Amundi Evian Championship Preview

Women's golf packs its bags for the French Alps this week as the world's best tee it up in the fourth major of the season, the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France. This year, Australian Grace Kim arrives as the defending champion.

It is the only major staged on continental Europe, and there is nowhere quite like it: fairways slanted across a hillside above Lake Geneva, with the Swiss Alps standing sentinel on the far shore. For four days the LPGA's and LET’s biggest stars will play out one of golf's most photogenic championships. There is always plenty of social media content from players at this venue. Some question its status as a major, but it surely matches the Chevron in every category.

Overview

A field of 132 will contest the USD$9.1 million championship, with 46 of the top 50 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings making the trip to France. World No.1 Nelly Korda leads the way, chasing what would be a third major of the season after victories at the Chevron Championship and the US Women's Open. Standing in her way is a queue of contenders as long as any major will produce all year — Jeeno Thitikul, Lottie Woad, Hannah Green, and reigning KPMG Women's PGA champion Haeran Ryu, to name a few.

But the story with the most Ozzie flavour belongs to Grace Kim, who arrives at Evian Resort Golf Club as defending champion after producing one of the great finishes in major championship history twelve months ago. Two shots back playing the 72nd hole, Kim eagled the closing par-five to force a playoff with Jeeno Thitikul, then somehow topped it: after finding the water with her approach on the first extra hole, she holed out from off the green for a birdie to stay alive, before eagling the same hole again on the second playoff hole to complete an eagle-birdie-eagle finish and claim her maiden major. There is now a plaque commemorating her famous chip-in. Kim became the third player in as many years to claim her first major title on this hillside course, following Ayaka Furue and Celine Boutier.

The Course

Evian Resort Golf Club's Champions Course underwent an $8 million restoration between 2012 and 2013 under architect Steve Smyers and has recently undergone further renovations which will give this year’s competitors a different challenge, especially the new 18th hole. Bunkers have been added to the landing areas off the tee which means more precision will be required with that tee shot. The greens on holes 1, 3, and 5 have also been expanded. The course plays 6,479 yards or 5923 metres, and a par of 71. Much of the course is basically on the side of the mountains, meaning many approach shots are played from awkward, sidehill stances. Greens are firm, undulating, and unforgiving to anything but a well-struck approach which is why this championship rewards the best ball-strikers rather than its longest hitters.

The Favourites

Nelly Korda (USA) arrives as the game's dominant player and the outright favourite, having already won two of the season's first three majors. After a wire-to-wire triumph at the Chevron Championship reclaimed her world No.1 ranking, Korda backed it up with victory at the US Women's Open, and a third major title this week would put her deep into the record books for a single season. Korda’s record this season is astonishing with a worst result of T17th at the team’s Dow event. Aside from that result she has not finished outside the top 10 in nine events and started the season 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1.

Jeeno Thitikul (Thailand) sits at world No.2 and returns to Evian with unfinished business — Thitikul had a hand on the trophy in regulation last year, only for Kim's late heroics and an agonising missed birdie putt on the 72nd to hand the title away, before losing out again across two playoff holes. It was the kind of defeat that lingers, and Thitikul, still chasing her first major, will want nothing more than to author a different ending this time. If Korda falters even slightly, Thitikul may well be one of the players waiting to pounce.

Haeran Ryu (South Korea) enters full of confidence after producing one of the great final-round comebacks in recent major history to win the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Hazeltine, clawing back a ten-shot deficit over the weekend. Ryu's ball-striking is tailor-made for Evian's demanding approach shots.

Hannah Green (Australia) deserves her place among the leading contenders as much for her overall body of work as any hot streak. A former major champion and with four wins this season, Green has a habit of producing her best golf on the biggest stages however, she has stated that this is her least favourite major course. In any case no one would be surprised if Green is at or near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.

The reality is that there is so much quality in the women’s game that there are twenty or more real chances this week and picking the winner is very difficult.

The Australians (and kiwi)

There will be eight Ozzies flying the flag for us and some will have eyes on the major prize.

Grace Kim returns to Evian Resort Golf Club with the target on her back for the first time in her career. Few major champions have arrived with a story like hers to tell — an eagle-birdie-eagle finish from two behind to steal the title in a playoff — and while defending a major title brings its own pressures, Kim showed at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship that she is capable of grinding out solid results even when her best form isn't quite there. Expect her to lean heavily on her course knowledge and the calm she has carried since that unforgettable Sunday.

Minjee Lee arrives as a former Evian champion, having won the title in 2021, and remains one of the most complete ball-strikers in the women's game. Her season has been stop-start, but Lee's iron play — historically her greatest strength — is exactly the skill this course tests most, so the returning champion should not be discounted.

Hannah Green is playing some of the most complete golf of her career and heads into Evian as arguably the leading Australian threat outside of Kim and Lee. A major champion already, Green has the game and the temperament to go deep in France.

Karis Davidson has quietly built the form of her season at exactly the right time, a career-best major finish — a tie for 12th at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Hazeltine where she spent Sunday in genuine contention alongside Nelly Korda. The Gold Coast product, who moved to Australia from Scotland as a child, is playing with a new freedom that suggests her best week of the season could still be ahead of her.

Robyn Choi has been a steady presence in recent majors, making the most of positions inside the top 50 without quite threatening the top of the leaderboard. Choi will be looking for a higher finish this week to consolidate her position in the Race to CME rankings.

Cassie Porter continues to gain experience at the game's biggest events and will be looking to improve from the KPMG Women’s PGA where she missed the cut. Porter has shown in the Australian open and subsequently that she has low scores at her disposal but needs to put it together for four rounds.

Gabriela Ruffels brings genuine form and fond memories to Evian, having posted a share of the 54-hole lead here last year with a brilliant seven-under 64. She gets her start this week courtesy of that top ten last year.

Kelsey Bennett makes her second major appearance after playing the 2023 AIG Womens Open. Bennett gets her start courtesy of her LET OOM position (3rd). She comes into the tournament with good form after leading last week into the final round. Whilst that didn’t play out for the NSW South Coast native, she is good enough to match it with the best this week.

Lydia Ko the Hall of Famer has not had a great year by her lofty standards but with four top tens and a further two top twenty finishes still sits at no. 17 on the LPGA Race to CME Globe points rankings. Ko is simply to good and classy to ever rule out of contention. We will have to see if she has her A game this week.

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With Korda chasing history, a host of major champions in the field, and half a dozen Australians with legitimate chances of a big week, the fourth major of the season is shaping as a good one— best watched, as always, with one eye on the leaderboard and the other on those Alpine views across Lake Geneva.