Miyazato favoured at final Evian Masters
BY Bruce Young | Ladies European Tour | 2012 Evian Masters | Preview | 24 Jul 2012
The LPGA Tour returns to action this week following a two week break with the lucrative Evian Masters being played in the beautiful Evian Les Baines in France.
The tournament matches the US Women’s Open in prize-money (US$3.25 million) and in 2013 becomes a major on the LPGA Tour schedule.
This will therefore be the final year for the event as it is now known as in 2013 the tournament will be renamed The Evian and will be played over a remodelled layout at the same venue.
Once this year’s event is completed the course will be significantly rebuilt to bring it up to a standard in keeping with major championship golf.
It is one of the most beautiful locations for a golf course but in order for the event to carry major championship status, the layout needed improvement.
Ai Miyazato, a two time winner of the event in the past three years, is having a good season in 2012 and she appears to be the player to beat given her record over the lakeside layout.
With two victories and two runner-up finishes on the LPGA Tour already this season, the world number four might just start favourite this week despite the presence of the world number one Yani Tseng.
Tseng has struggled in recent starts and the Evian Masters has never really been one of her better events. She also has a new caddy on the bag this week following the split between her and Jason Hamilton after that pair had won 16 tournaments during their time together.
US Women’s Open winner, Na Yeon Choi, has played the Evian well in previous years having been runner-up on two occasions. Choi played an event on the Japan Ladies Tour last week without any real success but that she even played might work in her favour.
Suzanne Pettersen appears to be closing in on her first win of the season and with two or three good finishes in this event over the years she should be considered as a potential winner.
Australians in the field are former winner, Karrie Webb, Katherine Hull, Lindsey Wright, Wendy Doolan, Karen Lunn and Frances Bondad.
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