News & Events

Six Women to Watch at the Evian

Advertisement

Supported by

Six Women to Watch at the Evian

Image
Shanshan Feng of China has posted a top-10 finish in five of the last six Evian Championships, indicating that the course suits her game.CreditCreditSergei Belski/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

By Lisa D. Mickey

The Evian Championship will bring the L.P.G.A. to the Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France, this week for the final major of 2018.

Anna Nordqvist of Sweden returns with the hope of defending her 2017 title, while the 2015 champion, Lydia Ko of New Zealand, also returns to France for another chance at winning the championship.

The world’s top-ranked player, Sung Hyun Park, and the third-ranked, So Yeon Ryu, both of South Korea, hope to improve on their 2016 co-runner-up finish. Each player is seeking a third major victory.

And with Karine Icher, the top-ranked French player, on maternity leave, French golf fans will hope for a homegrown champion, such as the L.P.G.A. tour members Céline Boutier, Joanna Klatten and Céline Herbin, as well as the Ladies European Tour member Astrid Vayson de Pradenne, who won the Jabra Ladies Open this summer at the Evian golf club.

The Evian Championship is now in its sixth year as the L.P.G.A.’s fifth major championship. Here are some other players to watch this week.

Shanshan Feng

Shanshan has posted a top-10 finish in five of the last six Evian Championships, indicating that the course suits her game. Finishing tied for sixth last year, the gregarious player from Shanghai, with a penchant for bovine-pattern golf attire, would like to collect her second major at Evian and her 10th career victory. She is ranked at No. 7 in the world and has five top-10 finishes this season, including three ties for third.

Image
Georgia Hall of England walks on the 5th hole during the third round of the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country Club on September 1, 2018.CreditJonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Georgia Hall

A rookie this season, Hall, from England, heads to Evian as the top-ranked European player at No. 8 in the world. She has the tour’s hot hand with a win at the Women’s British Open and a runner-up finish at the L.P.G.A.’s Cambia Portland Classic in her last three events. With three top-10s this season, she returns to a course where she tied for 10th last year. A second major championship win this season would catapult Hall closer to the tour’s top rookie honors.

Image

Brooke Henderson reacts as she wins the Canadian Pacific Women’s golf tournament at Wascana Country Club in Regina, Saskatchewan.CreditSergei Belski/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

Brooke Henderson

The fourth-year player from Canada has emerged as one of North America’s leading contenders on the L.P.G.A. tour and is still riding the high of winning her homeland’s CP Women’s Open in late August. Henderson hopes to add a second major championship and eighth career L.P.G.A. victory at Evian. She has nine top-10s and two wins in 2018. Ranked No. 9 in the world, she enters the final major hoping to improve on her tie for ninth at the 2016 Evian Championship.

Image

Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn hits her second shot on the 6th hole during the third round of the Indy Women In Tech Championship Driven by Group 1001 at the Brickyard Crossing Golf Club on August 18, 2018 in Indianapolis.CreditAndy Lyons/Getty Images

Ariya Jutanugarn

While it was her big sister, Moriya Jutanugarn, who posted the sibling best finish last year at the Evian with a tie for third, Ariya tied for ninth at the 2016 tournament and has amassed a formidable record this season with 13 top-10 finishes and three wins, including a victory at the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open. The big-hitting player from Thailand has finished in the top seven in three of her last four events and hopes to add to her third-year career record of 10 wins with two majors and 50 top-10s. She is ranked No. 2 in the world.

Image

Lexi Thompson at the Indy Women In Tech Championship on August 16, 2018 in Indianapolis.CreditAndy Lyons/Getty Images

Lexi Thompson

Looking for her first win in 2018, this Florida native enters the tournament as the top-ranked American in the field at No. 5. She has nine career victories and one major championship, and hopes to extend her five-year streak of winning at least one L.P.G.A. tournament each year. She has posted six top-10 finishes this year, including a tie for fifth at the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open and a top-10 finish in early September at the Cambia Portland Classic. She has two top-three finishes at Evian, including a second place in the 2015 championship.

Image

Inbee Park of Korea watches her drive on the during the second round of the 2018 KPMG PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Club on June 29, 2018 in Kiledeer, Ill.CreditGregory Shamus/Getty Images

Inbee Park

While Park has posted mixed results in major championships this season with two top-10s and two missed cuts, expect this L.P.G.A. Hall of Fame player to be competitive at Evian, where she won in 2012 before the event became a major. A native of South Korea, Park brings a season record of five top-10s and one win in 12 events to France with a world ranking of No. 4. A win at Evian would give her a new distinction as a super career Grand Slam winner in which she has won every major available in her career.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: The Evian Championship: Six Women to Watch. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

The article "Six Women to Watch at the Evian" was originally published on https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/sports/golf/six-women-to-watch-at-the-evian.html?partner=rss&emc=rss