The Amundi Evian Championship
Purse: €6,353,000 (€977,385)
Where: Evian-les-Bains, France
The course: Champions course, Evian Resort Golf Club – 6,527 yards, par 71. Located on the shores of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps, the course was described by Lexi Thompson thus: “It is a great course, pretty complicated. You really need to keep the ball on the fairway. The rough is pretty thick. The greens play fast, some of the putts can be really tricky. You have to think about a lot of things, but that’s what makes it a great course.” It’s not to everyone’s liking, though, even after even after a multimillion euro renovation under Steve Smyers was completed in 2013.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
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The Field: World number one, Jin Young Ko, won five times in the LPGA Tour between July and November 2021 and this year added the HSBC Women’s World Championship. The 27-year-old won this title back in 2019, her last victory in a Major. The defending champion, Australia’s Minjee Lee, is chasing a little history in trying to win this tournament for a second time and therefore becoming the first player to achieve that feat since the Evian was given Major status in 2013. She has won twice this season, including the US Women’s Open championship in June.
Irish in the Field: Leona Maguire, for whom this is the first of four tournaments in succession, will tee it up alongside South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi, a 12-time winner on tour and American Mina Haiigae (13.39). Maguire shot a 61 in last year’s final round in finishing sixth. Stephanie Meadow plays alongside 26-year-old South Korean Jeongeun Lee6 and Germany’s Caroline Masson (12.39).
Betting: Defending champions Minjee Lee heads the market at (9-1) followed by American Nellie Korda (10-1), who in the space of two months last year won her first Major when claiming the LPGA Championship and then followed it with an Olympic gold medal in Japan. The world number one Jin Young Ko (12-1) will be hoping to end her three-year drought in the Majors while Hyo Joo Kim (25-1) once shot a 10-under-par, 61 over this course. Maguire, despite losing and then being reunited with her clubs, looks great each way value at 40-1 while Meadow is listed at 300-1.
On TV: Live on Sky Sports, 10.0am.
British Senior Open Championship
Purse: €2,454,375 (€706, 777 to the winner)
Where: Auchterarder, Scotland
The course: King’s course, Gleneagles – 6,859 yards, par 70. Designed by the five-time British Open champion, James Braid, it opened for play in 1919, the oldest of the three courses at the Scottish resort. Its more famous sibling, the PGA Centenary, hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup. The sweeping moorland layout offers stunning views of the Trossachs, but the breathtaking scenery shouldn’t detract from a demanding golf course with its generous fairways, penal rough, golden gorse and flowering heather, cavernous bunkers, blind shots and elevated green. Lee Trevino said of the former Scottish Open venue: “If heaven is as good as this, I sure hope they have some tee-times left.” There are several short par fours and with the benign weather forecast it will offer classic risk-reward options. The two par fives are on the back nine, the 10th at just 499 yards and 18th.
The field: Americans Steve Stricker and David Toms haven’t made the journey to Scotland but there is a still a pretty strong field to contest the tournament. Germany’s Bernhard Langer, who has won the tournament four times in the last 12 years (2010, 2014, 2017, 2017), tees it up alongside India’s Jeev Milka Singh and New Zealand-born Steve Alker, who has taken the Champions Tour by storm and is joint favourite alongside Ireland’s Pádraig Harrington. The defending champion Stephen Dodd is playing alongside Ernie Els, Thomas Bjorn, Corey Pavin, Retief Goosen and Jose Maria Olazabal to highlight a few stellar names of yesteryear.
Irish in the field: Fresh from his triumph at the US Senior Open, Harrington is expected to contend strongly in Scotland provided he manages to shake off a knee issue that hampered him a little during the Open at St Andrews; at one stage he was five under early in his second round. He will play alongside Corey Pavin and Retief Goosen (9.20am). Seán Fitzgerald is the next Irish player in action and has been grouped alongside Ignacio Feliu and John Kemp (12.0) while Darren Clarke has Alex Cejka and Jose Maria Olazabal for company (13.50). Dubliner Paul McGinley tees it up with Ian Woosnam and Michael Campbell (14.10).
Betting: Harrington (11-2) leads the way alongside Alker (11-2) while the 2018 champion Miguel Angel Jimenez (10-1) is next in the market. Els (12-1) who demonstrated some form in the Open at St Andrews will also attract from investment while perennial winner Langer will have support to add a fifth title in the last 12 years. Clarke is available at 50-1 and Paul McGinley at 150-1.
On TV: Live on Sky Sports from 12.0pm
Cazoo Classic
Where: Southport, England
Purse: €1,7500,000 (€297,500)
Course: Hillside Golf Club – 7,109 yards, par 72. Opened in 1911 the course underwent some cosmetic surgery under the care of Mackenzie and Ebert in 2020 where some significant dune reconstruction on the front nine. It has most recently hosted the 2019 British Masters Championship when Marcus Kinhult prevailed. It’ll be a firm, fast running links layout but unusually there are also trees framing some of the holes. The back nine is tougher, containing the three hardest holes in the 13th, 15th and 16th. There are four par fives, all of which are reachable in two shots. For those that played in the recent Scottish Open it will be a familiar links assignment with an emphasis on good iron play and a tidy short game.
The Field: The 25-year-old Scot Robert MacIntyre played the final 36 holes in the Open at St Andrews in seven under par and if he can maintain that quality he will be tough to beat. He is the highest ranked player in the field at 98 and there is only one other Oliver Bekker (99) in the world’s top 100. Calum Hill won last year’s event at the London Club.
Irish in the Field: There are seven Irish players in Southport. Playing off the first tee, Cormac Sharvin (9.0) is first off with David Howell and Andrew Wilson. Paul Dunne (9.30) is alongside Anton Karlsson and Pep Angles while Simon Thornton (10.20) is in a group including Richard McEvoy and Jack McDonald. Dubliners Gavin Moynihan (14.20) and Niall Kearney are in the same three ball. Starting on the 10th David Higgins is off at 9.20 and Jonathan Caldwell at 9.30.
Betting: Matthew Jordan (33-1) shot a course record 63 around Hillside, although one top-30 finish in the last four tournaments he’s played is not the sort of bona fides you’d be investing in ordinarily. MacIntyre (14-1) is bang in form while Kinhult won the British Masters over this course three years ago. Kearney (40-1), who played very well at Mount Juliet, looks like decent each way value.
On TV: live on Sky Sports, 3.30pm (red button).
