Ayaka Furue Produces Dramatic Finish to Win Evian Championship

They say that good things come in small packages - and Ayaka Furue proved it by winning the Evian Championship in thrilling fashion.

At just 5ft tall, the shortest player on the LPGA Tour finished with an eagle three at the final hole to edge out Australia’s Stephanie Kyriacou.

The world number 21 started the final round a shot behind Kyriacou and was three back with five to play before a dramatic late surge earned Furue a one-shot victory at the Evian Resort Golf Club.

After three successive birdies from the 14th, Furue was in a three-way tie for the lead heading to the last but made the green in two and then sunk her eagle putt to take the trophy.

Furue's superb final-round 65 saw her finish 19 under, a shot clear of Kyriacou and two ahead of Thailand's Patty Tavatanakit, who shot a magnificent 63.

American Lauren Coughlin led both Kyriacou and Furue going into the back nine but bogeys at 16 and 17 saw her drop to fourth.

"Breathtaking, like incredible and I'm so speechless," Furue said.

The 24-year-old is Japan's third women's major winner after Hinako Shibuno, winner of the 2019 Women's Open, and Hisako Higuchi, winner of the 1977 LPGA Championship.

Scotland's Gemma Dryburgh, who shared the lead after round one, and England's Georgia Hall finished tied for 17th on seven under after finishing with rounds of 71 and 70 respectively.

What You Need to Know

Furue was born in Kobe, Japan on May 27, 2000 and started playing golf at the age of three, coached by her father. 

She won the Kansai Elementary School Golf Championship in 2012, and the Kansai Junior High School Golf Championship in 2014 and 2015, and while attending Kobe Municipal Nagata Junior High School she won the National Junior High School Golf Championship in 2015 and the Kansai High School Golf Championship in 2016. She participated in the 2016 Japan Women’s Open where she made the cut and finished tied for 28th place.

She played for the Japan National Team in 2017 and 2018. She won the 2018 Junior World Cup with the team and finished fourth individually. She was also fourth individually at the 2018 Asian Games, where the Japan team finished fifth.

Furue won the 2019 Fujitsu Ladies on the Japan LPGA Tour as an amateur, and was awarded exemption of the JLPGA Player Certification Test, and turned professional shortly afterwards. 

Furue recorded three victories and two runner-up finishes on the Japan LPGA Tour in 2020 and rose to 42 in the world rankings to secure a spot at the 2020 US Women’s Open, where she missed the cut.

In 2021, she won a further three tournaments and rose to No. 14 in the world rankings. She was in contention at the 2021 Evian where she birdied three of the last four holes to claim fourth.

Furue earned her card for the 2022 LPGA Tour through qualifying school. 

She won her first LPGA Tour tournament, at the Wonen’s Scottish Open in 2022, shooting a course record 10-under-par 62 in the final round to win by three strokes over Celine Boutier, after trailing by four strokes after 54 holes.

In 2023 she made 22 of 24 cuts and earned $1.6m. The Evian is her first major and earned her a $1.2m first prize. She now has career earnings of $5,039,882. 

She averages 251.06 yards from the tee and hits 84.41% of fairways and finds 71.68% of greens in regulation. She averages 29.19 putts per round, gets up and down from the sand 43.40% of the time nd has a scoring average of 69.89.