EXCLUSIVE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN GULF CHAMPIONSHIP IN EVIAN - FRANCE

USPA NEWS - Created for Women Champions in 1994, the event offers the perfect balance of tradition and innovation whilst respecting golf etiquette. The Evian Championship finds its legitimacy in the list of champions on its winner's board...

In 1994, Antoine and Franck Riboud had dreamed of providing a showcase for women champions and so the Evian Masters was launched on the Ladies European Tour with promises of a growing purse. In 1996, marks the creation of the Sponsors Club. In 1997, Hiromi Kobayashi became the first Japanese champion. The Evian masters boosted its prize fund to half a million pounds, attracting a quality field for the first event of the 1998 European Tour season. Always the N°1 in continental Europe. The Evian Masters become one of the 10 biggest tournaments in the world.

1998 marks also the creation of The Junior Football match. 2000 was the season of the million-pound purse, and the tournament was co-sanctionned for the first time by the US LPGA Tour. 2001, the eight edition of the Evian Masters boasted a prize fund of 1,5 million pounds, by some way the richest in Europe. 2003, the tenth edition found a prestigious new slot in the Golfing calendar, taking place in July prior to the Women's British Open. 2006, setting new standard, becoming one of the first tournaments to include the new Rolex Rankings into its selection criteria.

In 2007, the Evian Masters decided to change the format, increasing the field to 90 players and introducing a cut for the first time. 2009 marks the expansion of Asiatic golf with Ai Miyazato's victory and the successive victories of Asiatic women players the following years at the Evian Masters. 2010 marks the creation of the LPGA Global Media Awards. The same year, the field gets wider with 111 players. The world's elite of women's golf, representing 22 nations. 2013, Continental Europe hosts the first ever Golf Major in its history. (From Evian Championship)