The ANA, the LPGA's first major championship of the year, will be played April 2-5 in '20GETTY IMAGES
The LPGA ANA Inspiration "won't change dates" in '20, a move that was "considered because of a conflict" with the Augusta National Women's Amateur being played the same week, according to Larry Bohannan of the Palm Springs DESERT SUN. The ANA, which is the LPGA's first major championship of the year, will be played April 2-5 in '20 -- the tournament's "traditional dates, with the event ending on the first Sunday of April." LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said, "Still not ready to commit that's the long-term answer to ANA, but it's definitely the answer both this year and next year. I'm very open in admitting it wasn't as great a media year or television ratings year as we've had in the past there." Due to the amount of publicity the ANWA received this year, ANA Tournament Dir Chris Garrett to said that he "thought there was a 50-50 chance the LPGA event could move dates by next year." Whan said that moving the event to later in the month "also has its problems, even if it might work decently for television." Bohannan noted such a shift "would have required moving other LPGA events as well and would have put the ANA Inspiration in one of the same weekends as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which would have caused hotel availability issues" (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 6/22).
BUSY CALENDAR: GOLFWEEK's Beth Ann Nichols noted moving the ANA one week up on the schedule would put it against the PGA Tour Dell Technologies Match Play and "move the ANA to three nights of tape-delayed coverage and the overall televised hours would drop from 26 hours to nine or 10." Moving the event up two weeks on the calendar is not possible because of a "conflict with an event at the host club, Mission Hills" (GOLFWEEK.com, 6/21). GOLF DIGEST's Keely Levins noted Whan is "optimistic about the situation." Having women's golf be a "big topic of conversation is a positive thing," and Whan has "talked about the potential for the combination of the two events to be a great 'celebration' of women's golf" (GOLFDIGEST.com, 6/21).
