THE WOODLANDS, Texas — When the Chevron Championship moved to The Club at Carlton Woods from its longtime home at Mission Hills Country Club there was a question about whether the winner’s leap into the water beside the 18th green would continue. With Lilia Vu and Nelly Korda both taking the plunge over the past two years, it’s safe to say that celebration will live on.
But there’s a new tradition that’s just beginning to take hold since the major championship moved to The Woodlands — a champion’s dinner.
No, not the dinner that the past champion hosts Monday, but the other one. The one that people don’t often hear about that happens on Sunday, right after the newly minted major champion hoists the trophy, completes all her media obligations and signs autographs for adoring fans. When all the adrenaline starts to subside, once the fatigue of the thrilling, yet grueling day finally begins to set in, that’s when it’s time to eat.
Steve Salzman, the CEO and general manager at The Club at Carlton Woods, offered the champion’s dinner to the inaugural major winner at the club, Vu, after she won in 2023. But Salzman didn’t get the response that he expected.
