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The Evian Championship – Amateurs in the Field

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No amateur has ever won the Evian Championship and yet the Evian has provided the stage for any number of young amateur players poised to emerge as dominant figures in women’s golf. Most recently Lydia Ko played her first Evian as an amateur, as did Minjee Lee.

The Evian venue is iconic and the Championship, combining the rugged playing field that winds through the Alpine countryside, the lush resort ambience, and Dame Laura Davies’ football game that challenges golfers and caddies alike, is an enduring favorite for players and fans alike.

Those coveted 120 tee times at the Evian Championship are awarded on the basis of merit and the field always represents the best players in the game.  At the same time, the organizing committee is committed to “using the Evian Championship platform and ecosystem to foster the development of young talent and bring alive the connection between the elite of women’s world golf and a new generation of champions.” I always look forward to seeing who the committee identifies as the most promising among the next generation.

In addition to Albane Valenzuela, who will be making her second Evian appearance, the 2016 US Women’s Amateur champion Eun Jeong Seong and French amateur Celine Boutier, the 2016 British Women’s Amateur champion, the committee has invited Hannah O’Sullivan, Julia Engstrom, and Bronte Law to join the 2017 Evian Championship field.

Hannah O’Sullivan

 

O’Sullivan is the number 1 ranked woman amateur in golf. Her amateur resume includes the Junior Ryder Cup (2014), the Junior Solheim Cup (2015), and the Curtis Cup (2016) teams. She was the 2014 US Women’s Amateur runner-up and the 2015 champion. She’s twice made the cut at the US Women’s Open and played the weekend as well at the 2016 ANA Inspiration. The Evian committee rightly anticipates her very promising future on the pro stage.

Look for this 18-year old who has already notched a victory on the pro stage – at the Symetra Tour’s 2015 Gateway Classic – to officially turn pro after the Evian.

Albane Valenzuela

 

Playing the Evian is particularly special for Valenzuela. It was while following Paula Creamer at Evian-les-Bains that the 18-year old Swiss golfer decided “I will be a player of professional golf.”  With her 2015 victory at the Spanish Ladies Stroke Play and appearances at the ANA Inspiration (she shared low amateur honors) and the US Women’s Open on her resume, the 2016 Evian Championship will be Albane Valenzuela’s 7th pro appearance.

Valenzuela is headed to Stanford this fall. US collegiate golf fans can look forward to following her play for the Cardinal. And in a quirky twist of the rankings and Olympic eligibility rules, Valenzuela accumulated enough ranking points from her Ladies European Tour appearances as the Lalla Meyrem Cup (T5) and Tipsport Golf Masters (T4) to represent Switzerland at the Olympics.

Bronte Law

 

Bronte Law is more than ready to take on Evian-les-Bains. The ULCA senior has helped the GB&I team win the Curtis Cup, made the cut at the 2016 Ricoh Women’s British Open, and teed it up at the ANA Inspiration. Law won the 2016 ANNIKA Award, joining Alison Lee and Leona Maguire in a very small and elite circle of players identified by their peers, coaches, and the media as the year’s outstanding collegiate golfer.

The 2015 English Women’s Amateur champion has distinguished herself as a Pac-12 Conference golfer and has a very bright future waiting for her in professional golf.

Celine Boutier

 

Celine Boutier has accumulated a long and impressive list of accomplishments during her amateur career: In 2009 Boutier won the French Under-16 Championship. She followed that up by winning the Italian International Amateur Championship in 2010 and in 2011 the AJGA Annika Invitational. She also played for the European team in the 2011 Junior Solheim Cup. She continue her romp through the international junior golf circuit by winning the 2012 European Ladies’ Amateur Championship.

As a Duke University Blue Devil Boutier won three consecutive tournaments and then came close to winning the NCAA Championship.

Eun Jeong Seong

 

Seong became the first player to win the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur in the same year when she defeated Virginia Elena Carta by sinking a magnificent 40 foot putt on the 72nd hole of the Championship at Rolling Green Golf Club last August.

The 16-year old Korean has played in a number of KLPGA events, but the Evian will be her biggest pro stage.  I’m looking forward to Seong’s pro career, but let’s not rush her. Let’s enjoy watching this young phenom work with the Evian-les-Bain track.

Julia Engstrom

 

Ladies British Open Amateur champion Engstrom played her first pro tournament in the United States this year at CordeValle on very short notice – five days. The 15-year old Swede thought she’d earned an exemption to the 2017 US Women’s Open, not the 2016 Open!

Engstrom started teeing it up with the pros as a 13-year old at the LET’s Helsingborg Open. She doesn’t know what direction her life will take after high school – she might turn pro or she might head to the United States for some collegiate golf. But this week she’s going to take on the Evian-les-Bain track and I’m going to enjoy watching her do it.


Cover Image via Instagram

Elizabeth Bethel is a writer, a sociologist, and an enthusiastic golfer who believes there is much to be learned about life and individual character from the game of golf. She explore those lessons here and in her personal blog, Staying in the Short Grass. You can follow her on Twitter @bethbethel and on Facebook.

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