In July 2025, Grace Kim stood on the 18th tee at Evian Resort Golf Club, two shots behind the leader, ranked 99th in the world, and needing a miracle.
She hit a 4-hybrid approach to within two feet for eagle. Playoff.
On the first playoff hole, she hit her second shot into the creek. Seemingly finished.
She took her penalty drop and chipped in for birdie. Still alive.
On the second playoff hole, she holed an eagle putt to win the Evian Championship. Her closing sequence: eagle, birdie, eagle to win a major championship. She became the first player outside the world’s top 50 to win at Evian since it became a major in 2013. She was the first Australian to win it.
Kim’s finish is the latest chapter in a course that has produced extraordinary drama since the Evian Masters was created in 1994. In 2015, Lydia Ko won at just 18 years, 4 months, and 20 days, the youngest winner of a women’s major in history.
What most golfers don’t know about Evian is that the course exists because of bottled water. The Société Anonyme des Eaux Minérales d’Évian, the same company that bottles Evian water, purchased farmland in 1904 and built the course alongside the Hôtel Royal as part of the Belle Époque spa culture. European aristocracy came for mineral water treatments; the golf course was designed as an elegant pastime between sessions.
The original nine holes were designed by Willie Park Jr., the Scottish legend who won The Open Championship twice and was one of the most influential early course architects. The layout was expanded to 18 holes in 1922 and completely redesigned by Cabell B. Robinson in the early 1990s. An $8 million renovation in 2012-13 rebuilt every green complex, bunker, and water feature ahead of Evian’s elevation to major status.
Today, Evian is the only major championship in Continental Europe and the only major played on the same course every year. Every fairway offers views across Lake Geneva to Lausanne on the Swiss shore opposite. The course sits at roughly 500 metres above sea level, and the par-5 18th, where Grace Kim made her extraordinary eagle, plays against a backdrop of the French Alps.
The Evian Championship was founded with a specific mission: to create an event where women golfers could compete in the best possible conditions. Grace Kim, ranked 99th, her ball in the creek, would probably argue the conditions were perfect.
Fairways & Frontlines plays Evian Resort Golf Club during the Lake Geneva portion of the tour itinerary.