It has arrived. After a year’s wait, The Amundi Evian Championship is back at the Evian Resort Golf Club to the delight of golf enthusiasts. On Thursday 21st July, 132 players will tee off on the stunning layout of The Champions Course in an attempt to win the fourth Grand Slam tournament of the season.  The challenge is always just as tough, for both the pros and the amateurs, who each year praise the quality of the greens and fairways of a course that became a major stage on the women’s golf tour. Founded in 1994, before being promoted in 2013 to the highest rank a competition can aspire to, the event has grown and grown. A symbol of this growth, this year the prize money has reached 6.5 million dollars, two million more than in 2021. Without further ado, discover 5 reasons why you should follow this new edition of The Amundi Evian Championship closely.

The meteoric rise of Minjee Lee (see: Minjee Lee - How far will she go?)

Since her win right here last year, the level of play shown by the Australian is quite simply extraordinary.  She had never before won a major championship until her victory at The Amundi Evian Championship 2021 and has now been at the peak of women's world golf for a year, battling each weekend against elite players such as Jin-Young Ko and Nelly Korda. Her start to the 2022 season has been dazzling: the current world number 2 has not missed a cut, has won two tournaments, the latest the US Women's Open, and has never finished lower than 23rd place. At the age of 26, she is at the height of her career.  She is also and above all the defending champion, and if only for that, deserves to be followed very closely.

The Evian Resort Golf Club's breathtaking scenery

Both on site and on the television, the scenery at the Evian Resort Golf Club always makes a strong impression. Just a few hundred metres from Lake Geneva, in a verdant setting that is as majestic as it is amazing, The Champions Course is one of the courses the tour players are most fond of.  The precision of the greens and fairways combined with all the rigor and humility required if one hopes to perform well here, make it one of the most exciting challenges of the season.  From the stunning view from the 2nd tee to the final spring that begins with the par-3 16, overlooking the entire lower part of the course, indulge, with us, in the Evian Resort Golf Club's spectacular panoramas.

Jin-Young Ko's return to form (see: Jin-Young Ko - World number 1)

Following a chaotic 2020 season, marked by her many absences due to the pandemic, the world number 1 finally banged her first on the table at the end of 2021 by claiming five LPGA Tour titles. As the 2019 winner, Jin-Young Ko knows The Champions Course by heart and holds all the cards to be victorious again in Haute-Savoie. For her sixth participation in The Amundi Evian Championship, the 27-year-old South Korean is arriving on top form and will definitely be looking to put things right after the 2021 tournament. Last year, she finished her week in Evian in 60th place, her least favorable performance in Evian, but that did not prevent her from carding a fourth round with three birdies in a row on the three last holes.  Jin-Young Ko is looking for her third major career win and once again looks to be one of the main contenders for the final victory.

For both the spectators and the players, a major championship week is like no other.  And this couldn’t be more true than in Evian. The only Grand Slam event - on either the men’s or women's tours - to be held in Continental Europe, The Amundi Evian Championship is undoubtedly one of the most awaited dates in the women’s golf season. The emotions of a major, the suspense of the final sprint on The Champions Course from hole 16 onwards, and even the possibility of seeing new records set each year make this a week with a truly special flavor. Among the possible feats: the eventuality of seeing a player hold high the major trophy for a second time (which has not yet happened), a round carded in 60 or less (the record is held by Hyo Joo Kim, who shot 61 in 2014), or even a French player crowned in Evian, in front of a home crowd. One record has already been broken: the prize money has never been so high, reaching 6.5 million dollars this year compared to 4.5 million at last year’s event.

Golfing sensation Rose Zhang (see: A closer look at Rose Zhang)