120 of the world’s greatest players in women’s golf will compete for the first major ever to be held on continental Europe. They will battle it out The Evian Championship at the Evian Resort for the largest purse on the tour – $3,250,000. It’s a unique opportunity for this elite group to discover the newly renovated course and take part in a major outside the traditional Anglo Saxon venues.
Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone and President of The Evian Championship said: “I am so proud to see our tournament, which my father Antoine started in 1994, being elevated to the status of a major. We have made every effort to make The Evian Championship even more spectacular and totally dedicated to pure golf in the great tradition of the Majors. We hope the complete renovation of the course will begin a new era for the tournament, and provide a unique and unforgettable golfing experience for everyone.”
In the past 20 years, some of women’s golf’s sporting greats have played at the Evian course: Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies, Helen Alfredsson, Lorena Ochoa, Ai Miyazato, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie. And the crowds have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Hugh Grant, Zinedine Zidane and Elsa Zilberstein.
It’s a par 71, and all 6,428 yards of it was redesigned with the environment in mind by architect’s office EGD, represented by the South African Dave Sampson with Briton Jeremy Slessor (course designer Celtic Manor, scene of the 2010 Ryder Cup), under the eye expert Steve Smyers, American architect and LPGA consultant. The new heart of the course is the crucial sequence of holes 15, 16, 17 and 18, where dreams are going to be made or shattered.
The signature hole of the course is the newly renovated 5th, a par four with the green on an island, and a water hazard 100 meters long to negotiate.
12-15 September 2013
