The fourth women's Major of the season, the Evian Championship, begins on Thursday at Evian Golf Resort, France, which has hosted the tournament since 1994, first as a Ladies European Tour event, then as a co-sanctioned LPGA event, then once granted Major status in 2013.
This quirky course in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region has been criticised by the LPGA professionals in past editions but the Evian remains a Major and, as a result, the biggest names in the women's game will all be teeing it up this week.
The first three Majors of the season went the way of Lilia Vu (Chevron Championship), Ruoning Yin (Women's PGA) and Allisen Corpuz (Women's US Open), all far from superstar names, and there is a wide-open feel to the Evian even though most recent winners have been from the top drawer.
- Minjee Lee to win the Evian Championship
- Linn Grant to win the Evian Championship
- Ashleigh Buhai to win the Evian Championship
Rock-Solid Lee Aiming To Double Up
Minjee Lee claimed the first of her two Major championships at the 2021 Evian, coming from seven shots back on the final day to defeat Jeong-eun Lee6 in a play-off, and the Australian returns in fine fettle as she attempts to win a third title at the highest level.
Lee went on to win the Women's US Open in 2022, stretching her LPGA trophy haul to eight, and while she is winless since, the signs suggest that title number nine and Major number three could be just around the corner.
After a slow start to the season, the 27-year-old has hit top gear over the last three months, finishing second at the Gognizant Founders Cup, 13th at both the Mizuho Americas Open and the Meijer LPGA Classic, then 20th at the Women's PGA.
Another 13th place-finish followed at the US Women's before Lee finished seventh at the Dana Open on her last start.
She is a greens-in-regulation machine who should be full of confidence returning to a course where she knows she has what it takes to win.
MINJEE LEE TO WIN THE EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Grant in great form
Swedish Star Ready To Compete
Linn Grant had already tucked away two LET titles before she beat the DP World Tour’s male players by a phenomenal nine shots at the co-sanctioned Scandinavian Mixed last season, a performance which marked out the Swede as a genuine future star of the women's game.
Since then, Grant has gone on to win two more LET titles, taking her haul to five, and she became an LPGA champion for the first time earlier in July with a victory at the Dana Open, beating US Open champion Corpuz by three shots.
Grant looks ready to contend for Majors with increasing regularity but the best performance of her career at the highest level came in this event in 2022, when she finished eighth. She can better that effort this week.
LINN GRANT TO WIN THE EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Buhai has what it takes
Open champion Has What It Takes
Ashleigh Buhai will have one eye on successfully defending her Women's British Open title in two weeks’ time. But the South African laid the platform for her Muirfield success with a 15th-place finish at the 2022 Evian and has been playing well enough to suggest she will be a factor this week.
Buhai is one of the best putters on the LPGA Tour and while she has been quiet in the three Majors this season, she was third at the Cognizant Founders and seventh at the Mizuho Americas before winning the Shoprite LPGA Classic in June.
ASHLEIGH BUHAI TO WIN THE EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
