured in Colgate television commercials on network, so the hype alone sent shockwaves through the sports world,” Blalock says. And with the first six-figure purse in Tour history, the ANA set the bar for other events – as did the promotion around the tournament. ![]() The $20,500 Blalock pocketed was greater than the total purse in a half-dozen other tournaments that year. “It was unlike any other tournament in women's golf with the media attention, the size of the crowds, the atmosphere and my winning check was greater than the total purse of many LPGA tournaments,” remembers Jane Blalock, who won the first ANA in 1972. Now, All Nippon Airways is the guardian of that proud tradition and each year since 1983 – except for pandemic-disrupted 2020 – the ANA Inspiration has kicked off the major championships season for all of golf – women’s and men’s. That was a game-changer, anchoring a resurgence that grew to 29 events in 1972.įoster, the CEO of Colgate-Palmolive, wrote the checks, Shore, a multitalented entertainer, brought along her Hollywood pals like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and James Garner to play the pro-am and Mission Hills Country Club quickly established itself as a fixture on the LPGA Tour, a springtime celebration of the new season. Then Foster bankrolled the Dinah Shore Colgate Winner’s Circle with $110,000 in prize money. The LPGA was coming off a 1971 season with only 20 tournaments and no purse higher than $60,000. The tireless promotion of Dinah Shore, visionary sponsorship of David Foster and familiar challenges of Mission Hills are all part of a 50-year legacy that make this golden anniversary in the Golden State truly special.Īt a time when the Tour desperately needed it, the ANA inspired the way forward. History hangs heavy over the ANA Inspiration, caressing this LPGA Tour major like the warm wind off the California desert. ![]()
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