Evian – World No 1 Park Sung-hyun looks to bury her Evian Championship nightmare from Thursday onwards and give her sister something to celebrate.
Twelve months ago, Park missed the cut at the sport’s fifth major and the memory remains bitter.
“After being cut from last year’s tournament I was a little shocked,” said the 25-year-old South Korean who shot a 6-over 77 in the second round in 2018.
“It was the first time my sister came and watched a major tournament, so she felt sad for me, too. It was hard to swallow the results, but it was a good learning experience. This year I feel that my shots and putts are better than last year.”
Park is searching for the third major victory of her career after triumphs at the 2017 US Women’s Open and last year’s Women’s PGA Championship.
The Evian is celebrating its 25th anniversary but was only designated as a major – the sport’s fifth – in 2013.
With a prize purse of $4 million, the top 10 are all present with Park joined by second-ranked compatriot Ko Jin-young and American number three Lexi Thompson.
Also back to play is world No 45 Angela Stanford, the Texan who stunned the field to win the title in 2018 at the age of 40.
It was her first career major title in her 436th career LPGA start.
Also a first is the return of the tournament to its earlier July date – which means playing in France’s wearying heatwave with temperatures pushing 40 degrees Celsius.
“I think the move to this time of year is going to be really positive,” US star Jessica Korda told lpga.com.
However, she admits she plans to “conserve as much energy as possible as she heads into the stretch of consecutive majors – the British Open takes place next week.
“It’s obviously a lot warmer than we’re used to,” added the 26-year-old, who is looking to break her majors drought.
Thursday sees the winners of the season’s first three majors play together – Ko, the ANA Inspiration champion, US Open winner Lee Jeong-eun and Hannah Green, the Australian who triumphed at the Women’s PGA.
