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World No. 2 Minjee Lee looks to defend her title this week at the Amundi Evian Championship, and she arrives in Evian-les-Bains, France, as the betting favorite.
The 26-year-old Australian leads the market ahead of the LPGA’s fourth of five majors this season, listed at +900 via PointsBet Sportsbook, with world No. 3 Nelly Korda close behind at +1000 and world No. 1 Jin Young Ko at +1400.
Lee’s position atop the odds should come as no surprise considering her run-away victory at the U.S. Women’s Open in June, marking her second major title, and she also won the Cognizant Founders Cup in May.
The eight-time LPGA winner aims to cement her standings in several season-long competitions, including the Rolex Annika Major Award, given to the player with the most points earned through top-10 finishes in majors. Lee leads the award standings with 84 points, 24 points ahead of 2022 Chevron Championship winner Jennifer Kupcho (+3300) and recent KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner In Gee Chun (+3300).
Lee also leads the 2022 Race to the CME Globe standings with 2,253 points, 292 points ahead of Kupcho, as well as the 2022 Rolex LPGA Player of the Year standings with 135 points (40 points ahead of Kupcho). Not surprisingly, Lee leads the LPGA in several statistical categories including Strokes Gained: Total (2.610), SG: Tee to Green (3.440) and SG: Approach (2.680).
But the Aussie faces stiff competition from a deep field that features nine of the top 10 and 22 of the top 25 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (players missing are No. 6 Lexi Thompson, No. 15 Danielle Kang and No. 24 Mone Inami). The Evian field also includes eight past champions, including seven who have won since this event became a major, and 14 of 15 winners on the LPGA Tour this season (except Kang). They’re competing for the $1 million winner’s check, with the total purse raised to $6.5 million, an increase of $2 million from 2021.
As per tradition, notable amateurs will join the field including 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion Anna Davis (+30000), reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champ Jess Baker (+40000), 2021 U.S. Women’s Am winner Jensen Castle (+40000), 2022 NCAA champion and 2021 U.S. Girls’ Junior winner Rose Zhang (+15000) and her Stanford teammate Rachel Heck (+15000), winner of the 2021 NCAA individual title.
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Odds to win the 2022 Evian Championship (via PointsBet Sportsbook)
+850: Minjee Lee
+1000: Nelly Korda
+1400: Jin Young Ko
+1500: Lydia Ko, Atthaya Thitikul
+2200: Brooke Henderson
+2800: Hyo Joo Kim, Hye Jin Choi, Nasa Hataoka
+3000: Jessica Korda, Hannah Green
+3300: In Gee Chun, Sei Young Kim, Jennifer Kupcho, Linn Grant
+4000: In-Bee Park, Xiyu Lin, Leona Maguire, Georgia Hall
Picks to win the 2022 Evian Championship
Best bet: Nelly Korda (+1000) ... It’s been a trying season for world No. 3 Nelly Korda, who arrives at Evian just one year removed from a standout stretch that included winning her first major (plus three other LPGA wins), capturing Olympic gold and reaching No. 1 in the world rankings. A blood clot in February kept Korda sidelined for four months and this week marks just the fifth time she’s played since returning from surgery. But she’s been knocking on the door: The 23-year-old has posted three top 10s in her last four starts including a T-8 at the U.S. Women’s Open and T-2 at the Meijer LPGA Classic. Now standing No. 3 in the world and without a win in 2022, Korda told media Wednesday: “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t hungry to win another major.” We believe you, Nelly.
Dark horse: Linn Grant (+3300) … The 23-year-old Swede is enjoying a breakout season that features three wins including two on the Ladies European Tour – at the Joburg Ladies Open and Belgian Ladies Open – and she also made history this year at the Scandinavian Mixed, where she became the first female winner on the DP World Tour in the co-sanctioned event with the LET. “I do have high expectations,” said Grant, who played college golf at Arizona State. “I’ve played all right in the majors before and I like the major feeling. Courses are longer and tougher, the greens are faster, so you need to have more patience with your game and I think that suits me, so I pretty much expect to play well.”
Longshot: Tiia Koivisto (+50000) … The 28-year-old Koivisto, who hails from Mantsala, Finland, broke through for her maiden LET victory in May at the Jabra Ladies Open, held at none other than … Evian Resort. Koivisto carded a 5-under 66 in the final round to finish at 6-under 207 in the 54-hole event, forcing a playoff over Australia’s Whitney Hillier and winning with a birdie on the first hole of sudden death. Koivisto, who won the 2020 LET Access Series Order of Merit, earned an exemption into the Evian Championship with the win.
Past champions of the Evian Championship (winning score, margin over runner-up)
- 2021: Minjee Lee (Australia), 18-under 266, won in playoff over Jeongeun Lee6 (South Korea)
- 2019: Jin Young Ko (South Korea), 15-under 269, won by two over Jennifer Kupcho (USA), Shanshan Feng (China), Hyo Joo Kim (South Korea)
- 2018: Angela Stanford (USA), 12-under 272, won by one stroke over Austin Ernst (USA), Mo Martin (USA), Sei Young Kim (South Korea), Amy Olson (USA)
- 2017: Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), 9-under 204 (shortened to 54 holes due to weather), won playoff over Brittany Altomare (USA)
- 2016: In Gee Chun (South Korea), 21-under 263, won by four strokes over So Yeon Ryu (South Korea), Sung Hyun Park (South Korea)
- 2015: Lydia Ko (New Zealand), 16-under 268, won by six strokes over Lexi Thompson (USA)
- 2014: Hyo Joo Kim (South Korea), 11-under 273, won by one stroke over Karrie Webb (Australia)
- 2013: Suzann Pettersen (Norway), 10-under 203 (shortened to 54 holes due to weather), won by two strokes over amateur Lydia Ko (New Zealand)
- 2012*: Inbee Park (South Korea), 17-under 271, won by two strokes over Karrie Webb, Stacy Lewis
- 2011*: Ai Miyazato (Japan), 15-under 273, won by two strokes over Stacy Lewis
*Pre-major status
Last year at the 2021 Evian Championship
Australia’s Minjee Lee mounted an epic comeback during last year’s final round at Evian Resort, shooting a bogey-free 64 on Sunday to rally from seven strokes back then beating 54-hole leader Jeongeun Lee6 in a playoff. Lee won with a two-putt birdie on the first playoff hole.
Lee birdied four of her last five holes of regulation to finish tied with Lee6 at 18-under 266. In the playoff, she hit her second shot to 8 feet, while Lee6 hit hers into a creek in front of the green and could not match birdie.
Lee6, who posted a record-tying 61 in the second round, held a five-stroke lead entering the final round but began to fade after making five bogeys on the front nine. She staged her own rally down the stretch, finishing with three straight birdies to force the playoff. Yealimi Noh finished third, one stroke out of the playoff, and Leona Maguire was T-6 after shooting 61 on the final day.
2022 LPGA major championship schedule (winner/defending champion)
- March 31-April 3: Chevron Championship; 2022 champion: Jennifer Kupcho; Mission Hills CC (Dinah Shore Tournament Course), Rancho Mirage, Calif.
- June 2-5: U.S. Women’s Open, 2022 champion: Minjee Lee; Pine Needles Lodge & GC, Southern Pines, N.C.
- June 23-26: KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 2022 champion: In Gee Chun; Congressional CC, Bethesda, Md.
- July 21-24: Amundi Evian Championship, Evian Resort GC, Evian-les-Bains, France (defending champ: Minjee Lee)
- Aug. 4-7: AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield, East Lothian, Scotland (defending champ: Anna Nordqvist)
About Evian Resort Golf Club’s Champions Course
The Evian Resort Golf Club’s Champions Course now stands as the only women’s major venue never to have moved since the tournament’s inception in 2000 (then known as the Evian Masters) and its designation as a major in 2013. Perched on the hillside between Lake Geneva and the snowcapped Alps, the Champions Course plays to a par 71 (35-36) and stretches to 6,527 yards. Optional tees are available on Nos. 2, 7, 9, 14, 15 and 18, which would alter tournament yardage.
The tournament’s course record is 61, set by Hyo Joo Kim in the first round in 2014, and matched by Jeongeun Lee6 in the second round in 2021 and Leona Maguire in the fourth round in 2021.
Evian Resort Golf Club is located in eastern France in the town of Evian-les-Bains, which boasts a population of about 9,000. The club originally opened in 1905 with a nine-hole course, and an additional nine was added in 1922. The entire 18 holes were redesigned by Cabell B. Robinson in 1988-90, with significant renovations done by Steve Smyers along with Jeremy Slessor and Dave Sampson of European Tour Design prior to the 2013 Evian Championship.
How to watch the 2022 Evian Championship (all times ET)
- Thursday: 5-7 a.m., 9:30-11:30 a.m., Golf Channel; 7-8 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Golf Channel digital (streaming)
- Friday: 5-7 a.m., 9:30-11:30 a.m., Golf Channel; 7-8 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Golf Channel digital (streaming)
- Saturday: 5:30-9 a.m., Golf Channel; 9-11 a.m., CNBC
- Sunday: 5:30-9 a.m., Golf Channel; 9-11 a.m., CNBC
The NBC golf research team contributed to this report.
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