Here are all the key details you need to know about what happened in the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship, including how Celine Boutier won and insights about the course.
Location
Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France
Yardage
6,527; par 71
Tournament Record
263 – Chun In-gee (2016)
Purse
$6.5 million
Tournament Insight
The Amundi Evian Championship has been played since 1994, becoming an official LPGA Tour event in 2000 and a designated major championship in 2013. The only major in continental Europe, it is played annually at the Evian Resort. The location, surrounded by a lake and mountains, affords breathtaking views while offering a challenge to the top women players in the game.
Course Insight
The Evian Resort course sits on the shores of Lake Geneva, at the foot of the Alps, providing the most beautiful backdrop for any course in Europe. It has a long history, dating back to a nine-hole layout designed by Scotsman Willie Park Jr. in 1904, with nine holes added in 1922. It was extensively renovated in 1990 by Cabell Robinson, and then again in 2013 by European Golf Design in preparation for the event’s major championship status. Existing bunkers were deepened, other bunkers were added, water features either expanded or added, and trees planted to increase the challenge. The last four holes were all redesigned.
The layout winds its way up and down on hilly terrain with demanding approach shots from various lies to undulating, mostly elevated greens. The course concludes with a dramatic finishing hole, a 484-yard par 5 that offers a birdie or eagle opportunity but only if the player delivers two excellent shots. Water guarding the front right of a long, narrow green comes into play in the decision and execution of the second shot.
How Celine Boutier won in 2023
Celine Boutier became the first Frenchwoman to win the Evian Championship, cruising to a six-stroke victory as she was the only player in the field to shoot all four rounds in the 60s. The 29-year-old scored her fourth career LPGA Tour victory, going on to add two more later in the year to make it four in 2023 and a total of six. Boutier led by three strokes after opening rounds of 66-69-67. After birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and 5 in the final round, her lead was up to five. She led by at least four strokes the rest of the way. A birdie on 15 gave Boutier a five-stroke lead and when eventual runner-up Brooke Henderson bogeyed 17 it led to the final margin as Boutier shot a closing three-under 68 in front of the home fans. Canada’s Henderson shot a 70 in her bid to defend her 2022 title.
- Boutier was the third Frenchwoman to win a major championship, joining Catherine Lacoste (1967 U.S. Women’s Open as an amateur), and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (2003 Chevron Championship).
- Boutier was the fifth consecutive first-time major championship winner.
- Boutier’s six-stroke victory matched the largest since the Evian became a major in 2013 (Lydia Ko, 2015). As a regular LPGA Tour event, Paula Creamer won by eight strokes in 2005.
- Brooke Henderson finished second, falling short in her bid to become the first player to win the Evian in two straight years since it became an LPGA event in 2000. Laura Davies won in 1995 and 1996 when it was a Ladies European Tour event.
- The last six Amundi Evian Championships have been won by players from six different countries—Sweden, the U.S., South Korea, Australia, Canada, and France.
This was first published in Essential Golf – you can read the complete magazine here.