Why Lexi Thompson Is Still Not Playing The Amundi Evian Championship
The 15-time pro winner will extend her absence from the fourth women's Major of the season despite an impressive run of form over her past few LPGA Tour starts


For the fifth year in a row, Lexi Thompson will not take part in the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in France.
It wasn't always this way. Thompson first played the newly-added Major in 2013 and finished third before ending T10th in 2014 and runner-up in 2015.
However, her Evian Championship results quickly tailed off and - following a second consecutive missed cut, in 2019 - Thompson's frustration with the layout boiled over.
Publishing an emotionally-charged post on Instagram, the former World No.3 said at the time: “To play well today hit one bad golf shot but hit 3 iron shots right at the pin 5 ft at one point then end up 40+ ft….umm really?
"I’m actually very thankful that I don’t have to put myself thru that for another two days. You’re a beautiful place Evian but that’s just too many bad breaks with good shots for me, so bye @evianchamp ! #justnotforme #allgood #onward.”
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The aforementioned post was swiftly deleted and later followed with a clarification from Thompson. She said: "My words were only directed at my frustration of not playing well in a major and at the unfortunate bounces we all get while playing this crazy game of golf. I didn’t mean it in a mean way at all.
"Obviously just hasn’t been the course for me the last few years, but some girls are playing great, and I wish them the best of luck this weekend.”
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The 2020 Evian Championship was cancelled because of the global Covid-19 pandemic, and Thompson has not teed it up since.
The American's absence from the fourth Major of the season is hardly a surprise nowadays, however, a recent run of strong form on the LPGA Tour could possibly have encouraged Thompson to give it another go.
The 15-time pro winner finished T4th at the Meijer LPGA Classic last month before racking up a T12th at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship the following week.
Thompson then missed out on a 12th LPGA Tour title at the Dow Championship as she and Megan Khang lost in a playoff to Jin-hee Im and Somi Lee at the one-off pairs event.
Nevertheless - following the defeat in Michigan - Thompson shared she planned to take multiple weeks off and would therefore miss the final two Majors of the year.
She said: "I'm not playing for about five weeks. I will be taking personal time off at home and kind of playing once we get back to the states, kind of taking it tournament by tournament... A lot of positives to take into that stretch for sure."
Although the Evian Championship has not been on her schedule for five years, this will be the first time since 2018 that Thompson has not appeared at the AIG Women's Open.
In May 2024, the Florida-born pro announced she would be retiring from a full-time professional golf schedule, later clarifying that she was simply aiming to trim down her playing appearances.
Speaking to Golfweek, Thompson said: "I feel like once I made the announcement, I feel it really got misconstrued that I was retiring. But I never said that word. I just said I was stepping back from a full-time schedule.
“Big picture, I probably shouldn't have said that I was stepping away because people thought I was retiring. Just really wanted to dial back my schedule and have more of a life balance. But at the same time, if I went through a phase where I didn't want to play at all, I left that door open as well.”
Thompson has since confirmed she is aiming to compete around 10 times per season now, and with eight tournaments already racked up, fans are far less likely to see the 30-year-old as much through the back half of the campaign.
Her next start could well be the Portland Classic on August 14-17, with the CPKC Women's Open or the FM Championship other possible options throughout next month.

Jonny Leighfield is our Staff News Writer who joined Golf Monthly just in time for the 2023 Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. He graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in Sport Journalism in 2017 and spent almost five years as the sole sports reporter at his local newspaper. During his time with Golf Monthly, Jonny has interviewed several stars of the game, including Robert MacIntyre, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Joaquin Niemann. An improving golfer himself, Jonny enjoys learning as much about the game as he can and recently reached his Handicap goal of 18 for the first time. He attended both the 150th and 151st Open Championships and dreams of attending The Masters one day.
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