Players to Watch: 2025 Amundi Evian Championship
- Sarah Kellam
- Jul 10
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 29
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — The year’s fourth major is being contested this week in Evian-les-Bains, France, and with a field stacked top to bottom with incredibly strong talent, identifying a winner can sometimes be a bit of a challenge, even more so at a somewhat difficult Evian Resort Golf Club. Take a look at just a few athletes to watch as they work to add their names to the incredible list of players who have won The Amundi Evian Championship.
Nelly Korda
The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 is one of two favorites in the field this week in France alongside Jeeno Thitikul. This is her eighth start in The Amundi Evian Championship, and she hasn’t finished any worse than T26 in her last five appearances in this major tournament, picking up a pair of back-to-back top 10s in 2022, when she tied for eighth, and 2023, when she tied for ninth at Evian Resort Golf Club.
In terms of her season-long statistics, the 26-year-old Floridian ranks inside the top 10 of four major strokes gained categories on the LPGA Tour this season, according to KPMG Performance Insights. Korda is first in strokes gained off the tee (+1.10), second in both strokes gained total (+2.47) and strokes gained tee to green (+1.89) and 10th in strokes gained approach (+0.82). She additionally ranks third in ball striking (14) and 11th in greens in regulation (73.17 percent).
Considering that over 40 percent of the top five finishers’ strokes gained total over the last two years of this event have come from their approach play, that combination of ball-striking skills could be deadly for Korda and should increase her lethality at this historically tricky venue.
Lauren Coughlin
Lauren Coughlin nearly won her first major title at The Amundi Evian Championship last season, ultimately finishing alone in fourth after contending throughout the week in Evian-les-Bains, France in 2024. She carded rounds of 65-70-65-69 over the four days of play at Evian Resort Golf Club to post a 72-hole total of 15-under in what was her fourth start in this major championship. According to KPMG Performance Insights data, the 32-year-old ranks inside the top 35 of two strokes gained metrics this season, currently sitting at 30th in strokes gained approach (+0.48) and 32nd in strokes gained tee to green (+0.77). She is also second in driving accuracy (83.65 percent), 12th in ball striking (41) and 13th in greens in regulation percentage (73.10 percent) on the LPGA Tour this season.
This is Coughlin’s 14th start of the year, and in her 13 previous tournaments, she has made 10 cuts and earned three top-10 results – finishing seventh at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, finishing runner-up to Madelene Sagstrom at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and then tying for third at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro, the last of which was contested at a venue that is also quite sloped and undulated.
Gemma Dryburgh
Scotswoman Gemma Dryburgh is one of the dark horses this week at The Amundi Evian Championship, but she has had quite a bit of success at Evian Resort Golf Club in recent years. After tying for 60th in her tournament debut in 2022, the 2023 TOTO Japan Classic winner came in eighth in 2023 and then tied for 17th in 2024. She is teeing it up in her 13th event of the 2025 season in France, and in her 12 starts ahead of this week, she has made eight cuts and collected three top-20 finishes at the Blue Bay LPGA (T17), the JM Eagle LA Championship (T16) and the Dow Championship (T6).
Even though the 32-year-old isn’t ranked very highly in many statistical categories on Tour so far this year, Dryburgh is a decent ball striker and is 27th in strokes gained around the green in 2025, something that should come in handy if she gets a few wayward bounces at this heavily sloped venue.
By: Sarah Kellam
Sarah Kellam is a Kentucky native and played collegiate golf at Northern Kentucky University. She currently serves as a Manager of Digital Content and prior to the LPGA, Sarah worked as a freelance content creator.
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