Next week’s Evian Championship is more than a chance for players to secure the season’s final major. It’s an opportunity for players to not only secure their schedule for the rest of the year but also next year’s. As the season’s final full field event of 2015, the Evian Championship is players’ last chance to play themselves into Asia and also into the top-100 on the money list – the threshold for avoiding the LPGA’s Qualifying School in December.
That’s why of all the breaks – both good and bad - in a long season, none may be bigger for Maria Hernandez than the one she got Wednesday when Christel Boeljon withdrew in advance of the Evian Championship with an injury. That put Hernandez as the first alternate in the field for next week’s Evian Championship and kept her dream of an offseason schedule without LPGA Qualifying School in it alive.
After a missed cut at the Yokohama LPGA Classic that dropped Hernandez from 100th on the money list to 103rd, she needed a break. She got it but will need to take advantage or she’ll be back to Qualifying School.
For Amelia Lewis and Dori Carter, they’re just both looking for the break Hernandez got Wednesday as they’re currently next two in line on the most uncomfortable list to be on for a player at this time of year - the alternate list. Without a spot in Evian, there won’t be an Asia or a spot in the field for the CME Group Tour Championship. But more importantly, there won’t be an opportunity to pass SooBin Kim (100th), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (99th), Belen Mozo (98th), Sadena Parks (97th) or Sarah Kemp (96th) on the money list to earn their way inside the top 100.
For the others, they’re just looking to hold on. Shadoff and Parks both entered Yokohama outside of the top 100 but played their way inside it with a tie for 23rd and tie for 29th, respectively, and neither is out of the woods yet without a weekend tee time at Evian.
It’s not just those on the threshold of the top 100 that will be closely watching the leaderboard and the subsequent money list either. Evian Championship serves as the last shot to play their way into Asia and everyone’s aware of the bench marks to get into the last seven events, where the fields are limited to strictly the Tour’s best. Only top 72 finish in the Race to the CME Globe points guarantees players entries into Naples for the CME Group Tour Championship at the end of the season and to get there, they’ll need to play their way into the five-week Asian Swing, which requires at worst a top-62 spot on the money list to get into the first event – the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia. From there, the requirements only get stricter – top 61 at Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship, top 58 at the KEB HanaBank, and Blue Bay LPGA and top 43 at TOTO Japan Classic.
So, in essence, next week is going to decide many players plans for the next couple of months, and for some, even next year’s as well.
Either way, there will be a lot more riding next week on the Evian Championship than just a major championship.
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