The LPGA Tour heads this week to its first major of the season on international soil for the Amundi Evian Championship in France amidst some of its most uncertain times of the 2024 season.
Nelly Korda’s grasp on the tour has slipped, and questions have gone from whether anyone can beat the six-time winner in 2024 to if the World No. 1 can put four solid rounds together. After a stretch in which Korda became only the third player in LPGA history to win five straight, she has missed three consecutive cuts for the first time in her career. She posted an 80 in the U.S. Women’s Open and 81 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship over her last two major appearances. On top of her recent golf struggles, Korda had to miss defending her Aramco Team Series-London title on the Ladies European Tour last week due to a dog biting her hand.
Korda’s step back happened as the rest of the tour reemerged. She could arguably be the third-best American of the moment, as Lilia Vu reasserted herself as a dominant figure following missing nine events due to a back injury. In Vu’s first tournament back, she won the Meijer LPGA Classic before finishing runner-up in the Women’s PGA. Fellow American Ally Ewing is in one of the best stretches of her career, posting four straight top-5s for the first time in her nine years on tour.
Past World No. 1s are finding form as well. Jin Young Ko, who has won at least once for seven consecutive seasons on the LPGA, threatened late in the Women’s PGA to tie Vu in second place. Atthaya Thitikul won her third career title at the Dow Championship last week.
Celine Boutier, who became the first Frenchwoman to capture the Evian last year, had a breakout season in 2023 with fours wins, but she’s struggled to contend this year, with a solo second in February’s HSBC Women’s World Championship as her only top-10 result.
With the most uncertain favourite of the year, here are our top 25 players who we think will most likely win the LPGA’s fourth major in Evian-Les-Bains.
25. Nasa Hataoka
Rolex Rankings: 24 Starts: 4 Best finish: T-3, 2023
Hataoka earns a nod despite her recent poor form because she consistently plays well at the Evian Resort Course. She has had three top-20s, including a T-3 last season. The Japanese star has had a top-10 in at least one major every year since 2020 and has yet to post one in 2024, so she is likely due for a strong performance.
24. Rose Zhang
Mike Stobe
Rolex Rankings: 8 Starts: 3 Best finish: T-9, 2023
Strong major finishes are no longer coming naturally to the two-time LPGA winner. After three top-10s in a row last season, Zhang’s T-35 at the Women’s PGA was her first made cut at a major in 2024. Meantime, Zhang has not shot under par since her Mizuho Americas Open victory in May. The American is averaging three over par through her past six rounds, including a 79 during round 1 in the U.S. Women’s Open.
23. Mao Saigo
Rolex Rankings: 51 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-3, 2022
Saigo is in third place for the Rookie of the Year award after a T-7 at the Women’s PGA, the best major result of the top three award contenders. Leader Gabi Ruffels earned a T-40 in the Chevron, and Jin Hee Im in second place finished eighth in the Chevron. Saigo could best her T-7 this week, as her best career finish came at the Evian Resort Course in 2022.
22. Lydia Ko
Rolex Rankings: 19 Starts: 10 Best finish: Win, 2015
Despite an electric start to the season, Ko has slowed down since the end of April. In the first four months of the year, she had three top-5s and six top-20s over seven starts, including a victory at the season-opening Tournament of Champions. Since May, she has made two of four cuts, with a best finish of T-35 at the Cognizant Founders Cup. The Kiwi, however, has had success in the Evian, posting seven top-10s in 10 appearances, including Ko’s first major title.
21. Allisen Corpuz
Rolex Rankings: 23 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-54, 2023
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Open winner started rounding into form in late June. Corpuz posted her season-best result of T-5 in the Meijer LPGA Classic and finished T-19 at the Women’s PGA Championship. Before that, Corpuz had not earned a top-20 since the Fir Hills Se Ri Pak Championship in late March.
20. Hae Ran Ryu
Rolex Rankings: 25 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-42, 2023
Following a wobbly May for the 2023 Rookie of the Year, in which Ryu was one of many illness withdrawals at the Mizuho Americas Open and then had a T-51 in the U.S. Women’s Open, she settled back in with a T-9 at the Women’s PGA for her fifth top-10 of 2024. Ryu held the 54-hole lead at the Chevron before a closing 74 dropped her to T-5.
19. Patty Tavatanakit
Rolex Rankings: 28 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-48, 2023
Tavatanakit was in contention for her second major title at last year’s Evian, sitting T-2 before a dispiriting 74-76 weekend. The 2021 Chevron Championship winner has notched four top-25s in her past five starts and won the Honda LPGA Thailand in February.
18. Miyu Yamashita
Rolex Rankings: 17 Starts: 1 Best finish: T-48, 2023
Yamashita has impressed in all three of her LPGA starts this year. She finished T-17 in the Chevron, T-12 in the U.S. Women’s Open, and T-2 in the Women’s PGA. The major performances helped move her up the Rolex Rankings and earn her way into Japan’s second Olympic spot.
17. Linn Grant
Rolex Rankings: 26 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-8, 2022
Grant comes in off a victory at the Scandinavian Mixed a month ago as the only female winner in DP World Tour history. She followed with a T-9 at the Women’s PGA, showing form ahead of the Evian, where she has a pair of top-20s in her two career starts, including a T-16 last year.
16. Ayaka Furue
Rolex Rankings: 21 Starts: 3 Best finish: Fourth, 2021
Can Furue’s litany of top-10s finally result in a victory? She surpassed Nelly Korda for the most on tour with her eighth at the Meijer LPGA Classic, matching her total from 2023. The Evian might be the tournament where Furue earns her second career title, with her best major career finish coming at the 2021 Evian.
15. Celine Boutier
Rolex Rankings: 6 Starts: 7 Best finish: Win, 2023
Boutier’s 2024 campaign has been muted heading into the defense of her Evian title, with only one top-10 finish. She did have a somewhat promising result in the Women’s PGA, tying for 19th.
14. Amy Yang
Rolex Rankings: 4 Starts: 17 Best finish: T-8, 2015
It took 75 major appearances, but Yang got her first major win in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The 34-year-old has earned 22 top-10s in total at majors, but only two of those have come in the Evian.
13. Leona Maguire
Rolex Rankings: 29 Starts: 4 Best finish: T-6, 2021
The Irishwoman enters France after earning her first LET title with an eagle on the final hole in the Aramco Team Series-London. Maguire has impressed in the Evian before, closing with a then-major-scoring-record 61 in 2021.
12. Charley Hull
Rolex Rankings: 9 Starts: 10 Best finish: T-3, 2022
If Hull remains in the field, which is uncertain given her withdrawal from the LET’s London event with a shoulder injury, the Englishwoman should continue to succeed in majors. After two runner-up finishes last season in the U.S. Women’s Open and British Open, she has posted top-25s in all three majors in 2024, including a best of T-16 in the Women’s PGA.
11. Hinako Shibuno
Atsushi Tomura
Rolex Rankings: 49 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-59, 2023
It’s been a tale of two halves of 2024 for Shibuno. The 2019 AIG Women’s Open winner’s best finish in nine starts through May was a T-50 in the Chevron. Over her five LPGA events since June, Shibuno has two top-10s, with an out-of-nowhere runner-up in the U.S. Women’s Open and a T-7 in the Women’s PGA Championship.
10. Nelly Korda
Rolex Rankings: 1 Starts: 6 Best finish: T-8, 2022
If there’s any consolation for Korda to snap out of her current funk, she returns to a venue where she has been consistent. Korda earned top-10s in the Evian the last two seasons, including her best finish of T-8 in 2022 and a T-9 in 2023.
9. Minjee Lee
Rolex Rankings: 11 Starts: 9 Best finish: Win, 2021
Lee still hasn’t quite recovered from losing the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Women’s Open with a final-round 78. She missed the cut at the Meijer, then finished T-24 in the Women’s PGA. The Australian has yet to card an under-par round since a Saturday 66 in the U.S. Women’s Open.
8. Hyo Joo Kim
Rolex Rankings: 13 Starts: 10 Best finish: Win, 2014
Kim has remained a stalwart talent in the Evian since her lone major title there in 2014. She has notched four top-5s and only finished outside the top 20 twice. The South Korean rounded into form at the last two majors with a T-12 at the U.S. Women’s Open and T-16 at the Women’s PGA.
7. Hannah Green
Rolex Rankings: 7 Starts: 4 Best finish: T-30, 2019
Can Green, in one of the best seasons in her career, take a step forward at her worst major? The two-time winner in 2024 hasn’t placed outside the top 30 in her last six starts—all better than her best career finish at the Evian.
6. Brooke Henderson
Rolex Rankings: 14 Starts: 8 Best finish: Win, 2022
Henderson has been stellar the last two years in the Evian, with a victory in 2022 and runner-up last year. The Canadian is averaging 67.88 over her past eight rounds on the Evian Resort Course. Henderson has six top-10 finishes this season, but she’s faded a bit in the early summer, last contending with a T-3 in April’s Chevron.
5. Jin Young Ko
Rolex Rankings: 3 Starts: 7 Best finish: Win, 2019
A backdoor T-2 finish in the Women’s PGA for the two-time major champion made it six consecutive seasons with at least one top-10 in a major. Ko seems to be peaking as she aims for her first major title since winning the Evian five years ago.
4. Yuka Saso
Sarah Stier
Rolex Rankings: 10 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-3, 2023
The two-time U.S. Women’s Open winner returns to another major she has succeeded in. Saso was a stroke behind Boutier’s 36-hole lead last year before the Frenchwoman broke away from the pack. Saso remains a threat in the LPGA’s majors, finishing in the top three in three of her last six major starts, including her victory this season at Lancaster.
3. Ally Ewing
Rolex Rankings: 16 Starts: 7 Best finish: T-11, 2019
Ewing is in arguably the best form on tour without a victory yet this season. She has posted four straight top-5s, including two at majors, and missed a 20-footer on the final hole at the Dow Championship, which would have led to a playoff. The three-time winner earned her best career major finish with a T-3 in the U.S. Women’s Open.
2. Atthaya Thitikul
Rolex Rankings: 12 Starts: 4 Best finish: Fifth, 2021
Thitikul comes into the major with momentum from winning the Dow Championship, and the Thai has the best scoring average (68.33) in the Evian over the last five years, earning three top-10s in four starts.
1. Lilia Vu
Rolex Rankings: 2 Starts: 2 Best finish: T-42, 2023
Due to her back, the two-time major champion missed defending her maiden major title in the Chevron, along with the U.S. Women’s Open. Since Vu returned from her injury, only Amy Yang has beaten Vu in two starts. The only thing keeping the American from contending in majors this season is her availability.
