LPGA’s fifth major The Evian will be another Kraft Nabisco, says Whan

The ink was barely dry on the new deal making the Evian Championship the LPGA Tour’s fifth major, when commissioner Mike Whan said he believed the new high-profile addition to the 2013 schedule would become as important and cherished a tradition as the Kraft Nabisco.

"The Evian will give us major media, major fan appeal, a major field, and we have a business sponsor [Franck Riboud, chair and chief executive of Danone, Evian’s parent firm] that I believe could be the David Foster of our era," Whan told us shortly after his official announcement that Evian would enter the tour’s rotation as its fifth big-title event.

Foster, the late chair and CEO of Colgate-Palmolive, developed "The Dinah," Whan said of the forerunner to today’s Kraft Nabisco. "He gave the LPGA a tournament and a location that will forever be part of our history."

Whan foresees the same legacy for The Evian, which will drop "Masters" from its name and become the final major of the season, preceded by the Kraft Nabisco, LPGA Championship, U.S. Women’s Open, and the Women’s British Open.

"Franck shares the passion and persistence, and most importantly the vision, that will no doubt help all of us take women's professional golf to a completely new level," said Whan. "The Evian will be a tournament, a location, and an atmosphere that young women will strive to be part of for the next few decades."

LPGA commissioner Mike Whan believes the tour's fifth major, The Evian, will rival "The Dinah" as an iconic tournament for women's golf (Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

The Ladies European Tour first staged the Evian Masters in 1994, with the LPGA agreeing to co-sanction the event in 2000. A field of 111 players will compete this year for the $3.25 million purse, matched only by that of the U.S. Women’s Open as the richest prize packages in women’s golf.

The Evian will take place Sept. 12-Sept. 15, 2013, on a completely revamped golf course. With its spectacular setting in the foothills of the Alps and a newly challenging layout, the tourney is sure to attract the best women golfers the way The Dinah has all these years, Whan averred.

"The Evian is a legacy in process,"  he said. "In 20 years, young girls will say there’s no experience like competing in Evian, it’s one of golf’s truly special places."

Starting immediately after next year’s Evian Masters, U.S.-based course designer Steve Smyers will tear down and rebuild each tee area, fairway, bunker, and green so that the track offers a challenge befitting a major championship.

"This is not a facelift," Whan said of the upcoming $7.5 million overhaul. "Players will recognize where their locker room is but when they stand on the first tee or 18th green, it’s going to be a fundamentally different challenge."

A primary part of the redesign will be what Whan called the "Fantastic Finish" -- a huge, two-tiered spectator amphitheater that will allow fans to view the 15th green, 16th tee and green, 17th tee, and the 18th green.

The long-term deal with Danone also represents a financial windfall, with Whan promising increased worldwide and high-definition television coverage for The Evian. The LPGA has allocated funds to ensure that U.S. audiences may view the tourney on network TV during the weekend of play, he said.

"Starting in 2013, we will not just have a major field, we will not just have major TV, we will not just have an incredible setting," according to Whan, "but we’re going to have a major venue, a major golf course that’s really going to bring out the best players from around the world."

Dinah’s event, by the way, will remain on the LPGA schedule as the Kraft Nabisco through 2014, when the current contract runs out. Should Kraft Nabisco not re-up as sponsor, Whan said he was committed to retaining the first major of the season for at least as long as he remained commissioner.

"If Kraft Nabisco does not want to be Kraft Nabisco past 2014," he said, "my job is to fill the Kraft Nabisco part and not remove the tournament part....If not Kraft Nabisco, my challenge is to find the next Kraft Nabisco."