Stephanie Meadow is making her third appearance at the Amundi Evian Championship in the spa town situated beside Lake Geneva in southeastern France and, coming off the back of a T3 finish in her last major start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, is looking forward to getting on the course and backing that up with another stellar major showing.
“The golf course looks kind of like normal,” she said when asked how her preparations for the week were progressing, “it’s nice to come somewhere we’ve played before so there’s a little less work on prep, but it’s sticking to the same things, obviously had a great result [at the KPMG Women’s PGA] but I’m just trying to keep moving forward and get some more good ones.”
Her third-place finish at Baltusrol was her best major showing since taking solo third as a fledgling pro in U.S. Women’s Open in 2014 and served as a reminder to both herself and to the golfing world that she’s a force to be reckoned with on the big stage.
“I mean, to be in contention, you see that things are on the right track,” she explained, “and the things I’m working on are obviously working, so obviously that’s a confidence boost. To play in the final group at a major and play well and be in contention, so if you can do it once, you can do it again.”
With the season’s three previous majors being held in the United States – though Meadow didn’t qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach – Evian Resort provides a vastly different challenge for the stars of the women’s game.
“The golf course is a little trickier in parts,” Meadow said, “and obviously way more elevation changes than what we’d see on any other major golf course but I think we’re all kind of used to it now. It’s in great shape, the greens are in great shape, the whole course looks great this year.”
Not only is the course very different, but the event itself has a very different vibe to those centred around major urban areas in the U.S.
“Feel wise? It’s a very ‘homey’ event, everybody stays in the same place and we see everybody downtown for dinner whereas at the other majors, everybody’s so spread apart that you don’t really see anyone so it’s a great week from that standpoint as well and then there’s a beer garden here that everybody hangs out at and they do a great job at hosting us.”
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