A Tradition Preserved
Escalante Golf championship commitment ensures the LPGA
will remain at Kingsmill through at least 2020
W
by TOM ROBINSON
ith its namesake resort along the James River for sale
last year, the venerable Kingsmill Championship was
vulnerable.
The 2017 version of the LPGA event, a favorite among players on
the women’s tour, threatened to be the 13th and final. If Xanterra
Parks and Resorts found no buyer for Kingsmill, the tournament
was toast, says tournament director Matthew Schulze. “Xanterra
was done.”
vsga.org
Into that breach, however, stepped a near-perfect Samaritan,
Escalante Golf. The Fort Worth-based owner of private golf clubs
made Kingsmill its 16th property nationwide but its first full-on
resort. Better than that, retaining the Kingsmill Championship
was a high priority for the company begun by four golf-loving
University of Oklahoma buddies in 1991.
“Hosting professional events at Kingsmill is part of its culture
and we wanted to make sure we preserved that tradition,” says
M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 18 | V I R G I N I A G O L F E R
29