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RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- The champions of the Kraft Nabisco Championship receive a winner's check and a trophy. In recent years, a few of them may have wanted a shower instead.
While winning the Kraft Nabisco, the tour's first major of the year, is a dream for most players, tournament director Terry Wilcox admits not every champion relishes the traditional winner's leap into the murky water and the muddy bottom of Champions Lake around the 18th green of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course.
"People had complained it was dirty," Wilcox says. "It's such a great tradition that we didn't want to lose that."
The solution was to install a new section of the lake, cut off from the regular lake water. The new leaping area, available for the woman crowned the winner Sunday, is lined with cement and filled with cleaner water that can be pumped out for cleaning.
"We thought it would be super for the ladies to have a nice, clear-water pool," Wilcox says.
"Yeah, it looks a lot cleaner this year," says Juli Inkster, whose two Nabisco victories in the 1980s pre-dated the traditional jump.
The new pond is filled with natural well water, the same water most area residents drink. It's treated just like a pond to stop the growth of algae and to keep the water clear.
Most golfers playing practice rounds this week stopped to look at the new segment of the lake, some mocking a leap into the water.
The winner's leap started in 1988 when Amy Alcott and her caddie unexpectedly ran into the lake upon winning for a second time.
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