Saso seeks to turn season around at Evian Championship
MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso is chasing more than a third major championship as she seeks long-awaited redemption when the Evian Championship gets underway Thursday (Friday Manila time) at the Evian Resort Golf Club's Champions Course in France.
After missing the cut in the last two majors of the season, Saso is determined to halt the slump that has plagued her game since capturing her second US Women's Open title in 2024.
Aside from a fourth-place finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship, the rest of her 2024 campaign fell well below expectations. Her struggles carried over into the entire 2025 season, during which she missed the cut in 13 of 19 tournaments, including six straight. Her best finish that year was a tie for 17th at the LPGA Honda Thailand.
Saso entered the 2026 season optimistic about regaining the form that once made her one of the LPGA Tour's most consistent contenders. Instead, the first half of the year has brought more challenges for the ICTSI-backed star.
A tie for 33rd at the Blue Bay LPGA in China last March remains her best finish this season, which has also been marred by eight missed cuts, including at the US Women's Open and the Women's PGA Championship, with a tie for 56th at the Meijer LPGA Classic sandwiched in between.
Still, Saso believes there is nowhere to go but up.
The big-hitting 25-year-old hopes to finally put everything together this week – not only to make the weekend cut but also to contend for the title in the $9.1 million championship, the fourth major of the LPGA season.
She knows the task will be daunting, especially with many of the tour's top players arriving in peak form while she continues to fine-tune the aspects of her game that have kept her from rediscovering the consistency that followed her second major triumph.
Saso will tee off at 12 noon from No. 1 alongside India's Aditi Ashok and Korea's Hyunjo Yoo, hoping for a strong opening round that can provide the momentum she has been searching for.
Fresh off her breakthrough victory at the Women's PGA Championship last month, Haeran Ryu will seek a second straight major title. She headlines one of the tournament's featured groups with world No. 1 Nelly Korda, who swept the first two majors, and rising English star Lottie Woad, teeing off at 7:36 a.m. from No. 10.
Meanwhile, world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand begins another quest for her elusive first major title at 12:36 p.m. from the first tee alongside three-time major champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand and England's Charley Hull.
Thitikul came agonizingly close to winning her maiden major at Evian last year but fell to Australia's Grace Kim in sudden-death.
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