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The Evian Championship is a unique event on the LPGA Tour, absolutely the odd duckling of major championship season and the source of much controversy. I am a defender of the event though throughout all of its issues.
The Evian Championship has existed since 1994, first as only an LET event. Starting in 2000, the LPGA Tour began co-sanctioning the event and had a successful run there. Winners included legends like Annika Sörenstam, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Inbee Park. In that 13 year stretch there were four playoffs including three in a row between 2007-2009.
In 2013, it officially became a major, the final of five majors played on the LPGA Tour schedule. Because of bad weather and conditions, it was moved in 2019 to July.
The event is played at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France and has many of the most dramatic holes and stunning views in professional golf. Every hole has a distinct personality and is unique from really anything else you will see on TV. It is also very quirky, with tricks, large slopes and inconsistency that can frustrate players. This has led to much of the controversy around the event.
Two of the most prominent American players of the 2010’s, Stacy Lewis and Lexi Thompson, have been outspoken critics of the event, especially its status as a major, even going as far as to skip the event all together. Lewis had more issues with the September date, and eventually returned to the competition, but still didn’t consistently play in it. Thompson’s issues went much deeper.
Thompson wrote on Instagram in 2019: “I’m actually thankful that I don’t have to put myself through that for another two days. You’re a beautiful place Evian but that’s just too many bad breaks with good shots for me, so bye.”
Since that time, Thompson skipped the Evian every year. Thompson isn’t the only one either, in 2024, Ruoning Yin and Xiyu Lin, both top 15 players in the world at the time, missed out on the event as well.
For these reasons, many in golf media have been critical of the tournament’s status as a major. I understand it as well. There have been propositions, because of the Tour’s popularity in Asia, to replace this with an Asian-based new major. I think that’s a pretty fair idea that would probably help the health of the league tremendously. But we would be losing something pretty unique and special to the game.
For all of its criticism, none of the majors have provided more exciting and memorable moments than the Evian this decade. In 2021, Minjee Lee rallied from seven strokes behind on the final day to force a playoff, and win, against Jeongeun Lee6. In 2022, Brooke Henderson finally won her long-awaited second major championship. In 2023, Celine Boutier became the first french player, men’s or women’s, to win a major in their home country. In 2024, Ayaka Furue went -5 on her last five holes to come back and win. Finally, last year, Grace Kim had one of the most spectacular finishes in golf history, with an eagle on the final hole of regulation to force a playoff, a birdie save despite hitting into the water on the first playoff hole and an eagle on the second playoff hole to defeat Jeeno Thitikul.
As long as Evian keeps providing fireworks, I see no issues with its status as a major.
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