Amundi Evian Championship: Ranking Top 4 Best Moments From Evian-Les-Bains

The fourth LPGA major of the season tees off this Thursday. Amundi Evian Championship’s history as a major dates back only to 2013, but within a decade the youngest major has witnessed multiple moments engraved in history. From Hyo-Joo Kim’s jaw-dropping opening round to Celine Boutier’s first major glory, take a look back to the four most defining moments at the Evian Resort GC.

Hyo-Joo Kim shoots the lowest round in major championship history 

All the 19-year-old Hyo-Joo Kim wanted was to have a ‘good experience’. And, Golf Gods blessed her with 10 birdies in the opening round. Kim, then a Seoul University freshman, fired 10-under 61 at the redesigned Evian Resort GC in the opening round of the 2014 Amundi Evian Championship.

At that time, 62 was the lowest score in a women’s major recorded by Minea Blomqvist in the 2004 Women’s British Open. Men’s major had a handful of 63s but never lower till 2017. 

Kim’s 61 is still a record, but now she has two more claimants to that historic feat. Jeongeun Lee 6 and Leona Maguire both fired a 61 at the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship. However, none of them could manage a podium finish like Hyo-Joo Kim did in 2014.

Brooke Henderson goes wire-to-wire breaking her six-year major drought 

Perhaps the world should’ve read the tea leaves correctly. Brooke Henderson was on a run at the 2022 Amundi Evian Championship firing two back-to-back 64s, a first in the LPGA major history. Saturday was no different; the Canadian carried forward a two-stroke lead to the final round.

Nerves almost got the better of then-24-year-old Henderson. At one point in the back nine, she had to divvy up her lead with five others. Not the one to back down, the Smith Falls resident piled three birdies on the final five holes. 

In the end, one stroke separated Brooke Henderson and Sophia Schubert on Sunday. Henderson walked off with her second major triumph after a six-year drought dating to the 2016 Women’s PGA Championship. The 13-time LPGA Tour winner also became the second to go wire-to-wire in the Amundi Evian Championship.

Lydia Ko becomes the youngest major winner at the 2015 Amundi Evian Championship

Tiger Woods was 21, Jack Nicklaus 22, and Annika Sorenstam 25, at the time of their first major victory. Lydia Ko was 18 years, 4 months 20 days when she lifted the Amundi Evian Championship trophy in 2015. Only one person, Young Tom Morris, won a major at a younger age. That was in the 1858 Open Championship when Young Tom Morris edged past his father, Old Tom Morris. 

On a wet September afternoon, Ko closed her final round with an 8-under 63 giving her a six-stroke edge over another young prodigy, Lexi Thompson. By that time the Kiwi had already become the youngest golfer of any gender to reach the top of the world ranking. 

The Amundi Evian Championship was the ninth career win in her career and the first of the two majors she won. The 27-year-old now returns to the shores of Lake Geneva just one point shy of a Hall of Fame entry. 

Celine Boutier won her first major in her home country 

Celine Boutier always came up short in the tournament she loved the most as a child. Her best-place finish at Évian-les-Bains was 29th. So, Boutier took no chances last year. In the final round, the French International rattled three birdies in the first five holes to top her three-shot overnight lead.

No one could unseat her for the rest of the day. The 29-year-old stopped at 3-under 68, casting off the rest of the field by a huge margin. Brooke Henderson came closest but even the Canadian was six strokes short. 

Boutier was the first Frenchwoman to win a major since 2004, and only the third to sniff victory at the grand stage. The glory on the sides of the Alps was the second of her four last year. 

Nine past champions have landed on the shores of Lake Geneva for the $8 million purse event. There have been no two-time winners of the Amundi Evian Championship. No one has defended their titles at Evian-les-Bains. If any of the eight past champions manage a podium finish, it will be another piece of history at the par-71 layout.