EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Beware the injured golfer the old saying goes, and Englishwoman Georgia Hall is proving that to be more than true this week at The Amundi Evian Championship.
The 28-year-old sustained a shoulder injury this week while warming up for her pro-am at the fourth major of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and it was unclear whether or not the two-time Tour winner would be able to tee it up on Thursday at Evian Resort Golf Club.
But Hall eventually decided to try and play, grinding her way to a 2-under 69 in the first round despite her physical condition. She made two double bogeys and six birdies on day one in France, two of which came back-to-back on the par-3 2nd and par-4 3rd holes.
“My shoulder has been a bit tight for a couple of weeks but no problems at all,” Hall said when asked about her injury. “Then in the pro-am, when I was warming up, I hit a couple, and it went straight away and locked up on me, kind of my upper back. I only saw six holes of the course before teeing it up yesterday.”
Friday saw Hall get off to a slow start on her front nine, carding two bogeys on holes two and nine and one birdie on the par-5 7th hole to turn in 36, but she turned up the heat down coming down the stretch at Evian Resort Golf Club.
Hall got herself back to level par with a birdie on the par-4 11th hole to once again sit at 2-under for the tournament, and she then landed a one-two punch of birdies on holes 15 and 16 to move to 4-under overall. An eagle on the par-5 18th hole was the highlight of this difficult week for Hall and ultimately lifted the 2018 AIG Women’s Open champion to a second-round 67 and a two-day total of 6-under, keeping her somewhat in the mix with 36 holes to play in Evian-les-Bains, France.
“To be honest with you, I was just trying to play golf,” said Hall. “I'm injured, so I was actually worse than yesterday, especially on the front nine. I’m just trying to make contact with the ball. I'm thrilled with the way I'm playing at the moment. I'll see the physio in a minute and try and make it better, but that's literally my priority, just to play today.”
This week’s major championship marks Hall’s 13th start of the season, and in her 12 previous events, she has earned four top-25 finishes this year, the most notable of which is a tie for 23rd at The Chevron Championship and the best of which is a tie for fifth which Hall earned at the Dow Championship alongside her best friend and playing partner Charley Hull.
This is her seventh start in The Amundi Evian Championship, and Hall has never missed a cut in her six prior appearances, earning three top-10 finishes in 2017 (T10), 2021 (T6) and 2022 (T8) at Evian Resort Golf Club. Her lowest round at this venue is a 7-under 64, which she recorded in 2021 during the final round.
While the circumstances are certainly not ideal, and while she would much prefer to be pain-free this week, Hall is making lemonade out of lemons at The Amundi Evian Championship, adjusting her swing to combat the pain and gleaning what positives she can from how well she has played through two rounds as she looks ahead to the weekend at the major championship.
“My backswing has changed a bit. I've had to adapt and change my swing because of it,” said Hall. “I knew I was playing well coming into this. I've kind of been on (an) upward transition the last couple of months, and scores didn't really show that much. I was confident, and I was gutted because I thought I was playing well, about my shoulder.
“(It’s a) different mentality for me because sometimes I would worry about tee shots coming up, and I'm literally just worried about the next shot. It's kind of taught me something, so silver lining. I've got 24 hours before I tee off again, so should be enough, hopefully.”
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