EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France | Celebrating its 10th year as a major championship, The Amundi Evian Championship is set to begin on Thursday and the 132-player field is star-studded, featuring all players in the top 10 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings as well as all 15 LPGA Tour winners this season. With a challenging venue like Evian Resort Golf Club that features undulating greens and tricky side-hill lies, this event always seems to produce plenty of drama coming down the stretch on Sunday and this year’s edition will surely be no exception. Here are a few players to keep your eye on as they battle it out in Evian-les-Bains for the fourth major championship title of the 2023 season.
Linn Grant
Though she’s only in her second year on the LPGA Tour, Linn Grant has plenty of experience with Evian Resort Golf Club. The Swede has teed it up twice in the Jabra Ladies Open, which is held annually on the Ladies European Tour at the Champions Course, winning the event earlier this season and finishing in a tie for 13th in 2022. She also played the Amundi Evian Championship as a rookie last season, firing a final-round 64 to jump from T29 to T8 and secure her best career finish in a major championship. Statistically, Grant ranks first in strokes gained driving, sixth in strokes gained tee-to-green and 11th in strokes gained total, according to KPMG Performance Insights.
Grant also comes to France fresh off a win at the Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. It was the 24-year-old’s first LPGA Tour victory and her ninth win since turning professional in 2021. Grant won by three shots over Allisen Corpuz after carding rounds of 64-69-62-68 for a 72-hole total of 21-under.
Georgia Hall
This week at Evian Resort Golf Club marks Georgia Hall’s sixth appearance in the Amundi Evian Championship and her past results show the proclivity she has for this major in particular. The 2018 AIG Women’s Open winner has never finished worse than T37 in this event and has recorded three top-10 results in her previous five starts in France, finishing in a tie for 10 in 2017, a tie for sixth in 2021 and a tie for eighth in 2022. Hall has shot 13 rounds in the 60s at this venue, the lowest of which is a 64 that came in the final round in 2021 and has only carded five over-par rounds on the Champions Course, an impressive feat considering the challenging side-hill lies and uneven terrain that tend to trip players up at this venue.
Hall got off to a fast start earlier this season, finishing in the top 15 in her first six starts of the year, most notably recording back-to-back runner-up results at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain and DIO Implant LA Open. But she’s cooled off since, earning just one top 10 in her last seven LPGA Tour starts at the Cognizant Founders Cup and missing the cut in her last three events, including the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and U.S. Women’s Open. However, the 27-year-old is still inside the top 20 in strokes gained total (6th, +1.62), strokes gained putting (12th, +0.86) and strokes gained approach (19th, +0.73) as well as scoring average (9th, 70.30) and rounds under par (13th, 26).
Charley Hull
LPGA Tour winner Charley Hull steadily climbed the leaderboard at last year’s Amundi Evian Championship, firing all four rounds in the 60s to grab a share of third, her best result in her nine previous appearances in this event. She has finished in the top 25 two additional times at Evian Resort Golf Club in 2018 (T22) and 2021 (T25). It’s been a solid 2023 season for the Englishwoman. She’s only missed three cuts and hasn’t finished worse than T23, grabbing a pair of runner-up results at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, where Hull fired a final-round, 6-under 66 to vault into a share of second. She currently ranks seventh in putting average (28.82), 13th in strokes gained around the green and 18th in scoring average (70.62) ahead of this week at Evian.
Hyo Joo Kim
The Republic of Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim captured her first LPGA Tour victory as a non-member at the 2014 Amundi Evian Championship, officially joining the LPGA the following season in 2015. She fired a 10-under 61 in the first round that year, which remains tied for the lowest round ever recorded in a major championship and went on to win by one shot over Karrie Webb. In addition to her victory, Kim has found herself in the top three two other times, finishing in a tie for second in 2019 and in a tie for third in 2022.
When it comes to recent form, no one’s game is in better shape than Kim’s. The 28-year-old has earned six top-10 finishes, most notably a solo second at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer and a tie for sixth at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Kim ranks first in strokes gained total (+2.12), strokes gained tee-to-green (+1.93) and fourth in strokes gained approach (+1.17). She also ranks first in greens in regulation (74.5%), first in scoring average (69.62), second in rounds under par (30), third in driving accuracy (85.06%), seventh in putts per green in regulation (1.75) and seventh in birdies (166). Long story short, Kim is more than due for her sixth career victory, and with her past performances at Evian Resort Golf Club, it just might come this week at the Amundi Evian Championship.
Lydia Ko
Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 3 Lydia Ko is an obvious player to watch at this week’s Amundi Evian Championship. She won the event in 2015 by a whopping six strokes over Lexi Thompson and has three additional top-three finishes, a solo second that came in 2013 and a pair of T3s in 2017 and 2022. Ko also finished in a tie for sixth in 2021, a tie for eighth in 2014 and a tie for 10th in 2018. She’s only missed one cut at this venue and has only finished outside the top 10 once, recording a T43 result in 2016.
The 19-time LPGA Tour winner has been struggling this season, only managing to find one top 10 in 10 total starts, a tie for sixth at the Honda LPGA Thailand, Ko’s first event of 2023. Since that tournament, she hasn’t finished better than T31 and has missed two cuts at The Chevron Championship and the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. But considering her past history at this tournament, the resilient, gritty Ko just might find a way to turn things around at a venue that she knows like the back of her hand.
Perrine Delacour
Frenchwoman Perrine Delacour was a bit of a shock to see near the top of the leaderboard early in the 2022 edition of the Amundi Evian Championship. The Laon, France native opened with a 5-under 66 in the first round and backed that up with a 3-under 68 to sit in a tie for fifth heading into the weekend. While she faltered in the final round and finished T54, it was still a validating week for the LPGA Tour veteran who really focused on having a positive mentality about the challenges that Evian Resort Golf Club presents.
So far this season, Delacour seems to be having a bit of a renaissance year. She’s only missed two cuts and has recorded five top 20s, most notably finishing in a tie for 11th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. One of those was a top-10 result as Delacour finished ninth at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards after failing to make it out of the round of 16. Statistically, the 29-year-old is 13th in strokes gained driving (+0.63), 14th in average driving distance (272.75 yards) and 16th in greens in regulation (71.3%), all things that will be incredibly beneficial to have in the bag at a venue that demands top-notch ball-striking.
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