Evian Championship moving back to summer date in 2019

The Evian Championship is moving back to mid-summer – the tournament’s weather woes are (almost) consigned to the history books!

The Evian Championship is moving back to summer! ForeGals joins the players in giving tournament organizers and @LPGACommish a round of grateful applause. Even better news, particularly for the players, is a boost in the purse.

The Evian has been plagued by bad weather and impossibly difficult playing conditions. Moving to mid-summer is an ideal fix.

Late summer/early fall weather in the French Alps is notoriously unpredictable. For the most part players have endured and persevered. However, some have objected to scheduling the Evian at a time when weather conditions are historically problematic.  Stacy Lewis simply refused to participate in the event. To her credit, Lewis didn’t couch her non-participation at the 2017 Evian in terms of weather issues. But reading between the lines of her public statement, Lewis just didn’t want to combat the conditions.

2017 – the straw that broke the camel’s back!

In retrospect, Lewis made a wise decision last year. The rain was torrential and conditions so unplayable for so long that the 2017 Evian was shortened to 54 holes.

The players weren’t happy. Some were more outspoken than others.

Jessica Korda: It sucked because I was playing so well yesterday, and some people weren’t playing so well yesterday, that are playing well today, and there’s nothing I can do about that. I just need to concentrate on myself. I was annoyed until about 9 PM last night, and then I was like, `All right, screw it. When I wake up, it’s a new day. What’s done is done, and we’ll just keep moving forward.’

Laura Davies: I thought it was the fairest thing to do. I didn’t think they would do it, because I don’t necessarily think the LPGA officials are all that fair. . .

Lydia Ko: Nobody wants to make it a 54-hole event, but that’s why it was such a tough decision. But with the weather, it’s something that’s totally out of your control, and I don’t think they were expecting it to be as drastic as it was yesterday.

Katherine Kirk: I don’t know. I was on the fence, actually. Obviously, the golf course yesterday was unplayable afterwards, but we did get eight holes in, so maybe we could have gone out there this morning, re-started and had at least eight holes under our belt.

The Evian will have one final late-summer playing, September 13-16, 2018 – and then move to mid-summer. And there’s pot-sweetener in the deal, an additional $200,000 in the 2018 purse, which will probably help ease the players’ suffering.

But next year, 2019, the Evian will move to mid-summer with another purse increase. All’s well that ends well, in golf and in life!

So postpone your golf travel plans a year. In 2019 I’m expecting to see close scheduling of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the Ricoh Women’s British Open, and the Evian Championship. If you have enough time and money you could follow all three events from behind the ropes and get in some golf time of your own on any number of quite wonderful links courses.