The first LPGA major of 2026 comes with big questions and big prices

HOUSTON – For the first time in 2026, the LPGA is center stage, and the first major of the year comes with a big price tag.

Under the direction of new commissioner Craig Kessler, the LPGA has big plans to break through. That includes a new broadcast television deal, schedule changes, a fund increase and a plan to create a stable of world stars. All of this serves Kessler’s main focus: Finding a way to grab attention and hold onto it – to better satisfy current fans who are desperate to see women’s golf rise while courting a new group of supporters.

Making that climb is easier said than done.

Perhaps no tournament better underscores the challenges facing the LPGA and women’s golf than this week’s Chevron Tournament. A great first year, but without significant identification. It was promoted to a major in 1983 but went through several name changes and moved from Mission Hills to the Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, in 2023. The only things that have remained the same are Poppie’s symbolic jumps in the pool and the winning dress, and even that has had to be tweaked since the movement took off.

The move to Texas did not help this unique problem, as the course at Carlton Woods and the broadcast of the event failed to make it seem as big as it was called. As the LPGA looks to grow and expand, the Chevron Championship has found itself at a crossroads. It has a rich history, and Chevron invested in the event, but did not fully strengthen the main competition. ownership required by the LPGA for the first major tournament of the season. The Masters marks the start of the men’s senior season and serves as the starting point for the rest of the golf year. Women’s golf needs the Chevron Championship, or a separate tournament, to be the same thing.

That’s why this week looks like a big test for the Chevron Championship and the LPGA.

After three difficult years at Carlton Woods, the LPGA and Chevron made the decision to move the tournament from the Houston suburbs to Memorial Park, a downtown muni that also hosts the PGA Tour’s Houston Open. The move to Memorial Park was universally praised. Moving the event downtown should make it easier to increase attendance, provide a larger experience, and Memorial Park is a very exciting course, with tricky greens that require precision and a memorable stretch finish.

But the move to Memorial Park also underscores an ongoing identity crisis. What makes the US Women’s Open, the AIG Women’s Open and the KPMG Women’s PGA so exciting is the rotation of venues at those premier courses. It is difficult for an unstructured course to focus as an independent core. On the men’s side, the only constant is Augusta National. If the major is going to return to the same place every year, the subject must be an important person in the story. It should be something fans are familiar with and want to come back to every year.

For Memorial Park to pay dividends, it will need help with one of Kessler’s first big changes as commissioner: improved streaming.

Thanks to the agreement with FM, Golf Channel and Trackman, the LPGA broadcast will have a 50 percent increase in cameras, three times more microphones, four times the number of gun tracking capabilities, slow motion cameras and drones. The LPGA introduced advanced broadcast features at Sharon Heights earlier this year, and its debut was a clear triumph. There were kinks to work out and improvements, but the changes were visible and welcome.

This week is a real test of those improvements and the willingness of the NBC partner to give this event a lot of light. It is the broadcaster’s responsibility to use all the bells and whistles in the storytelling, to highlight the complexity of Tom Doak’s subject and to create greater tension. It is not enough to say that it is the main; you have to make the viewer feel it.

All of that leads to one thing that’s out of the LPGA’s control this week, but that’s crucial to giving this major the juice it needs: the stars have to show up.

Back in November, Kessler said there is “no silver bullet” in star formation. While that may be true, if you want to generate traffic and build an audience, needles should be front and center in your big weeks.

That begins, and perhaps ends, with Nelly Korda.

Just as men’s golf has been dominated by Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, the LPGA needs Korda to do the same. After winning seven times in 2024, Korda was unsuccessful in what he called a “weird” 2025. He has changed his schedule and preparation this year and has gone 1-2-2-T2 in four starts. World No. 2 arrived in Houston after taking a week off and it seems as comfortable and easy as a big first. Most signs point to this being Korda’s week, and that would be a welcome sight as the LPGA steps into the spotlight and begins the big season.

Aside from Korda in 2024, the Chevron Championship has seen several first-time winners in recent years. Building a base of great champions is good in the depth of the league, but if you want to build great fans, the best way is to have your stars – Korda, Charley Hull, Jeeno Thitikul, Lydia Ko – in the weekend combination, ask them to bring the eyeballs and let them and the improved broadcast be the entrance to the whole trip.

That is the path to success for the LPGA and Chevron Championship. We will see if they get it this week.