The Evian Masters 2012

It's that time again, the 2012 Evian Masters is this week in France. The ladies are fresh off a 2 week break and ready to compete! The tournament will be from Thursday July 26th to Sunday July 29th. 

The course in Evian-les-bains, France is a Par 36/36 - 72 and plays 6, 344 yards.


The ladies, all 111 of them are in the City of Evian les bains France practicing and fine tuning their skills before the event start on Thursday. This group of talented ladies who qualified for the Evian Masters, are made up from 24 different nationalities. Korea tops the US with 30 players compared to 26. More than ever, we are seeing more and more young ladies from Korea who were inspired by the likes of Se Ri Pak. Se Ri has been a key player and not only gave inspiration, but allowed for young ladies to know that their dream is possible. That dream to play on the LPGA Tour has come true for many as we see 30 players representing Korea. Na Yeon Choi has many times said that Se Ri was her idol growing up and gave her to drive to work towards playing on the US LPGA Tour.


Caroline Alfonso will be representing her home country of France.  She turned pro in 2007 and is 27 years old. While she ranks 205 on the Rolex Rankings, she will be playing her heart out to represent this wonderful tournament in her home country. Another lady from France is Sophie Giquel-Bettan who turned pro the same year as Alfonso, and is currently 29 years of age. 


Last years winner, Ai Miyazato will be back to defend her title. She won last years tourney by two strokes ahead of Stacey Lewis. Surprisingly enough, she only had pars on her final four holes. 3rd place was a 3-way tie and included Angela Stanford, I.K. Kim & Miki Salki. Then we went to a 3-way tie for 6th with Pettersen, Pressel & Hong. 


The following are some of the key players to watch this week....


Cristie Kerr has been looking for a win this year and has posted 3 top 10 finishes thus far. She has had 132 career top tens with 14 wins, and I believe she will only increase those wins. She tied for 9th at the U.S. Women's Open in Kohler, Wisconsin. Will she capture her 15th win this week I'm not sure however, with Cristie's focus and determination like no other on the course, she is always one to watch. 


Na Yeon Choi is always one to watch. She's already had a win this year, which was the U.S. Women's Open and has carded 5 top ten finishes. Her 6 career victories have come since turning pro in 2008. She has also had 53 career top ten finishes! 


Stacey Lewis who has had 2 wins thus far this year and 9 top ten finishes, will be looking to contend as well this week. Stacey has had 3 victories since turning pro in 2009, with the biggest and most memorable of those being the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship. Even though she's had 30 top ten career finishes since 2009, as of late she has not been hot with the sticks, I look for her to "make something happen" this week. She finished in a tie for 46th at the U.S. Women's Open and tied for 19th at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G. 


Suzann Pettersen has not captured any wins this year however, she has had 3 top ten finishes. She most recently tied for 9th at the U.S. Women's Open. Her career history boasts 8 victories and 72 top ten finishes since her rookie year in 2003. Suzann fired a 2nd round of 68 at the Open and has a 71 scoring average for the year to date. She finished in a tie for 2nd at the Wegman's LPGA Championship and continues to be up and down with her other finishes thus far. Suzann tends to put too much pressure on herself when not playing well and personally, I believe this affects the remainder of her rounds and she simply cannot shake off the shots as well as Cristie or Na Yeon Choi. 


Of course, there are many more that I'll be watching like favorites; Karen Stupples, Christina Kim and Yani Tseng, in addition to the noted gals I've mentioned above. 


This years telecast will be via the Golf Channel as follows:
July 26 & 27th - 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM  EST
July 28th  -  1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
July 29th  -  6:00 AM to 11:00 AM


You can follow the Evian Masters on TWITTER via:  @evianmasters 
You can follow LIVE SCORING via: http://www.lpgascoring.com/public/Leaderboard.aspx 
And, there's a great APP for the Evian called Evian Masters


So, as you see there are many ways to follow the tourney if you're not fortunate enough to catch the telecast or set your DVR's. This is going to be anyone's tournament to take and who knows, we may even have a first time winner! 


Now, Go Hit Some Balls..............