'They Didn't Do A Great Job Of Promoting It' - Tour Pro Admits Chevron Championship Crowd Numbers 'A Shame'
Mimi Rhodes said it was "a shame" so few fans turned up to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston last week as the first women's Major of the year took place
Build-up to the first women's Major of the year had been over eight months in the making, but many fans and players alike felt somewhat disappointed at the Chevron Championship.
But several other factors caused excitement around such a prestigious event to evaporate quickly in certain circles.
Firstly there was a temporary version of Poppie's Pond which split opinion on whether the tradition should have been left for a year while a more permanent fixture is built.
Then there was the TV coverage, which was branded "shameful" after it missed the first 90 minutes of Korda's final round - a key part of any Major.
Walked the back nine with Nelly and it was painfully quiet. She shot 31. https://t.co/W9zxnE6qnKApril 23, 2026
But perhaps most noticeable of all was the lack of crowds, especially compared to the other four Majors in the women's game.
Through the first three days, certainly, it was regularly mentioned on social media how few people appeared to be at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, Texas - site of the PGA Tour's recent Texas Children's Houston Open. Golfweek writer Beth Ann Nichols called the atmosphere "painfully quiet" on Thursday.
England's Mimi Rhodes - who has three Ladies European Tour wins despite being just 24 years old - was in the field at the Chevron Championship and attempted to explain, using her first-hand experience, why she felt the galleries were so sparse.
At a media day promoting the AIG Women's Open later this year, Rhodes was asked whether last week's Major felt "a little bit low key", to which she replied: "Yeah, but Houston, it's just a bit of a remote area and random location, so I don't think a lot of crowd were going to go out to that golf course.
"Yeah, they didn't do a great job of promoting it. Like Catriona [Matthew] said, they do a really good job of promotion here, and it just gets around a lot better. It was just a shame for last week because it was such a good golf course."
Rhodes' media partner was 2009 British Women's Open champion Catriona Matthew.
The Scottish legend, who won four LPGA Tour titles overall, refused to be drawn into commenting on the Chevron Championship as she wasn't in attendance.
Instead, the two-time Solheim Cup-winning captain focused on what the AIG Women's Open and its partners do so well during championship week, with around 50,000 fans expected on site at Royal Lytham and St Annes later this summer.
Matthews said: "I wasn't at Chevron. I watched a little bit on the television. I think here they'll have some great crowds. They always do in this kind of area. It's such a huge pool with Manchester and Liverpool, everywhere.
"I think here when we go down to London, I think it's promoted really well here in the area. The R&A do a great job, IMG promoting the event to get the fans out to watch it.
"Obviously it's been shown more and more on TV over the years, which gets the interest, and I think hopefully they will get some good crowds out here.
"And the players love playing in front of crowds. It's much more fun playing in front of an audience and playing in front of a crowd than going out and there's not that many people there.
"You definitely get more excitement, more adrenaline when there are more people watching."
The AIG Women's Open is due to take place at Royal Lytham and St Annes between July 29 - August 2 and marks the final of five Majors in the women's game this year.
