Japan’s Ayaka Furue won her first major championship by a single shot when she holed an impressive eagle putt from 15 feet on the final green in the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in France.
Furue powered past Australian Stephanie Kyriacou to close out at 265, 19-under-par, and scoop the US $1.2 million first prize.
Locked in a three-way tie for the lead with clubhouse leader Patty Tavatanakit and Kyriacou coming to the 18th, Furue produced a moment of pure magic as her second shot flew over the lake protecting the green by the narrowest of margins and ended pin high. When she sank the tricky right to left putt, there was a huge roar from the galleries and she secured her second Ladies European Tour-LPGA co-sanctioned event, following the 2022 Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open. She also has eight wins on the JLPGA.
The 24-year-old from Kobe, who describes herself as too shy to even order her own food on the telephone, said: “I am so honoured to be the winner of the 2024 Amundi Evian Championship, with the 30th anniversary and 10th anniversary of this being a major.
“I didn’t believe that I could get a major win, so I am so happy right now.”
She becomes the fourth Japanese player to win a major, following Chako Higuchi (1977 LPGA Championship), Hinako Shibuno (2019 AIG Women’s Open) and Yuka Sago, who won the US Women’s Open presented by Ally in May.
Before the event was an LPGA major, there were two prior Japanese winners of the Evian Masters: Hiromi Kobayashi (1997) and Ai Mizyazato (2009 and 2011).
Furue, the halfway leader after successive opening rounds of 65, shot a third round of 70 and started the final round a stroke behind Kyriacou.
The Rolex Rankings No.21 said: “Before starting the final round, I felt like I had to play aggressively today, but after I started playing, I was a little bit frustrated because I wasn’t getting many birdies. After the 15th hole, I gained confidence and that was really good for me.”
Furue made superb birdies on the second and third holes, but three-putted for bogey on the fourth. She birdied the ninth to go out in 33 and was two strokes behind the leader Lauren Coughlin of the United States at the turn. She bogeyed the 12th, but then made another excellent birdie on the par-3 12th, the first of three in a row.
She said: “I recently became a Star Wars fan and I love the saying, “May the force be with you”. I believe that sentence. That sentence came into my mind on the 15th hole and I just kept going with that in my mind.”
Three birdies and an eagle in her final five holes closed out the major championship.
On 18, she took a 6-iron to hit her second shot from the first cut of rough to the green.
Furue added: “Stephanie hit the ball so close to the hole with her third shot so I thought she would make that and I knew I needed an eagle putt. I felt like I could win this tournament, because I love this course and I love it here, so I feel very happy to win here.”
She added that she was “very moved” to see the Japanese flag being delivered to her by a parachutist on the 18th green at the prize giving ceremony, part of the tradition of the only major in Continental Europe.
Kyriacou, who earned her best finish in a major championship, held the outright lead after 16 holes but dropped a shot on 17 after hitting her second shot short of the green and catching the third heavy.
After her final round of 67, the two-time Ladies European Tour winner from Sydney said: “It was a good week. Lots of positives to take away. I played great all week. It sucks not to hold the trophy, but if you’d told me I would come second at the start of the week, I would’ve been happy.
“Obviously a lot of stuff worked well for me this week, so just trying to keep the same mindset going forward and hopefully I can win.”
Tavatanakit ended in third place, with Coughlin in fourth, Haeran Ryu in fifth and Pajaree Anannarukarn in sixth position.
Esther Henseleit ended in a three-way tie for seventh place with Hye-Jin Choi and Peiyun Chien, whose round included a hole-in-one on the par-3 16th.
