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<\/p>\nEVIAN GOLF RESORT, France \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s quite a fun walk down, but you\u2019ve got to be careful you don\u2019t slip,\u201d Swedish golfer Kajsa Arwefj\u00e4ll said after finishing her 2 under par round at the Amundi Evian Championship Thursday.<\/p>\n
What the 26-year-old is referring to is the steep slope on hole No. 2 of the course, where one of the five majors in the women\u2019s game is held.<\/p>\n
Golfers must shoot their shot, clamber down the hillside and walk across a main road aptly named \u201cRoute du Golf.\u201d There are passing cars, buggies, and cyclists who stop to allow golfers, like world No. 1 Nelly Korda, who has already won two majors this year, to use the crossing to reach the par-3 putting green, which sits on a separate site from the rest of the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so weird you walk across the road,\u201d Arwefj\u00e4ll added.<\/p>\n
What makes this quirky hole popular for golfers and spectators is a view locals might call \u201cspectaculaire.\u201d This is one of the most eye-catching holes on a course which is full of breathtaking vistas given it is at the foot of the surrounding Alps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I played it was a year ago, you just walk up there and go, \u2018Wow!\u2019 with the lake (Geneva) and you can see over to Lausanne (a city in Switzerland) on the other side,\u201d Arwefj\u00e4ll said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice \u2014 and then you look straight down. It\u2019s a one-of-a-kind hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
World No. 4 Lottie Woad read it as 32 yards of elevation as she lined up her tee shot.<\/p>\n
Evian’s most breathtaking hole is also one of its toughest<\/p>\n
Caoimhe O’Neill<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the most fun walk. It\u2019s kind of too steep to be enjoyable. You\u2019re just leaning back and trying not to fall over,\u201d said Woad after shooting a 4-under 67, including an eagle on the ninth. \u201cI had seen it on TV and it\u2019s way more downhill than you think. You get up there, and you just hit it, and it\u2019s in the air, and you\u2019re just kind of hoping it\u2019s the right club, because you can\u2019t really tell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever played one that\u2019s 32 yards downhill for the elevation. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve played one as severe as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hole is 163 yards, making it a short dart across a road that\u2019s not actually visible from the tee. Play your looping shot badly and you could easily shatter a car window. But while this hole does present some danger, it also brings opportunity, as Republic of Ireland golfer Leona Maguire found when she hit her first LPGA hole-in-one there a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re never quite sure on that hole until the ball actually lands,\u201d Maguire told reporters after her brilliant feat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Leona Maguire (left) celebrates an ace on the second hole at last year\u2019s Evian Championship. (Stuart Franklin \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The pin was towards the back of the green during the first round on Thursday. Catching the wrong side of the left or right would see the ball tank its way down a punishing slope, and undo any chance of a birdie.<\/p>\n
That was the experience of Frenchwoman Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who did not stop to watch her shot roll away into the rough. Instead, she banged her club into the metal hoarding as she paced down the slope almost before the ball had hit the ground.<\/p>\n
The winding path to the green, which players walk down at pace either in excitement or frustration, has a rubber trail for golf shoes to grip onto, such is the elevation drop. At the bottom,\u00a0there is no view of any of the five-tiered tee boxes through the shrubs. But those waiting on the championship tee have a bird\u2019s-eye view of the group in front, almost as good as the noisy hawks flying overhead. Haeran Ryu, coming off her first major win at last month\u2019s KPMG PGA Championship, fired her shot through a kettle of hawks as if to prove just how high the starting point is.<\/p>\n
Most players get down in three. On Thursday, 22 players managed birdies, including Woad, and 16 had to mark themselves down for a bogey. Japan\u2019s Aki Iwai, who topped the leaderboard on 8 under after the opening round, was par.<\/p>\n
What makes Evian so striking is the narrow, slopey greens built into the mountainside landscape at varying elevations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful hole (No. 2),\u201d Charley Hull said after finishing her round with an eagle at the last to tie for third going into the second round. \u201cYou need to concentrate because otherwise you just take in the view too much and get distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n