EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France –Evian chairman Franck Riboud was sitting on a bench with a gaggle of photographers snapping away when Helen Alfredsson came bounding up from behind with a bottle of Evian water turned upside down. Over to the side, LPGA commissioner Mike Whan snuck up beside Evian vice chairman Jacques Bungert and doused him with this week’s beverage of choice.
A who’s who list of players with their own bottles joined in the fun – Laura Davies, In Gee Chun, Lydia Ko and Ai Miyazato to name a few.
“This is the best shower you’ve ever had,” Alfredsson quipped.
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Champagne followed, as is often the case here.
As the Evian Championship has evolved over the years into a major championship, the event’s ambiance hasn’t changed. Riboud is proud of that fact. It’s unlike any other stop on tour. With stunning Lake Geneva as its backdrop, the Evian puts on one dazzling party after another at swanky spots like the Hotel Royal and Hotel Ermitage. There isn’t a better place on tour to entertain.
“It’s definitely kind of a sponsor’s paradise,” said Cristie Kerr.
Laura Davies was at the first Evian Masters in 1994. Back then the tournament ended on a Saturday and was followed by a banquet dinner with sponsors and a Sunday pro-am. It was often tough getting some players back out on Sunday after they’d indulged a bit too much the night before, Davies said. It was the tournament’s fault.
“They’d put on a good party,” Davies said.
That part sure hasn’t changed.
In 2000, the event became part of the LPGA’s schedule and continued to be a can’t-miss stop because of the atmosphere and hefty purse. From the beginning, Evian pushed the envelope when it came to money, aiming to elevate women’s sport at every turn.
“What we have now is the jewel in the crown of the LPGA tour I think,” said Davies, a back-to-back winner here in 1995 and ’96.
Paula Creamer first stepped on property as a rookie in 2005 and felt like she’d walked into a dream. It was wall-to-wall to pink.
“I was obsessed,” she said. “I was like, this place was meant for me.”
And so she won that week, despite this being the kind of course that takes some getting used to.
In 2013 the LPGA made the tournament its fifth major after the resort course underwent an extensive renovation. There has been no shortage of drama since the event was elevated to a major, beginning with the very obvious fact that there are now five rather than four. The move to September, rainy season, brought about so much angst that this year the event moved back to its traditional July date.
The golf course changes yearly as players continue to make their voices heard on what constitutes a major championship venue. There’s always luck involved in winning a major, but the odd bounces here play too much into the equation many still say.
Davies, never one to hold back, puts it bluntly: “I think these greens are borderline unfair. You can hit a good shot and not get a good result.”
There’s still work to be done, but Riboud and Bungert have made a career of innovating and elevating.
“It’s evolving,” said 2018 Evian champion Angela Stanford, “but it’s evolving to make us better.”
Riboud takes pride in the fact that they’ve copied things that work well at the great sporting events from around the world.
Every year the invoice for the grandstand by the 18th hit him like a brick. When he went to the Masters and noticed that there is no grandstand behind the 18th, a lightbulb went off.
“If there is nothing,” he said to Bungert, “there is no cost.”
Riboud acted as though he shouldn’t be sharing this part of the story, but he couldn’t resist carrying on in the pre-tournament presser. They tracked down the supplier used by Augusta National and created their own grandstand of green chairs behind the 18th. Only these chairs have a hole in them.
“In Augusta there is no hole in the chair,” he said, “so when you sit, you are wet. So we even find a way to improve.”
Everyone in the room laughed. Riboud’s passion for this event is infectious. He considers everyone involved in it to be part of the family.
This week, for example, he realized that the grounds crew had been neglected. They need a better place to eat and rest. They’ll be a top priority going forward.
Today, Riboud says, it’s fashionable to support women’s sport, particularly after the Women’s World Cup.
Twenty-five years ago, however, organizers were met with more than a few quizzical looks.
“We are going to do a huge ladies golf tournament in France.”
“In Paris?”
“No, in Evian.”
“Evian the water? There’s a town?”
They’ve come a long way. And one area in particular that makes Riboud and Bungert proud is the fact that France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard is the first player to come up through the ranks of their development programs and qualify for Evian the major.
Roussin-Bouchard played three times in the Haribo Kids Cup (for kids under 12) as well as the Evian Junior Cup before making her way to the big stage.
They’d love to see dozens more follow in her footsteps.
No one doubts they’ll see it through.
