{"id":784260,"date":"2026-07-07T06:51:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784260\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T06:51:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:51:25","slug":"2026-evian-championship-9-players-to-watch-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784260\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Evian Championship: 9 players to watch \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nelly Korda didn\u2019t have the week she wanted at Hazeltine National. The 27-year-old arrived at the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA Championship having won the first two majors of the season. Had she won a third straight, she would have earned the final two points she needs to get into the LPGA Tour\u2019s Hall of Fame \u2013 one of the most difficult halls in sports to gain entry to.<\/p>\n

ONE YEAR AGO: Grace Kim\u2019s incredible eagle, birdie, eagle finish delivers her first major title in playoff at Evian Championship<\/a><\/p>\n

Korda left Minnesota tied for eighth, but at this week\u2019s Amundi Evian Championship, the same possibility and more are available to her. Major wins are worth two points, so if Korda can claim victory at Evian, she\u2019ll earn that Hall of Fame spot. She would also have claimed the career Grand Slam. The LPGA, with its five majors, says that if you win any four, you have the career Grand Slam. (Win all five, and you\u2019ll complete the \u201csuper\u201d career Grand Slam.)<\/p>\n

Korda has won four times thus far in 2026, so she\u2019s of course going to be a player to watch at every tournament she enters. And there are more golfers to keep an eye on in France. Here are nine players to watch at the 2026 Amundi Evian Championship, in descending world ranking order.<\/p>\n

Helen Briem<\/p>\n

Age: 20
Rolex Ranking: 84
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 1\/1
Best finish: T-56, 2025
2025 finish: T-56<\/p>\n

The Ladies European Tour hosts another tournament at the Evian Resort: the Jabra Ladies Open de France. In May, Briem won that tournament by seven(!) shots. The German is easy to spot \u2013 she\u2019s 6-foot-3 (191 centimetres) and one of the best ball-strikers on tour; she\u2019s ranked No.1 in strokes gained\/approach. This is a crucial stat at the Evian, which features much undulation, requiring even more precision than usual on approach shots. She\u2019s played just three women\u2019s majors, but is a sneaky long-shot this week.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Ayaka Furue \"2161986557\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Matthew Lewis<\/p>\n

Age: 26
Rolex Ranking: 46
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 5\/5
Best finish: Win, 2024
2025 finish: T-59<\/p>\n

Furue won the 2024 title at Evian to confirm her presence on the LPGA Tour after winning eight times prior in Japan. The 26-year-old isn\u2019t a long hitter (ranked only 132nd in driving distance), but she compensates for it with accuracy (75.88 percent fairways hit, 11th on tour) and being one of the best putters on tour.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Allisen Corpuz \"2275180146\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Sarah Stier<\/p>\n

Age: 28
Rolex Ranking: 37
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 4\/3
Best finish: T-26, 2024
2025 finish: T-49<\/p>\n

The American is playing well in the majors in 2026. She finished T-8 at the US Women\u2019s Open and T-5 at the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA Championship. She also has a major title to her name already with her 2023 US Women\u2019s Open win at Pebble Beach. Her best finish at the Evian is T-26, but her steady demeanour is a match for any major-championship venue.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Grace Kim \"2262393331\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Thananuwat Srirasant<\/p>\n

Age: 25
Rolex Ranking: 31
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 3\/2
Best finish: Win, 2025
2025 finish: Win <\/p>\n

Kim is the defending champion<\/a>, after an electric performance a year ago that came down to a playoff. The Aussie\u2019s going to need that same spark this year as she\u2019s had one top-10 in 2026 and hasn\u2019t finished inside the top 20 outside that result. Her long-game stats are strong, but she\u2019s losing 1.35 shots to the field with her putter. If her putter co-operates, she\u2019ll be a factor in France.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Brooke Henderson \"2263693573\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Kate McShane<\/p>\n

Age: 28
Rolex Ranking: 19
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 12\/12
Best finish: Win, 2016
2025 finish: T-3<\/p>\n

Prior to the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA, Henderson wasn\u2019t talked about as a contender, but she finished T-3 and seemed to remind everyone she can still play with the best when her game is solid. She\u2019s ranked sixth on tour in strokes gained\/putting and 10th in driving. With good momentum from Hazeltine, she could factor at the Evian, especially given she has six top-six finishes in the event in 12 starts, including her win in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Minjee Lee \"2281586683\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: NurPhoto<\/p>\n

Age: 30
Rolex Ranking: 11
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 11\/10
Best finish: Win, 2021
2025 finish: T-3<\/p>\n

In her title defence at the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA, the Aussie missed the cut. As disappointing as that was, she is always a player to watch at the Evian. In 2021, she won the tournament, marking her first major victory. She also finished tied for third in 2025. With three majors and 11 wins, she\u2019s a veteran presence that gets other players attention when her name is on a leaderboard.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Haeran Ryu \"2283764170\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Andrew Wevers<\/p>\n

Age: 25
Rolex Ranking: 7
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 4\/2
Best finish: 5, 2024
2025 finish: MC<\/p>\n

The winner two weeks ago at the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA is hoping the compressed LPGA major schedule (with three majors taking place from the end of June to the beginning of August) can be to her benefit. She finished fifth at Evian in 2024 and is ranked second on tour in strokes gained\/driving.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Jeeno Thitikul \"2283200000\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: NurPhoto<\/p>\n

Age: 28
Rolex Ranking: 2
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 6\/5
Best finish: P-2, 2025
2025 finish: P-2<\/p>\n

The story remains the same for Thitkul; she knows how to win on the LPGA Tour (nine victories), but hasn\u2019t had the breakthrough in a major. She came as close as ever last year at Evian, finishing second to Grace Kim, who went eagle-birdie-eagle on the 18th in regulation and a playoff to claim the title. It was her fourth top-10 at Evian in the past five years. The former world No.1 set the all-time single-season LPGA scoring record in 2025 at 68.68, beating Annika Sorenstam\u2019s decades-old mark. And she has won twice in 2026, along with finishing T-8 at the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA Championship. Her long game has been strong all season, but she isn\u2019t gaining on the field with her putter\u2026 yet.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Nelly Korda \"2279664500\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Harry How<\/p>\n

Age: 27
Rolex Ranking: 1
Amundi Evian starts\/Cuts made: 8\/7
Best finish: T-8, 2022
2025 finish: T-43<\/p>\n

The best player in the world. Winner of four tournaments in 2026, including two majors. She\u2019s the player to watch every time she picks up a club. Her best finish at the Evian was a T-8 in 2022. If she were to win in 2026, she\u2019d earn her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame and complete the Grand Slam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nelly Korda didn\u2019t have the week she wanted at Hazeltine National. The 27-year-old arrived at the KPMG Women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[345007,204889,4225,64,63,144109,66981,208761,755,138747,29528,327243,370648,121700,28635,58251,20776,21225,85],"class_list":["post-784260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-allisen-corpuz","tag-amundi-evian-championship","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ayaka-furue","tag-brooke-henderson","tag-evian-resort-golf-club","tag-golf","tag-golf-digest","tag-grace-kim","tag-haeran-ryu","tag-helen-briem","tag-jeeno-thitikul","tag-ladies-european-tour","tag-lpga","tag-minjee-lee","tag-nelly-korda","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}