The Amundi Evian Championship takes place on beautiful Lac Léman close to the border between France and Switzerland. This famous body of water is approximately 45 miles long and over 1,000 feet deep. Set against the base of the Swiss Alps, this picturesque setting provides some of the most breathtaking views we see all year on the LPGA Tour.
This pressure-packed LPGA summer schedule has brought the best out to play. Looking at the odds board for the Amundi Evian Championship, it was quite clear that they don’t know who is going to win. Seven players have winning odds of +2000 or less to start the week. Players who are listed in this range are generally the favorites.
Hyo Joo Kim was the first name listed, but determining her value over Rose Zhang is incredibly difficult. How do the betting operators evaluate the tournament favorites? The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings play a small role as the entire top 10 is in Evian along with 24 of the top 25 in the rankings. Recent form is another key ingredient, and with so many majors, we continue to check player performance.
Evian Resort Golf Club is 6,527 yards long and plays to a par 71 for the field of 132 players. The scorecard shows nine par 4s, five par 3s, and four par 5s and it’s that unique layout that will help determine who will contend. The course itself sits on the side of a mountain so with very few flat lies to play from, those five par 3s take on added significance. They supply five level approach shots during each round.
In this field, Lilia Vu, Xiyu Lin, Ruoning Yin, Ayaka Furue and Linn Grant maintain the best par-3 scoring average. That’s crucial to contending because five par 3s each day equates to 28% of the holes they will compete on over four rounds. Play the par 3s well, and you can separate yourself from the field. To be a great par-3 player, your approach game must follow suit.
The nine par 4s at Evian Resort Golf Club cover a wide range of skills needed to make birdie. They vary in length from the 331-yard 17th hole to the 434-yard 4th hole and demand a complementary iron game to succeed. One-third of the approach shots the field will face will come from over 175 yards. Another third will take place from 125 yards and in. That combination of short and long iron skill is difficult to maintain.
The best approach players at Evian, Yin, Minjee Lee, Jin Young Ko, Kim and Ashleigh Buhai are capable of handling all these shots. Their iron ability will propel them to the top of the leaderboard. It will no doubt put them inside the top 65 and ties who will play the weekend and compete for the $6.5 million purse and $1 million first-place prize.
One of the challenges the field will face along with the difficulties of the Champions Course is the weather as rain is predicted throughout the week. Soft conditions are favorable to scoring, and over the last ten editions of this championship, the average winning score is 15-under at the Amundi Evian Championship. Playing through the rain and uneven terrain favors the best ball-strikers. Yin, Lee, Kim, Zhang, and Ko are the best tee-to-green players in the field.
Now before we crown Yin the winner, notice her odds to win are almost three times greater than Kim’s. An endless number of factors go into this process and with a long-time host venue in play, course history counts as well. Deciding the winner takes a solid understanding of the LPGA’s current season stats and player history. When we engage with the metrics while watching the championship, our entertainment level increases.
Take a moment prior to the Amundi Evian Championship and look through a couple of statistics yourself. This is a brief blueprint of what it will take to win. Find where your favorite falls on those lists and the odds board. Make a pick, and then watch as the tournament takes place.
Keith Stewart is an award-winning PGA Professional. He covers the LPGA and PGA Tour for Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, LPGA, and PGA TOUR. If you are looking to raise your golf acumen and love inside information about the game, check out his weekly newsletter called Read The Line.
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