The Evian Championship: Ne Plus Ultra Majeur

What constitutes a major tournament?  How many majors are there?  And what really constitutes a Grand Slam?  Pressing questions on the eve of The Evian Championship, the only major women’s golf competition on the European continent, and an event long regarded by those who compete as the women’s equivalent of The Masters played annually at Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia.

On the LPGA Tour there’s the Kraft Nabisco Championship, created in 1972, traditionally played in Mission Hills Country Club, California.  Inbee Park won the Kraft Nabisco in 2013.  Then there’s the LPGA Championship, the 2nd oldest tournament on the LPGA Tour.  Inbee Park won the Championship in 2013.  There’s the oldest tournament on the LPGA Tour, the US Women’s Open, established in 1946, now managed collaboratively by the LPGA and the USGA.  Inbee Park won the 2013 Open.  That would seem to make Inbee Park a Grand Slam winner, at least so far as LPGA events are concerned, and sitting pretty beside Miskey Wright, Pat Bradley, and Babe Zaharias.

But women’s golf is internationalized.  The LPGA has historically included the Women’s British Open in its list of major tournaments, raising the number of majors from 3 to 4.  Stacy Lewis won the 2013 Women’s British Open.  And the LET lists 2 majors in its tournament schedule, the Women’s British Open and The Evian Championship.

"Evian becomes a major this year but in any case, we have always considered this tournament to be a Major.Inbee Park, South Korea"

Extending the spirit of collaboration, the LPGA has now incorporated The Evian into its list of majors, raising the number from 4 to 5.  Now, I ask again, what constitutes a Grand Slam?  The 3 historically defined LPGA events?  The LPGA Big Three + the Women’s British Open?  Or is it 5 events, a complete merger of the LPGA and LET majors?

"To become a Major, it’s an achievement.Franck Riboud, President, The Evian Championship"

Inbee Park could successfully defend her championship at The Evian and become the first golfer, male or female, to win 4 majors in a single season.  Alternatively, Inbee Park could yield to a new champion.  The Evian has prepared for either outcome.  Like a glamorous princess readying herself for the ball, The Evian will debut with new, reshaped greens, fairways lined by more than 200 new trees, and a 400+ meter/435+ yard, par 4 18th hole that will challenge, befuddle, and frustrate 120 world-class golfers and delight fans comfortably positioned in their own portable chairs embossed with The Evian logo.

The competitors, who are playing practice rounds, crafting strategies for various contingencies, and enjoying the social milieu of Evian-les-Bains, will be ready to bring out their very best game on Thursday morning.  And throughout The Evian, special trains will run between Paris and Evian-les-Baines.  Glorious French picnics will be packed and savored.  This is the ultimate Major!