The Amundi Evian Championship 2026 begins on July 9 and ends on Sunday, July 12. Women’s golf has five majors, and this is the only one held in mainland Europe. The venue remains constant: Evian Resort Golf Club, located on a hillside above Lake Geneva in Evian-les-Bains.
This guide provides essential details: the dates, the field, the record prize money, and the TV times. A purse of $9.1 million attracted this season’s players, with Nelly Korda leading the betting. Keep in mind that Evian often surprises by crowning unexpected champions.Â
What Is The Amundi Evian Championship?
The Amundi Evian Championship is one of the five majors in women’s professional golf, and the only one in mainland Europe. The LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour run it together, which is its own small miracle of cooperation.
Quick definition for the newcomers: A major is one of the handful of events that actually count when careers get judged. The women’s game has five per year. Win one and nobody can ever take it off your resume.
Here is what makes the Evian different: it never moves. The other four majors rotate venues. This one has stayed at the same course the way the Masters stays at Augusta, for better and for worse. Players who know the property well arrive with some confidence, and they know it.
The tournament dates to 1994, when it was launched as the Evian Masters on the Ladies European Tour. Major status came in 2013, and some people grumbled about the promotion at the time.
Amundi, a French asset manager, has sponsored since 2021, which explains the ever-growing purse. Players will tell you this is the hardest of the five majors to figure out. I believe them.
Key Facts
- Dates: July 9 to 12, 2026Â
- Venue: Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, FranceÂ
- Course: par 71, 6,504 yardsÂ
- Format: 72-hole stroke play with a cut after 36 holesÂ
- Purse: $9.1 million (a tournament record)
- Winner’s share: $1.365 million.
- Defending champion: Grace Kim of Australia
When and Where Is the 2026 Evian Championship Played?
The 2026 Evian Championship runs July 9 to 12 at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France. Find it on a map and you’ll see a small spa town pressed against Lake Geneva at the Swiss border.
Geneva has the closest major airport, about an hour out. Plenty of fans just take the ferry across the lake from Switzerland instead.
Now, the course: Par 71 and 6,504 yards, which sounds like a pushover for a major. It is not. The property climbs to roughly 1,575 feet and the ground never stops moving, so flat lies barely exist. Position beats power here, and it isn’t close.
The field numbers are 132. A cut after 36 holes keeps the top 70 and ties, meaning more than half the field flies home Friday with nothing.
How Can You Watch The Amundi Evian Championship?
Golf Channel has The Amundi Evian Championship 2026 in the United States, with NBC Sports streaming it on the app and website. Every round airs live.
Now for the bad news: the hours. France runs six hours ahead of the East Coast, so the golf starts while most of America sleeps. Weekend coverage begins at 4:00 a.m. ET.
| Round | Day | Channel | Start (ET) |
| Round 1 | Thursday | Golf Channel | 6:00 a.m. |
| Round 2 | Friday | Golf Channel | 6:00 a.m. |
| Round 3 | Saturday | Golf Channel | 4:00 a.m. |
| Round 4 | Sunday | Golf Channel | 4:00 a.m. |
The NBC app wants a cable or satellite login before it shows you anything. Cord cutters need a live TV package that carries Golf Channel, and that is the whole workaround.
Coverage windows shift sometimes, so check the listings each morning. If you only watch one round, make it Sunday. This tournament saves its chaos for the final nine holes, and I mean that as a compliment.
How Much Is the Evian Championship Prize Money?
The purse at the Amundi Evian Championship 2026 is $9.1 million, a tournament record. Roughly $1.365 million of it goes to the winner. For context, Grace Kim won $1.2 million here last year from an $8 million purse. Organizers found another million-plus down the couch cushions for 2026.
| Year | Total Purse | Winner’s Share |
| 2024 | $8 million | $1.2 million |
| 2025 | $8 million | $1.2 million |
| 2026 | $9.1 million | ~$1.365 million |
The payout system is simple. Make the 36-hole cut and you earn a share. Miss it and you earn nothing, not a reduced cheque, zero. Watch the players hovering near the line on Friday and you can see the see that tense.
Amundi has sponsored since 2021 and extended through 2030, and stable money is why the purse keeps climbing. Sponsors come and go in golf but this one stayed.
Did You Know? A hole-in-one during tournament week wins a Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric.
Who Are the Favorites at Evian in 2026?
The 2026 field brought 29 of the world’s top 30 to France. The betting market has strong opinions about who matters, so let’s go through the short list of the names.
1. Nelly Korda
The world number one, the winner of two majors already this season, and clearly the favorite. Korda has never won at Evian, and these greens have embarrassed her before. I trust her ball-striking anywhere on earth. Her putting on this particular property is the open question.
2. Jeeno Thitikul
Thitikul lost last year’s title to Grace Kim in a playoff, which had to sting. Her iron play and course management fit Evian better than almost anyone’s. If the golf gods believe in makeup calls, she wins this week. They usually don’t.
3. Haeran Ryu
Ryu won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship just last month, so the form is real and recent. Her tee-to-green game ranks near the top of this field, and Evian pays that skill first. My quiet pick if Korda stumbles.
4. Lottie Woad
Woad tied for third here in 2025 as an amateur, closing with a Sunday 64. Read that sentence again. She has since turned professional, and nothing about big stages seems to bother her.
5. Hyo Joo Kim
The 2014 champion, and one of very few players in this field who has actually solved these greens. Her game runs on control, not power.
6. Hannah Green and the Chasing Pack
Green owns a major and a complete game, so she belongs in this conversation. Miyu Yamashita and Ruoning Yin arrive in form. And keep half an eye on Gaby Lopez, whose putter can catch fire in a hurry.
Who Is the Defending Champion?
Grace Kim is the defending champion, and her 2025 win might be the wildest finish this event has produced. The Australian arrived at the 72nd hole needing magic just to stay alive. She holed out for eagle. Then, in the playoff against Jeeno Thitikul, she went birdie, eagle to win it.
I keep coming back to the ranking. Kim was 99th in the world that week, and nobody had her circled. Evian does this more than any other major, which is exactly why neutral fans should love it.
Can she repeat? History says no, loudly. No player has won this event twice since it became a major in 2013. The odds treat her like an afterthought. Then again, the odds treated her like an afterthought last July too.
What Makes Evian Resort Golf Club a Tough Test?
Evian Resort Golf Club looks harmless on paper. Par 71, 6,504 yards. The scorecard is lying to you.
Lets start with the land. The course sits around 1,575 feet up near the French Alps, and nearly every stance tilts one way or another. Players hit from sidehill lies all day, even on basic wedge shots, and the ones who fight it lose.
The greens do the real damage. Quick, heavily sloped, and different with every new hole location. First-timers get fooled here constantly, which is why experience at this venue is worth actual strokes.
And then the 18th waits. The closing par 5 offers a genuine eagle chance and has decided whole tournaments. Grace Kim holed out there last year to force the playoff. Whoever leads through 71 holes should not feel safe. Nobody ever does.
What wins here? Precise irons, a delicate touch on the greens, and the nerve to take a punch. This is second-shot golf. Miss on the wrong side of these holes and bogey arrives fast.
How Has The Amundi Evian Championship Grown Over the Years?
The Amundi Evian Championship pulled off a rare trick, climbing from tour stop to major in under three decades. It began in 1994 as the Evian Masters on the Ladies European Tour. The LPGA co-signed in 2000. Major status arrived in 2013.
The date moved too. For years this event closed the major season in September. Since 2019 it has played in July as the fourth of five, ahead of the AIG Women’s Open. The summer slot suits it.
Money grew with the status. Early editions paid a fraction of the current figure. The 2026 purse of $9.1 million is the biggest yet, and I doubt it stops there.
Now the strangest stat in the tournament’s file: no repeat winners. Twelve major editions, twelve first-time champions, eight countries on the trophy. Suzann Pettersen won the first one in 2013. Hyo Joo Kim followed in 2014, and Lydia Ko took 2015 at just 18, still the youngest major winner in LPGA history.
| Year | Champion | Country |
| 2021 | Minjee Lee | Australia |
| 2022 | Brooke Henderson | Canada |
| 2023 | Celine Boutier | France |
| 2024 | Ayaka Furue | Japan |
| 2025 | Grace Kim | Australia |
One asterisk sits on the record: nobody won in 2020, because nobody played. Organizers cancelled that edition during the pandemic. The streak picked back up in 2021 and has not blinked since.
Final Thoughts
The Amundi Evian Championship 2026 has everything a great tournament week needs. Record money, the deepest field of the year, and a course with a documented habit of humiliating favorites. The Lake Geneva backdrop is just showing off at this point.
Korda deserves the favorite tag and might well justify it. But I’ll believe a chalk winner at Evian when I see one lift the trophy. My pick sits outside the top three in the betting, because this place keeps rewarding the overlooked. I see no reason to fight history.
Key Takeaways
- The Amundi Evian Championship 2026 runs July 9 to 12 in Evian-les-Bains, the French spa town above Lake Geneva that gave the water its name.
- Five majors exist in women’s golf. This is the only one in mainland Europe.
- Par 71, 6,504 yards. Sounds easy, plays anything but, because flat lies barely exist on this hillside.
- The purse is a record $9.1 million, and the winner’s share of roughly $1.365 million tops last year’s by more than $150,000.
- A field of 132 becomes 70 and ties on Friday, so over half go home with nothing.
- Nelly Korda leads the betting off two majors this season, though she has never solved these greens.
- Grace Kim defends. She won here last year ranked 99th in the world.
- Wondering how to watch? Golf Channel has all four rounds live in the US, from 4:00 a.m. ET on the weekend.
- One travel note for anyone going: most fans fly into Geneva, but the ferry across the lake from Switzerland beats the drive.
- Twelve major editions, twelve different champions. Nobody has won this twice.
- And if anyone makes a hole-in-one this week, she drives home a Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric.
FAQs
Why is the Evian Championship considered a major?
It is because the LPGA said so in 2013, essentially. The tour promoted it that year on the strength of its fields, purse, and two decades of history. The Amundi Evian Championship now counts the same as the other four, whatever purists thought at the time.
How do players qualify for the Amundi Evian Championship?
Most of the field gets in through world rankings and LPGA or Ladies European Tour standings. Past major winners hold automatic spots. Whatever gaps remain in the 132, sponsor invites fill.
Is the Evian the last major of the women’s golf season?
Not since 2019. It used to close the season each September, then organizers moved it to July. Now it plays fourth of five, with the AIG Women’s Open still to come after it.
What does the champion receive besides prize money?
A multi-year LPGA Tour exemption, for a start, plus a heap of world ranking points and guaranteed starts in future majors. The trophy itself might matter most. Only five like it exist in the women’s game each year.
