By Travis Puterbaugh
First awarded in 1995 to winner Nanci Bowen, the Champions Robe is to the ANA Inspiration what the green jacket is to the Masters: a symbol of achievement befitting a Major Champion.
How did it come to pass that a white robe would become one of the most coveted items in women’s golf? It all started in 1988, when Amy Alcott ended her 19-month winless drought by taking a dip into the now-famous Poppie’s Pond.
Alcott had just tapped in on the 18th hole at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, to clinch a two-stroke victory over Colleen Walker at the Nabisco Dinah Shore Championship (now known as the ANA Inspiration). To celebrate her first win since August 1986, Alcott grabbed her caddie Bill Kurre by the hand and took a running leap into Champions Lake adjacent to the green. Although it would take a while to catch on, this moment of spontaneity launched one of the greatest traditions in women’s golf.
It took six years for someone other than Alcott to take a dive into the lake. Fellow World Golf Hall of Fame Members Juli Inkster and Betsy King both eschewed jumping into the water upon their respective victories in 1989 and 1990. While Alcott repeated the act in 1991 – this time with both her caddie and tournament host Dinah Shore – neither of the next two winners, Dottie Pepper or Helen Alfredsson, took the dive.
That all changed in 1994, however, when winner Donna Andrews became the first person other than Alcott to jump into the lake, starting a streak that has continued uninterrupted among winners of this Major to this day.
Each winner seemingly puts their own stamp on the much-anticipated moment. While some have chosen to wade into the water, others have leapt in with abandon or even performed cannonballs. The jump has evolved to include not just winners, but caddies, family members and friends, becoming a shared moment of triumph for everyone who helped play a part in the victory. While many have partaken in the jump into “Poppie’s Pond” – the name of the self-contained pond located within Champions Lake since 2006 – only one person comes away with a winner’s robe.
Alcott’s white robe – which commemorates her victories at the event in 1983, 1988, and 1991 – is currently on display at the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum and can be seen in the exhibit “Grace & Grit: Women Champions Through the Years.”
