The final men’s major of the year starts this week.

It is July.

That feels insane, because it is insane.

Rory McIlroy said this week that he’d like to see golf’s major championship season stretched out beyond its current four-month sprint. The calendar got squeezed when the PGA Championship moved from August to May, and now the sport basically crams its four biggest events into one giant blur from April through July.

From a player perspective, you can see the benefit. If you find something, you can ride it. Get hot at the Masters, carry it into the PGA, survive the U.S. Open, and show up at The Open still feeling like you’re in rhythm.

For the rest of us, it’s a little different.

Golf spends all winter trying to convince casual fans that the season has started. Then the Masters shows up, everyone remembers golf exists, and we get the best stretch of the entire year. Augusta. PGA. U.S. Open. The Open.

Four months of actual juice.

And then the Claret Jug gets handed out before August, and the sport basically asks everyone to stay emotionally invested through FedExCup math, Ryder Cup speculation, and whatever LIV headline is making everyone tired that week.

This is where Rory is right.

Golf’s biggest problem is not that it lacks good events. It’s that the events people care about most are packed too tightly together. The majors should feel like tentpoles. Right now, they feel like a bender.

The Guardian reported that Rory is not alone here, either. Scottie Scheffler has also acknowledged the season feels condensed, and Jon Rahm has pushed the idea even further, suggesting golf should think bigger globally with a major in places like Australia, Asia, or another part of Europe.

That is probably a much harder conversation, because the majors are run by different organizations, with different histories, different priorities, and different television deals. Nobody is just moving the Masters because we all think September needs a little more golf.

But the broader point is still obvious.

The current setup does not serve the fan as well as it could.

Give us the Masters in April. Give us the U.S. Open in June. Give us The Open later in July, and move the PGA back to August. Let the season breathe a little bit. Let every major have its own runway.

Because right now, the best part of the golf calendar is over before most of America has even gone on summer vacation.

That’s bad business. It’s bad momentum. And most importantly, it gives all of us way too much time to start pretending we understand the FedExCup standings or even care about them.

Major season continues.

There are a ton of major championships on the professional golf calendar. Nine in the last 13 weeks, if you include the PGA TOUR Champions, PGA TOUR, and the LPGA.

So naturally, why not two more in the next two weeks?

The LPGA heads to beautiful Evian-les-Bains, France, for the Amundi Evian Championship. Golf purists will argue about whether the Evian should be considered a major. This is the 32nd year of the event and the 13th year with major championship status.

From a betting perspective, we don’t really care what you call it. A +5000 winner pays 50-1 whether it happens at the Evian, the ISCO, or the U.S. Open.

This week, 132 players will compete for $9.1 million and a major title. The top 65 and ties will play the weekend, with $1.365 million going to the winner.

Twenty-three of the top 25 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings are in the field, ready to take on the Champions Course at Evian Resort alongside Lake Léman.

Last Year At Evian

RTL readers will remember this one.

Grace Kim played her final six holes in seven under par, then beat Jeeno Thitikul in a playoff. Thitikul was our outright pick last year, and her number is basically the same this time around.

One of the worst beats of 2025 came when Kim chipped in on the first playoff hole after hitting her second shot into the water.

Kim won. We lost. And the LPGA is back for another year in the Alps.

The Course: Mountain Golf

For the second week in a row, we have a par-71 scorecard.

The Champions Course has four par 5s, nine par 4s, and five par 3s. The official tournament card reads 6,479 yards for the 2026 edition, which is about 48 yards shorter than the 2025 setup.

Calling all approach artists.

With five par 3s, 28% of iron shots will come from the tee box. Recent top-10 leaderboards show that scoring on the par 3s is a serious edge at Evian.

Over the past decade, the average winning score is 15 under par. Since the event became the LPGA’s fifth major in 2013, there has not been a repeat winner.

Sorry, Grace Kim.

The Champions Course sits on a hillside at about 1,575 feet above sea level, which means the course plays roughly 3% shorter than the scorecard yardage. The longer holes tend to play downhill, like the 205-yard par-3 14th, while the short 331-yard 17th plays uphill.

Course Conditions, Weather, And Wind

The forecast looks warm in the Alps region of eastern France.

Daily highs are expected to reach the low 90s for each round, with very little breeze blowing between 6 and 10 mph. The players will be looking for relief while walking at altitude in that kind of heat.

The weekend could bring a little precipitation, but unfortunately, the rain is not expected to do much to lower the temperature.

The high temps are roughly 10 to 12 degrees warmer than the seasonal average.

Seventy-eight bunkers across the scorecard are not enough to slow this field down. The bigger challenges are sidehill lies, major championship pressure, and the closing stretch.

The greens are a Bentgrass-Poa mix, and water comes into play on three holes. Two of those penalty areas are on 16 and 18, so the final stretch can create plenty of drama.

The closing par 5 is familiar, and it has already proven it can flip the leaderboard in a hurry.

How To Win At Evian

Quick starts matter here.

Eleven of the last 12 winners have gone low in the opening round. Nine of them opened with rounds of 66 or better, and the group’s Round 1 scoring average is 65.8.

That makes sense. Opening a major with a lead does two things. It gives the player confidence, and it forces the rest of the field to play catch-up on a course where the leaders tend to stay in front.

Recent form also matters.

In 2022, Brooke Henderson won just three starts before taking home the Evian title. In 2024, Ayaka Furue had four top-10 finishes in five individual starts before her Evian win. Celine Boutier won the Evian in 2023, then followed it up with another win in Scotland the next week.

Grace Kim was a little harder to see coming, with just one top 10 in 2025 before winning at Evian.

But in general, Evian winners tend to show real form before getting the trophy.

Course history matters on the Champions Course, but we also want players competing at a high level over the last month. Especially because that stretch included two majors.

The Key Stats

The Evian is one big accuracy test.

If you’re going to cut this field down to a small list of possible winners, your picks better be sharp.

• Par-3 scoring is a huge separator. There are five par 3s on the card, and players are hitting those greens 71% of the time. The holes vary from 151 to 205 yards, and recent top-10 finishers have averaged 2.95 on the par 3s. That is why the outrights this week are all in the top 20% of the field in par-3 scoring.
• Par-4 success comes down to greens in regulation. Recent top-10 finishers have hit 77% of their greens in regulation overall. Last year, that number jumped to 79%. On the par 4s, the field hits GIRs at just 63%, so accurate par-4 scorers should have an edge.
• Par-5 scoring starts in the fairway. The field hits the fairway on the par 5s less than 60% of the time. The top contenders studied averaged 70% fairways hit across all 13 fairways. Length helps, but at Evian, being a bomber is not enough. Managing the par 5s from the short grass has proven to be more important.
• The putter still has to travel. Strokes gained putting sits just behind strokes gained approach in terms of leaderboard impact. The greens are smaller than average, so players who hit the center of the green and convert their chances should have the best formula.

The Champions Course offers plenty of scoring chances for players who can hit their targets.

Tee-to-green leaders have an advantage, but the winning score over the last five years is 16 under par. Recent top-10 finishers have averaged 20 sub-par scores over 72 holes.

So yes, you need to avoid mistakes. But at Evian, bogey avoidance is not quite as important as it is at the other majors. You need to make birdies.

Few consider the Evian worthy of major championship status. But whatever you think of the category, winning on the Champions Course takes a major skill set.

Seven of the last 12 Evian winners are multiple major winners. Only one American has won this event since it became a major.

Can Nelly Korda take down her third major of the season? She has a couple of top-10 finishes here, but none in the last two years.

This week, we are leaning into accurate ball strikers who have been scoring well in recent weeks. Those “weeks” just happen to include the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

LPGA Free Picks

Hyo Joo Kim (+2500 FanDuel)

What did Hyo Joo Kim do during her week off?

She went to Korea and won.

Kim played in her second KLPGA event of the season, and she has now won both events she traveled home for this year.

She also has a strong history at Evian. Kim ranks eighth on the LPGA in strokes gained tee-to-green and first in putts per GIR.

That is a pretty lethal combination when you are coming in with form.

Jennifer Kupcho (+6600 BetMGM)

Jennifer Kupcho is another major winner who has been climbing leaderboards in big events this season.

She finished 12th at the Chevron and eighth at the U.S. Open. That U.S. Open skill set should translate well to the Champions Course.

Kupcho’s dominance off the tee has helped her build a strong Evian record, with finishes of 31st, 14th, 22nd, and 11th in her last four starts here.

Need a player to pop from deeper on the odds board?

Kupcho can do it.

Good news for anyone who likes golf, random stats, and proving they know more ball than their friends.

We’re happy to announce that we have built four free Golf Trivia games on Caddyshanks. They are live now, they are free to play, and we want you to try them out.

Eventually, we think it would be pretty cool to have a monthly leaderboard with golf prizes. Maybe a winner every month. Maybe some gear. Maybe eternal bragging rights. We’ll see where it goes.

For now, we just want you all to test them, play around, and give us feedback.

For example, if today’s games are way too easy, you can tell us. If they are broken, definitely tell us. If you get hooked and waste 20 minutes trying to remember who gained more strokes putting in 2023, that is technically the point.

Here Are The Four Games

Big Board

Rank ten golfers by a specific stat.

Sounds simple. Then you realize you have to decide whether Brian Harman or Tommy Fleetwood had the better number in a category you only pretend to understand.

Scouting Report

Guess the golfer based on the clues.

You get three tries. Use them wisely.

Going Streaking

Pick who had more and keep the streak going.

It is very easy to feel smart after two correct answers. It is even easier to get humbled on the third.

Mileage Marker

Guess the distance between two golf courses.

This is for anyone who has ever looked at a map and said, “Yeah, that’s probably only like two hours away,” before ruining an entire golf trip itinerary.

Go Play

The games are free, they are live, and we’d love your feedback as we keep building them out.

Play Games Here

Oh boy, the Titleist T-Series Black Vapor Irons are available for presale. Why are matte black Irons so sexy? They just feel like they’d increase your club speed by 15%.

Now you might be asking yourself what is the difference between these and the regular T-series Irons? The answer is that these ones are black. Which is perfectly okay because the T-series Irons are perfect and making them black makes them sleek, exotic, and perfect.

You’re probably also asking yourself, do I, a 25 handicap need these clubs? Are they gonna make me better? and the answer to both of those questions is yes without a doubt. As a fellow high handicap it’s important to have clubs you like looking at because that’s about all that they’re good for. I have a swing like Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot.  And They will make you better. They’ll make you “look” better. Only hard work and dedication will make you play better, unfortunately.

The Vapor Irons will be available in pro shops across America on July 23rd, But you can pre order them now on the Titleist site.

You’ve probably never heard of Marcus Plunkett, but his journey to The Open is worth noting. Plunkett graduated from West Point in 2016 where he played golf. After Graduating he would go on to serve his country stationed in far away lands and ultimately doing a six month tour of Afghanistan.

As his military career started to wind down in 2021, he did what all men with more time on their hands do, become an alcoholic. Just Kidding. He got back into golf and decided he wanted to make a go of it and become a pro.

After excelling on the Dakotas Tour, he gained status on the Korn Ferry Tour. However he failed to make 12 of 20 cuts and all of his 7 world ranked starts have come in Asia where he has tied for 6th twice.

At the 36 hole final Qualifier at Dundonald Links course in Scotland, Plunkett put a 69, and a 72 on the score card putting him at 3 under par and tied for fourth. It also got him a spot in his first major. We’ll be rooting for him to qualify and stamp his name firmly in the history of Golf.

Every golf trip eventually has the same moment.

Someone is standing next to the cart after 18 holes, trying to figure out who won what match, how many points that means, who still has a chance tomorrow, and whether Dave was actually getting a stroke on 13 or just made that up somewhere around the turn.

That person is usually the same guy every year.

He brings the spreadsheet. He makes the teams. He tracks the matches. He answers 14 different versions of “wait, what do we need here?” He becomes the unpaid commissioner of a golf trip that was supposed to be relaxing.

That’s where CupTracker comes in.

CupTracker does one thing, and it does it very well: it runs your Ryder Cup-style golf trip from start to finish.

Not your swing. Not your stats. Not your tee time booking. Not your range session. Just the actual team competition that turns a regular buddy trip into something everyone talks about for the next 11 months.

If your group does teams, foursomes, fourballs, singles, handicaps, side matches, and a live leaderboard, CupTracker is built for you.

Built For The Buddy Trip Commissioner

Most golf apps try to do everything. CupTracker is different. It is built for one specific type of golf event: the annual buddy trip where the boys pretend they’re at Bethpage, Whistling Straits, or Marco Simone, except the opening tee shots include breakfast beers and at least one guy wearing joggers he absolutely cannot pull off.

The best part is that it removes the worst part.

No more scoring math on the back of a scorecard. No more group texts trying to figure out the standings. No more one guy disappearing into a spreadsheet for an hour after dinner while everyone else is asking if singles pairings are out yet.

CupTracker handles the live scoring, automatic handicapping, custom formats, and live leaderboard. Everyone can follow the event from their phone, which means the trip immediately feels more official.

And let’s be honest, that’s half the fun.

Make The Trip Feel Like A Real Event

A Ryder Cup-style buddy trip is not just about playing golf. It’s about the scoreboard. It’s about knowing your match matters. It’s about standing on the 17th tee with your team watching and realizing you have to hit the fairway even though you have not done that once all day.

It’s about turning a normal round into something with a little juice.

CupTracker makes that easier to run.

The app was originally built three years ago for the founder’s own annual trip. Since then, it has scored more than 1.6 million holes across real tournaments.

That’s a lot of conceded three-footers. And probably a few that should not have been conceded.

What used to take an hour of spreadsheet work now updates in real time. Matches move. Points change. The leaderboard shifts. The group can see exactly where things stand without waiting for someone to do math while holding a half-eaten sandwich.

The Upgrade Your Annual Trip Needs

For trip organizers, that’s the real win.

Because running one of these events is fun in theory, but it can become a full-time job pretty quickly. You have to build the teams, apply handicaps, set the formats, track the matches, keep score, update standings, and explain to the same four guys every year what fourball means.

CupTracker takes a lot of that off your plate.

So if your group runs the same trip every year, or you’ve been talking about finally doing a Ryder Cup-style event, this is the upgrade that makes it feel like a real tournament.

Not “Jim made a spreadsheet and we think Team Red won.”

A real tournament.

Live scoring. Real-time standings. Custom formats. Automatic handicapping. All in one place.

Basically, it lets your group enjoy the fun part of a Ryder Cup-style competition without turning one guy into an unpaid assistant captain, rules official, accountant, and IT department.

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Use code CADDYSHANKS for 10% off, good through the end of September.

Download CupTracker here.

Land at Charleston International, grab a rental car, and about 40 minutes later you roll up to the gates of Kiawah Island. That drive matters, and I’ll come back to it, because how you get around Kiawah is one of the few things people get wrong on their first trip.

I’m Pete, and I run Golfed, an app for logging every course you’ve played, so a place like Kiawah is right in my wheelhouse. You can knock out five legit championship courses in one trip, all run by the same resort, all a short drive apart. It’s one of the rare destinations where the golf lives up to every bit of the hype, and there’s a real vacation wrapped around it for whoever you drag along.

Here’s how I’d think about a Kiawah trip.

Quick Facts

• Five public championship courses, plus two private courses: Cassique and the River Course
• About 40 minutes from Charleston International Airport
• Home of the 1991 Ryder Cup, the “War by the Shore,” and the 2012 and 2021 PGA Championships, with the PGA Championship returning in 2031
• The Ocean Course has more seaside holes than any course in the Northern Hemisphere
• Best weather is spring, from March to May, and fall, from September to November
• Gated island, so a rental car is close to essential
• Freshfields Village sits right outside the gate for food, coffee, and shopping
• Charleston, one of the best food cities in America, is about 40 minutes away

Perfect For…

Bucket-List Chasers

If the Ocean Course is on your list, and it should be, this is the trip. Standing on that property where the Ryder Cup and two PGA Championships were decided is worth the trip on its own. The rest of the lineup just makes it a no-brainer.

Guys’ Trips

Five courses, a stack of rental houses big enough for the whole group, and Charleston a short drive away when you want a real night out. Golf all day, then steaks and bars in the city or a low-key night grilling at the house.

Couples and Mixed Groups

This is where Kiawah pulls ahead of a lot of pure golf destinations. The beach is gorgeous, Freshfields has shopping and good restaurants, and Charleston is one of the best food-and-history towns in the country. Non-golfers will not be bored, which buys you more golf.

The Courses

The Ocean Course

 

The headliner, and one of the most famous courses in the world. Designed by Pete and Alice Dye, it hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup and the 2012 and 2021 PGA Championships, and it’s already booked to host again in 2031.

Ten holes run right along the Atlantic, and the wind off the water can turn a good round into a long afternoon in a hurry. One piece of advice: do not play it from the back tees. Move up, enjoy the views, and you’ll have one of the best days of golf in your life. Play it from the tips to prove something and you’ll lose a sleeve and your dignity.

Turtle Point

A Jack Nicklaus design and a genuinely great golf course that gets a little overshadowed by its famous neighbor. The front nine winds through live oaks, then the middle of the back nine, holes 14 through 16, swings out toward the ocean. Some folks will tell you you’re as close to the Atlantic there as you are on the Ocean Course.

Osprey Point

The most player-friendly of the bunch, and a really fun round. Tom Fazio built it around four natural lakes, marsh, and maritime forest, so there’s water in sight on most holes without it constantly being in play. Save room after for the clubhouse, the barbecue there is a legit reason to linger.

Cougar Point

A Gary Player design with some of the prettiest river views on the island, especially through the middle of the front nine along the Kiawah River. The clubhouse is newer and a great spot for a beer and lunch when you make the turn.

Oak Point

The one people skip, and they shouldn’t. It actually sits just off the island on Johns Island, so you pass it on the way in. Clyde Johnston routed it along the Kiawah River and Haulover Creek, it usually plays a little friendlier on the wallet, and you’ll see more wildlife here than anywhere else, gators included. A great value round to balance out a pricey Ocean Course tee time.

The Two Private Ones

Worth knowing about even if you can’t just book them. Cassique, a Tom Watson links-style design, and the River Course, a Tom Fazio layout, are both part of the private Kiawah Island Club and require membership or a member to get you on. If you know someone, beg. If you don’t, the five public courses are more than enough.

Where to Stay

You’ve got options at every level. The Sanctuary is the resort’s five-star hotel if you want to do it big. For most groups, though, the move is a rental. There are a ton of resort villas, and Airbnb and VRBO are loaded with houses on and around the island. Splitting a big rental with the group is the best value, gives you a place to grill and play cards, and keeps you close to the first tee.

Getting Around: Rent a Car

This is the tip that saves your trip. Kiawah is a gated island, and getting an Uber or Lyft to come through the gates, or to find you out there at all, is a real headache. Cars are scarce and waits are long.

Just rent a car at the airport. Everyone in the group should have a way to get around, because you’ll be driving between courses, out to Freshfields, and into Charleston, and you do not want to be stranded behind a gate waiting on a ride that may never show.

Beyond the Golf

Freshfields Village is your home base off the course. It’s right outside the island gate and has coffee in the morning, solid restaurants, and shops for whoever skipped golf that day. It’s the easy answer for breakfast or a group dinner without driving far.

Then there’s Charleston, about 40 minutes away and one of the best food cities in the country. Cobblestone streets, incredible restaurants, rooftop bars, and history everywhere. Build in at least one night in town. The beach is also right there on Kiawah when you need a recovery afternoon.

Pro Tips

• Book the Ocean Course early, especially in spring and fall. Tee times go fast.
• Play the Ocean Course from a forward tee. Have fun, take the photos, skip the suffering.
• Rent a car. Do not rely on rideshare on the island.
• Pair a splurge round on the Ocean Course with a value round at Oak Point to balance the budget.
• Stay in a group rental to save money and have a place to hang at night.
• Log your rounds as you go so you remember which course you actually liked best. I use Golfed for this, since keeping track of where I’ve played is the whole reason I built it.
• Build in a Charleston night. Your non-golfers will thank you, and so will you.

Final Thoughts

Kiawah is one of those rare trips that delivers for everybody. Serious golfers get a true bucket-list course and four more that hold their own. Everyone else gets the beach, Charleston, and a Lowcountry vacation that happens to have great golf attached. Five courses, easy logistics once you’ve got a car, and a setting that’s hard to beat anywhere in the country.

It’s been near the top of my own list for a long time, and once you’ve played it, it’s the kind of place you’ll want to log and remember. Put it on the schedule.

About Golfed

Golfed is a new app for logging every course you’ve ever played. Each course gets a ranking, and you can track your courses against the Golf Digest Top 100, Second 100, and Top 100 You Can Play, broken out by state, architect, and more. It’s built for golfers who care about where they’ve played. Track where you’ve been and where you’re headed, and check Kiawah off the list.

Golfed is free on iOS and Android at golfedapp.com