Officials from Indian Wells, the city and the golf course are not hiding their desire to bring back the LPGA to Coachella Valley.
Robin Graf, new general manager of the Indian Wells Golf Resort, said, “First, we are back in the game.” It gives us the opportunity to host bigger and more events in future.
Indian Wells City Council approved a $100,000 sponsorship of the season finale 2024 for the Epson Tour. The Epson Tour is the LPGA’s developmental tour. The event will be known as the Epson Tour Championship in Indian Wells and played at the Players Course on the golf resort’s course from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6.
City staff and council discussed the possibility of a future LPGA event in the city. After the 2022 Chevron Championship, which will be held at Mission Hills Country Club Rancho Mirage in Rancho Mirage. The major championship will move to Houston. The Coachella Valley was left without an LPGA tournament for the first 51 years.
The Epson Tour could prove to the LPGA that an LPGA regular event in the desert is feasible, and that Indian Wells Golf Resort would be the ideal place for such a tournament.
“Let’s keep in mind that this is a golden chance for us,” Greg Sanders, a council member, said when the council discussed the sponsorship. “The Dinah Shore tournament, and the ANA, was sponsored last year by Chevron. They left. Visit Greater Palm Springs will tell me what economic impact the ANA had. “I guarantee you that it’s huge.”
Sanders said that the Epson Tour’s sponsorship was to convince the LPGA of Indian Wells’s potential as a premier LPGA event.
Sanders said, “I view this as a strategy investment.”
Photo courtesy Epson Tour/Ben Harpring
Residents of the city can benefit
The council chose to sponsor the Epson Tour with $100,000 instead of $50,000. Christopher Freeland, the City Manager, explained that the $100,000 sponsorship includes all the features of the $50,000 level, including the inclusion of the city’s name and logo in tournament advertising and promotion, participation in the meet the pros event, and VIP passes to the four-day professional tournament. The $100,000 level includes reduced tickets for city residents as well as a seating area designated for residents along the 18th hole. Freeland said that the LPGA might view the $100,000 sponsorship more positively in future tournament discussions.
Indian Wells already hosts the BNP Paribas Tennis Garden Open, a two-week event held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in March each year. The Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells La Quinta is also held there every December. It also has a sponsorship agreement with the Coachella Valley Firebirds ice hockey team. The city has hosted a PGA Tour Champion at The Vintage Club in 1981-92, at the golf resort 1993 and three years of LG Skins Game between 2006-08.
Indian Wells is a golf town. Bruce Whitman, a council member, said that it has always been this way since the 1980s. “I believe golf is our present, our past and our future. Our golf resort, with its hotels and golf courses, is the economic engine for our city. “All we can do is encourage more golf to this city. This can only be beneficial for this city.”
Dana Reed, a council member from the city of San Diego, said that he supported the sponsorship agreement but asked the city staff to review the claims made by the Epson Tour about the Golf Tournament and other sponsorships. Epson Tour claims that the Tour Championship would generate 1,930 hotel room nights, but Freeland acknowledges some of these room nights may be in other desert towns.
Freeland said that although the deal approved by the council on Thursday was a one-year contract, it may lead to an agreement lasting longer with the Epson Tour. He also added that deeper discussions could be held with the LPGA regarding a tournament in that larger tour.
The Epson Tour is the LPGA’s developmental tour. It has 24 events in the United States, including one each March in Beaumont. Epson events have purses between $200,000 to $375,000 with the Tour Championship in Florida last month featuring a $250,000 purse.
The Tour Championship is the last event in the chase for exemptions. Nelly Korda, Lili Vu and Nelly Korda are among the top LPGA players who graduated from the Epson Tour. Epson Tour graduates have won more than 400 LPGA championships.
