Ko Jin-young looks for third major title at Evian Championship

Ko Jin-young hits her shot from the 15th tee during the first round of the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California on July 6. [AFP/YONHAP]

The Amundi Evian Championship — one of five LPGA majors — tees off Thursday at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France with world No. 1 Ko Jin-young joining the 132-strong field as she looks to win the tournament for the second time and claim her third major title.

First established in 1994 as a Ladies European Tour (LET) event, the Evian Championship became an LET and LPGA co-sanctioned tournament in 2000, before becoming a major in 2013.

Ko, ranked at No. 1 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, is the most recent Korean winner of the Championship, having taken the title in 2019 after two other Korean winners: Kim Hyo-joo in 2014 and Chun In-gee in 2016.

That win was Ko's second major, beating countrywoman Kim, Jennifer Kupcho of the United States and Shanshan Feng of China by a margin of two strokes.

Feng is not in the field this year, but Kupcho and Kim are both competing again.

Kim was the first Korean to win the tournament in 2014, after it became a major. Chun In-gee was the second in 2016, and will also be competing again this year.

Chun’s victory in 2016 was a historic win, as she set the tournament scoring record with a 21-under-par, 263, which remains the most under-par 72 hole score in women’s major history.

She has yet to secure a title this season, however, with her last victory at the Women’s PGA Championship last year.

None of the Korean golfers besides Ko have won a title this season, with the world No. 1 having secured the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March and the Cognizant Founders Cup in May.

Those stats allowed Ko to break the record for most weeks at the top last month with 159 weeks — now 163 as of Wednesday.

The road to her third major victory, however, will be tough, as five other former champions will also be in the field: 2022 champion Brooke Henderson of Canada, 2021 champion Minjee Lee of Australia, 2018 champion Angela Stanford of the United States, 2017 champion Anna Nordqvist of Sweden and 2015 champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand.

To make the tournament even more competitive, 14 other golfers that have won a title this season will all be joining the field, including two other multi-winners: Lilia Vu of the United States and Ruoning Yin of China.

The three former Korean winners — Ko, Kim-Hyo-joo and Chun — will also be competing alongside 18 other countrywomen: Kim Su-ji, Park Min-ji, Amy Yang, Ryu So-yeon, Chella Choi, Joo Soo-bin, Lee Mi-hyang, Lee So-mi, Park Sung-hyun, Kim Sei-young, Ji Eun-hee, Shin Ji-yai, Ryu Hae-ran, Jenny Shin, Kim A-lim, Lee Jeong-eun6, An Na-rin and Choi Hye-jin.

Another notable Korean golfer is Park Min-ji — the winningest KLPGA golfer with 18 titles — who is competing in her second LPGA event this year.

She proved that she is able to compete on the LPGA Tour by tying for 13th place at the U.S Women’s Open — the biggest major — earlier this month.

Lee Jeong-eun6 also arrives in Evian-les-Bains with a good track record in France, having finished runner-up in 2021.

Magdalena Simmermacher paired with Celine Borge and Bailey Tardy will be the first to tee off on the first hole at 7:15 a.m. the same time Matilda Castren, Meghan MacLaren and Kim Su-ji start on the 10th hole.

Ko will then tee off on the 10th hole at 8:03 a.m. alongside Ayaka Furue and Chiara Noja followed by Chun on the same hole with Nasa Hataoka and Lydia Ko at 1:03 p.m.

Kim Hyo-joo will start also on the 10th hole at 1:27 p.m. with Angela Stanford and Perrine Delacour.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]