“The Jump” is here to stay.
The Chevron Championship announced Thursday that Memorial Park Golf Course, which hosted the PGA Tour’s Texas Children’s Houston Open last week and soon will host the LPGA’s first major championship of the year, is adding a pond right of the par-4 18th green. The pond, which will extend well into the 18th fairway, will be fully completed in time for the 2027 championship, though a temporary pool is being constructed for the 2026 champion.
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In the meantime, a temporary pool – basically a swimming pool – will be used for this year’s Chevron Championship, which is April 23-26. Work on the temporary pool began soon after the Houston Open ended March 29.
Glenn Weckerlin, the tournament’s executive director of the Chevron and Chevron’s global director of brand and partner line management, said the Chevron didn’t want to skip a year of the famous leap, which became notable when the tournament was contested at Mission Hills in California.
“Augusta has a green jacket, and we have a bathrobe,” Weckerlin told Golfweek. “What were we going to do for the champion if we didn’t give her a bathrobe? It’s just the thing.”
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The Chevron moved to Houston in 2023, with the last three editions being held at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, a suburb about 45 minutes north of downtown Houston. Memorial Park is about 5 miles west of downtown and has hosted the PGA Tour’s Houston Open since 2019 after a redesign from Tom Doak.
The pond at Carlton Woods was no Poppie’s Pond. Ahead of Lilia Vu making her leap into the pond in 2023, there were many questions whether the leap would continue, but she did it. Nelly Korda did the same the following year.
Mao Saigo lept last year, but it turned scary as she revealed after she couldn’t swim. Add in the pond’s murky waters, the jump at The Club at Carlton Woods just never felt right.
With the change at Memorial Park, being constructed in large part for “The Jump,” Weckerlin and other tournament officials hope the full effect of the leap is restored.
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This year, a temporary pool is being constructed with a concrete base and steps for players and others who jump to easily get in and out. Essentially, it’s going to be a swimming pool at ground level. It’ll be 15 feet by 10 feet. The depth will be about 4½ feet. It’s going to be right of the 18th green, with the cost expected to be about $60,000.
After the Chevron is complete, Doak will return and help craft the permanent pond, and construction is expected to begin in early May.
“It’ll be significantly bigger,” Wickerlin said. “It’ll be a water hazard. It’s going to be short and right of the pond.”
The pond will not be as much in play as the one at Mission Hills, though a stray ball or two could find its way in the water. The green is also going to be changed, taking some of the slope out of the front edge of the putting surface.
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Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Memorial Park constructing pond for Chevron Championship’s jump
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