Sitting in player dining at Westchester Country Club, Cristie Kerr looked up to see a picture of Seve Ballesteros hanging on the wall. She saw Hale Irwin and a litany of other greats in the game that have won here. Soon, one picture will hang of a woman – that of the champion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

“That’s ground-breaking,” she said. “It’s just a cool week like that.”

The images hanging in the frames hanging along the wall have proven just a small sampling this week of a conclusion that Kerr’s known since the championship was announced – this is major. This championship’s evolved and everything about it is bigger in this new partnership with the PGA of America and KPMG. And she’s not just saying that from a homer’s perspective as a resident of the metro area.

“I’m not just saying this because it’s a little bit of a home game. I’m saying this because it’s such a scenic, beautiful, tough as nails golf course that we deserve as a Tour to be on,” Kerr said. “We are great players and it’s great to be on a venue that has this much history to it.”

But as Kerr astutely put it, this is far more than just the history of a golf course that’s involved in the buzz in the air. This is an evolution of every aspect of the tournament from the TV coverage to the purse to the market size to the governing bodies involved.

“That’s the only way we’re going to get the recognition as a tour that we deserve is to keep going forward,” Kerr said. “Cherishing our history, but keep going forward.”

Kerr said this week had her reminiscing back to when Commissioner Mike Whan first took over the helm of the LPGA and the first message he delivered to the players at a tournament. He delivered no sugar coated promises of instant gratification. Any type of meaningful change in raising the profile of the women’s game was going to take time, five or six years he projected, and Kerr’s been reminded how prophetic his words have proven this week.

“There are certain things that you just feel are different, that you feel will help move our Tour forward,” Kerr said, “and I think that everybody feels that this week.”

You won’t find any dissenters among the player constituency this week. Lexi Thompson, a major champion at the 2014 ANA Inspiration, said there’s just a different energy in the air this week. She’s dreamed of playing in professional events like this ever since she first competed in the U.S. Women’s Open when she was 12. But even in her dreams, she didn’t see tournaments this big.

“I think it’s just over exceeded my expectations how big these majors are and how amazing our tournaments are in general, how they are run, how many fans we get out there now,” Thompson said. “It’s great to see how KPMG and other sponsors are running this tournament. The golf course is great but the hospitality and everything else, we couldn’t ask for more.”

Added Michelle Wie: “It is still an LPGA tournament, it’s our major. I think it’s just kind of bigger and better.”

That’s how majors should be. Bigger. Tougher. Better.

And to pass with the highest of honors comes a certain place in history – and on that wall in player dining.

“Obviously it felt like a major in Rochester, but this year it really, really does,” Thompson said. “It feels like a U.S. Women’s Open and it feels like a major championship, and there’s a whole different atmosphere at majors than other tournaments. But we go in with the same positive attitude of trying our best. You know extra pressure, but golf courses are set up different for majors. They are a lot longer and more difficult. So you have to bring your A Game.”

Just as it should be.

See Why It's Different at KPMG Women's PGA Championship

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