The Amundi Evian Championship, the youngest of the five majors, will celebrate its 10th anniversary as a major championship this week. To commemorate the milestone, the LPGA Tour heads across the pond with 132 of its best players in tow to Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France. The field is headlined by all the players in the top 10 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and all 15 of this season’s winners.
A Short but Showy History
In just 10 short years, the Amundi Evian Championship has accumulated a storied history as a major, studded with the stars of yesterday and today. The first playing of the event as a major championship started with a bang when 15-time LPGA winner Suzann Pettersen hoisted the trophy. The next year, Hyo Joo Kim made her major debut at the Amundi Evian Championship and went on to win it all. Her first-round, 10-under 61 is tied for the lowest score ever recorded at a major. Since then, Kim has gone on to win four more times on the LPGA Tour and is currently ranked eighth in the Rolex Rankings. All the previous champions will be in this week’s field, except for Pettersen who retired in 2019. The list is a who’s who of women’s golf: Kim (2014), No. 3 Lydia Ko (2015), In Gee Chun (2016), Anna Nordqvist (2017), Solheim Cup assistant captain Angela Stanford (2018), No. 1 Jin Young Ko (2019), Minjee Lee (2021) and Brooke Henderson (2022). With that kind of legacy, whoever manages to grab the trophy this year will solidify their place as one of the game’s top talents.
Who’s Defending?
After a six-year absence from the major winner’s circle, Henderson returned to glory at the 2022 Amundi Evian Championship. The Canadian opened with two straight rounds of 64 and needed one final birdie on the 18th hole to close out the wire-to-wire victory. There couldn’t be a better moment than now for Henderson to return to Evian-les-Bains to relive those memories. Though she started the season strong, winning in her first start of the year at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the 25-year-old has hit some speed bumps in 2023. Henderson has not returned to the top 10 since, though she has recorded three additional top-15 results, the best of which is a T11 finish at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei. She also finished 12th at the U.S. Women’s Open but has missed the cut in her last two starts. While you can never count out the 13-time LPGA Tour winner for long, Henderson will surely appreciate the energy boost that comes with reliving a major victory and will look to ride that momentum up the leaderboard.
French Flags
As the Tour’s only stop in France, the Amundi Evian Championship has special significance for the four French nationals in the field: Celine Boutier, Perrine Delacour, Pauline Roussin and Celine Herbin. There has yet to be a French winner in the entire history of the tournament and all four will be looking to impress in front of a home crowd. After finding her third win at the LPGA Drive On Championship in March, Boutier became the winningest Frenchwoman in LPGA Tour history and is in for quite the welcome reception this week in France because of that performance. Since that victory, Boutier has finished in the top 20 at four tournaments, including a tie for third that came last week at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational alongside her playing partner, Yuka Saso. Delacour, a 10-year LPGA veteran, is also finding her groove in 2023. She recorded her first top-10 result since the 2021 Portland Classic at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play, finishing ninth after failing to advance from the round of 16.
Major Debuts
A total of 28 players will be making their Amundi Evian Championship debuts this week, headlined by world No. 5 Ruoning Yin. After finding her maiden win at the DIO Implant LA Open in March, Yin became a major champion at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Fellow LPGA winner and rookie Grace Kim, who won the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei, joins Yin as an Evian first-timer. Kim has found her way into the 20 in her last four starts, most recently finishing 11th at the Dana Open. Highly touted Japanese amateur Saki Baba will also be making the trip to France, qualifying for the event through her victory at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Her fellow countrywoman and world No. 26 Miyu Yamashita will join Baba, having qualified via the Rolex Rankings. Yamashita won five times on the JLPGA in 2022 and is well on her way to exceeding that record this season, having already hoisted four trophies on the Japanese tour. Additional LPGA Rookies making their debut this week include Jaravee Boonchant, Celine Borge, Soo Bin Joo, Minami Katsu, Ines Laklalech, Lucy Li, Yan Liu and Bailey Tardy.
A European Vacation
The Amundi Evian Championship will also kick off the LPGA’s dazzling European schedule with four straight weeks on the continent. After a week in France, the Tour will hit up Dundonald Links for the FREED GROUP Women's Scottish Open. Then the LPGA will spend a week at the Walton Heath Golf Club for the final major of the year, the AIG Women’s Open, where Ashleigh Buhai will be tasked with defending her title after a fairytale win in 2022. The Tour’s extended European vacation will end with the ISPS Handa World Invitational and the LPGA will be stateside again by the end of August. But the LPGA’s European slate won’t truly end until September when the 12 best players from the United States and Europe face off in Andalucia, Spain for the 18th Solheim Cup. Led by LPGA legend Suzann Pettersen and Nordqvist, team Europe will look to recapture some of the magic from their win in 2021 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio but this time with the added advantage of playing on home soil. Meanwhile, U.S. captain Stacy Lewis will have her work cut out for her as her team fights for a win far from home.
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