THE AMUNDI EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 9, 2025

Jacques Bungert

Franck Riboud

Natasha Andermahr

Evian Resort Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all for being here. I will have one question for each of the executives on stage and then we will open it up for media.

Franck, for years the Evian Resort golf course has been one of the stars of this tournament, central to the experience for both players and fans. As the Amundi Evian Championship celebrates its 31st edition and 13th as a major, what in your view makes this course so iconic, and how do you see the recent evolution, especially of hole No. 16, fitting into this legacy, especially with this year being the 75th anniversary of the LPGA?

FRANCK RIBOUD: I ask Jacques to translate because I hear nothing with this sound machine, which is not very good. We have to improve the quality.

What and I say to answer to your question? I will answer globally about the vision I have on the tournament and the golf course, just because I want you to understand how we work. Yesterday I spend full day with David, the architect who refurbish this golf course a few years ago when we turn as a major.

David, we walk together. You can express what you want, but I want to enter to an even better category in term of golf course. Not only because of the game of golf, but also the view, the wow effect, the quality, do we need to extend some greens being change some tee off.

The idea is to build a ten-year plan to deliver what this guy will invent or create. For me it's like a painter, like an artist. We have a beautiful golf course, but I'm sure we can improve. I'm sure we can deliver something even better than what we are. The quality of the course, as I explained to a lot of people, for those who were there when we transformed the golf course, I remember even some players said, Bah. I said, please be patient, wait.

Because nature a nature and it's not -- if you change a golf course, that will not be wonderful and top level after one year. You need minimum five, six, ten years. We just achieved this period of time. We just are now 13, 15 years after the refurbishing of the golf course.

That is the reason why the quality is. Just imagine last week here Evian the temperature was 40 degrees celsius; everything was burning everywhere. We were not allowed to water the golf course. We have to ask to the local state department special authorization to use the water. That's the way we are living in France. I know it's quite difficult for American people understand that.

The same, you can see these large pieces of the ground with high, how do you say --

JACQUES BUNGERT: -- grass.

FRANCK RIBOUD: Grass. It's because we want to promote biodiversity. We don't care about is it pretty or not. We just want to help, especially the French Federation to illustrate the fact that golf is not against nature and environmental issues.

As I explain very often, because we are -- during one week we are an American golf course, but we are not American. So I have to explain the difference between the two countries vis-à-vis the chemical product, vis-a-vis the water, vis-a-vis all that kind of thing.

And everybody understand. That's the reason why it's very interesting to work with different people from different places all over the world. In the following year, last year I said to you that we are going -- I don't know if you understand me correctly, but I said to you you have to understand something. Here you are in Evian. That is a factor with natural spring water. Not that water with filter. It's natural spring water. Means nobody, no human being allowed to touch the water.

And the water is the same than 200 years ago and will be the same within 200 years. We have the factory but we pump some water from the lake, not for the bottle obviously, but to clean the factory. After that, these people clean the water before getting back the water to the lake.

Here, we use also the water of the lake to water the golf course. Next year we will stop that. We will take the water after the factory cleaning, the filtration of that, and we will use that industrial water to water the golf course.

Basically we are going divide by three our impact on the lake. You can see the size of the lake. There is no risk. But that is the way we are going to illustrate how we take care about that kind of issues.

Environmental issues is one pillar of the tournament.

The second one is obviously ladies sport, so ladies golf. From the beginning we want all the players can make their money in a good ambience, family ambience with a lot of pressure because it's a major.

The thing is, a lot of players were dreaming to play the Evian Championship but they can't. Not because they are bad, because golf is like this. There is a selection. We have a second tournament perhaps you don't know called the Jabra, which is a tournament we use as a qualification for the Evian Championship.

I tell you everything. Even things I have even not yet negotiate with the LPGA, so please repeat. That will help me. (Laughter.)

And this idea is we are going to push this tournament means increase the prize money, which is part of the LET, the European Tour, between 600 and one million. I don't know where.

Today it's around 300 if I remember well. So we push the prize money and we will ask three spots of qualification for the Evian Championship. Not only one, but three.

For those people who knows golf, one, it's not enough. Even if you have the best LET player not directly in the field you always have somebody very lucky these days.

Three you can -- it's more fair for me.

So it's going to be like this next year and until three or four years now. This is the second pillar of the tournament.

The third one, as I said, is we are going to continue to invest to develop the game of golf. It's a lot of money. I don't know if I can disclose that, but -- I can't? I can't.

JACQUES BUNGERT: Well...

FRANCK RIBOUD: It's a lot of money. As you know we have the Kids Cup, Junior Cup, we accept the Palmer Cup few years ago. We have the Evian Showcase in Las Vegas. Why Las Vegas? Because it's the Evian Showcase, AJGA tournament, and there is a meeting with all the coaches from the universities in Las Vegas.

We present the French best player. Not the best one, because the best ones are drafted by the coaches. But the other ones, the ones just below. On top of that, we help what I call the neo pro. We give them 10,000 euros the first year and then 10,000 euros the second year. If they are very good we continue to follow them.

You have people, I'm sure you know if you are looking golf, you have people like (indiscernible), the new French star. He's part of this team. We have 15 girl and boy participating to this program.

This is the third pillar of the tournament, so we have are not doing things with Jacques just because. No, no. It's very, very driven. We have the three things and every idea must be part of the target.

I'm not sure I answer to your question, but there is my answer.

Q. Jacques, the Amundi Evian Championship continues to stand out as a key fixture on the global golf calendar. What are the key themes or ambitions for the 2025 edition in terms of fan experience, tournament visibility, and overall positions of the event on the world stage?

JACQUES BUNGERT: Well, that's going to take me an hour to answer. Quickly said, because Franck really gave you the pillars, behind the pillars obviously we try to execute it in the nicest way. Fan, for instance, we are always trying to get a better experience because you have fans who know golf and fans who don't know golf very well.

So we have a Walk With a Pro for instance event that allows fans to be able to walk with a pro and understand the game.

We have also a lot of different workshops in the village for the fans. We have broadened the ability to see the show in a better place. As far as the players, we have change also a lot of things, among which we have decided to give them the center place in the resort which is the Chalet du Golf, which has become a players' lounge.

The whole idea as Franck said is to give the players, the fans, the best experience to play their game or to watch the game.

As far as the exposure of the tournament, of course it's key. Of course with all the teams we're trying to have the best course, best site. What's going on outside is very important to us throughout the year, but also during the tournament.

We are probably one of the only tournament in the world, major tournament in the world, being advertised in major cities in the world without of home type of advertisement for instance.

We are working very closely with the TV producer to be able to have the best exposure. We have more now every day. More than five hours of exposure. I am not talking about Evian influences. Obviously our digital policy is really expanding, and I understand benchmarking with other colleagues with other majors that we are consider as quite creative on that side.

So without boasting about it, I'm just saying that what we're trying to do is innovate every year. You have a new signature picture on the back of the first hole. We have that type of innovation that help us probably dig a little bit more and nail down the positioning of the tournament.

Q. Natasha, Amundi supports several professional golfers and has demonstrated a commitment to this event and the sport of golf. Why is your involvement so important?

FRANCK RIBOUD: Just before I would like to answer on top of what Jacques said. As you know, we want to take care of the royal families of the Evian Championship, and you are part of this family because journalists is family include.

We have a lot of letter from the caddie's family this year. Some players wrote to us also. You know why? You know what they want? They want we do it again the soccer match. So next year we will do again the soccer match.

This year that was quite difficult because the famous '98 French team, they have their own party the same week than us. So we already sent some messages to some friends to get them to play soccer next year with the caddies and some of the players.

I think for Jacques and myself, it is perhaps the most emotional demand from the global Evian Championship family. So we are going deliver that. Hopefully. I will not play. I'm too old now.

JACQUES BUNGERT: That's a big disappointment for us.

NATASHA ANDERMAHR: First, before answering your questions, Amundi is not very well-known, so let me start by introducing Amundi. So we are the European leader in asset management. We provide savings and investment solutions to our clients who are institutional investor or retailer investor.

Now we manage over 2.2 trillion euros from more than 100 million clients world wide.

It's a real pleasure to celebrate the fifth edition of Amundi as title sponsor of Amundi Evian Championship. And I remind you that we have decided to renew this partnership for five more years until 2030. A long time commitment is very important for us.

JACQUES BUNGERT: For us, too.

NATASHA ANDERMAHR: Yes, and that's why we all agree. Golf is a sport which resonates deeply with our values and the majority of our clients. The sport requires precision performance and consistency, qualities which are very close to those needed for asset management, too.

And from the very beginning, in fact, we committed a long-term partnership with Evian's teams because it reflects how we work. We have a long-term vision and strong collaboration.

In addition, supporting diversity and inclusion is part of our DNA. We are very, very proud to support diversity, and equality for this partnership.

And what I would like also to mention is the fact that this partnership and the result of the partnerships is very encouraging. First, we are proud to support the major, which has doubled its prize money in only five years, reaching eight million. For us it's a concrete steps towards greater parity in golf. It's something very important.

Like major women's tournament, you know that the Amundi Evian Championship and Chevron Championship present a unique challenge, is that the tournament team done something which is very important to stress.

The tournament is also more visibility in Europe and in Asia, so two important markets for us. For example, the victory of Ayaka Furue brought us significant visibility in Japan. She honor us by meeting our local teams and our client there, which we greatly appreciated.

And of course I want to highlight the quality of our relationship with Evian. It's a real pleasure to work with them each year, and this year, we are very excited to have three players from Amundi team at Evian. First of all we have Sara Kouskova, who won the Jabra Ladies Open this year. We have also Gianna Clemente and Morgan Metraux.

Supporting golf players is the key part of our commitment. Of course we support them, but we try to bring them more visibility internationally and also more sport opportunities.

Now looking ahead, we have exciting plans to expand our commitment and our support for players. As mentioned by Franck, we aim to increase the number of nationalities represented into kids and junior clubs. The Amundi Evian Showcase will go from 10 to 15 players helping them access to American universities.

We are also supportive of project of partnership with junior clubs to create junior academies, something which is very important, too.

And starting in 2026, we will launch several initiatives during the tournament. For every birdie made a donation will be given to a charity or organization.

And of course we remain committed to supporting the tournament's environment initiatives as explained by Franck just before.

The Amundi Evian Championship, in fact, is one of our major event of the year, alongside the Amundi World Investment Forum in Paris. Both events are totally different, but equally important for our image. Both in the professional world, but within the public.

So to conclude, the Visa partnership was a long time commitment that reflects Amundi values in terms of performance, diversity, and sustainability.

We are very proud to support women's golf and viability worldwide.

JACQUES BUNGERT: Just wanted to add something on Natasha's point, is that our sponsors are really special in Evian. The partners we have support us in all the initiative we have outside the tournament itself.

Talking about redistribution, environmental issues on our pillars. They're behind us. Obviously Natasha mentioned the teams and the fact that they support our events in the galaxy. Aside from that, all of them are doing that.

Since mentioning the prize for a better tomorrow that we are going to give out on Saturday night to a great foundation, as you know, the one of Morgan, and I think that is very important.

This is where we need the media. We need the amplification, not only about sports, but talking about what's happening in the ecosystem of the sports. Without you, it doesn't mean anything.

Thank you.

Q. One of the themes today was the new generation. We were talking with more veteran players, talking about how strong the new players coming up are from different countries, different regions. I would guess Evian has had an experience over the years to see several generations and to promote those generations. Can you give us some examples of players, women players that went through your amateur events, through your programs, and came up?

FRANCK RIBOUD: The best example we have in ladies golf is Pauline. You can see the pictures of Pauline when she was eight years old. It's what we call the -- it's like a path because all the young player I was talking about, all of them, they start here with the Kids Cup, Amundi Kids Cup. Everything is branded Amundi now.

After that they play the Amundi Junior Cup, and so on and so on. So it's not because we are lucky. It's because with Jacques we decide to build this. We are marketing people, but we are not fake. We are not build stories and fake things.

But we decide to build the stories. We were totally convinced that by starting with kids, Kids Cup is eight to ten years old. I know already some players, especially two French American one playing in the U.S. I'm sure one of these two brothers will become good players, too.

After that, as you know, there are links between college golf and PGA and this and that. So that's the reason why also. Our job is to expose the French player. Perhaps not the top one because means nothing to be top one in amateur golf. It means something when you are part of the world 20, world 30.

You have also players belonging to 100 who can one day you don't know why, and they became champion. So this tournament is not to deliver money to the player. This tournament is to build the game of golf. We are not the most. We are not the biggest one. But we trust in things and we deliver and we work on that.

You know, in sport now everybody is talking too much about money. This is my point of view. That's the reason why I really ask that one pillar is our redistribution of the money. We redistribute the money to the ladies.

After, as you know, ladies sport -- sorry for my English if you don't understand, but be careful what you're going to write after I say something. For example us, we are alone. We can't have prize money of 10 million or 12 million.

Thanks for others who can. You have to understand why they can. They can because they leverage something else. Us, I can shake the hand of Jacques. That's the only thing I can leverage.

You, I kiss you. It's forbidden now. We are no more allowed to do that. But we are in France. We can't.

So we have to manage very carefully. As I said, in our organization nobody is allowed to spend something bigger than 5,000 euros without the authorization of Jacques or myself or perhaps both of us, because we can't forget somebody. The model is classic, but we can't spend the money like this. I will not take an example within other majors or whatever.

Like in tennis, we don't have Roland Garros. We don't have the key to share the money you make by something else.

So that's the reason why. If we can, we do. But we will always try to find a balance between the three pillars I describe. Look at Pauline. She's even representing the Evian Club now, starting when she was six years old. It is a wonderful story.

Everybody is looking the picture of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas when they were 14. It's not by luck. It's because we create the Junior Cup. They were part of the U.S. team. When I met many times now the mother of Jordan Spieth, I said, I'm a very close friend of your son. She looks and says, you are 70 years old. No, I'm the stupid guy who organize the Junior Cup.

JACQUES BUNGERT: They still remember.

FRANCK RIBOUD: So we are building our own story.

JACQUES BUNGERT: It's interesting. In ten years we had 2000 kids going through the Amundi Kids Cup. We had 1000 kids going through the Junior Cup. So it makes a lot of golfers, and a lot of them have become pro.

FRANCK RIBOUD: All of them are club members of the Evian Championship Golf Club.

Q. Quick follow up, not about money. Your intention is also, and I think it's a great intention, you want women to make a good living in golf. Wondering what that means for you. Is it just playing golf, the golf industry in general?

FRANCK RIBOUD: You know, when you start things, and we start 32 years ago, something like this, you have to fix targets. The objective for us was not to make a golf tournament. I don't care. Our objective is to find something superior, better than that.

We are in Europe and it's true that if you look at the money, the player are making on the European Tour (makes a face). If you look at the net-net what they are making, even if they won.

I'm not talking about the stars, but you have stars in the sport, if you have all the rest of the people doing the sport. It's like in soccer. Okay, you have Real Madrid, but nobody knows (indiscernible). So if you don't have all of these people every Sunday playing the game, you don't have stars.

So our job is to look at not only -- we have the stars. Becoming a major, we know that. We understood that. If we become a major we will have the best player in the world and all of them, they will come, because they have to build their own historical moment.

In the same time, we have to think to the rest of the family. That is the reason why we start this Jabra tournament. Jacques and myself we said, no, we are not respecting the project because they can't play the major because they are not qualified.

So we have to offer something else, to give an answer to what you just explained. We are there to help you to make your money by doing your sport. You are wonderful. You are beautiful. You work a lot and you have to make money. But I can't afford a spot in the Evian Championship because there is rankings. That's sport.

So I create a new tournament for you. If you are good, my wish is that belonging to the LET Tour it will be like for the men, the LPGA open, I don't know, five, six spots per year for the first one, directly qualify not for the second division, for the first one.

They don't want, but I will fight, because I've been like this. I open my mouth. I will push because I am more poor fool than the young lady starting her career on the LET. If she speaks, listen.

If I start to open my mouth, perhaps that will do nothing. But it's on the table.

JACQUES BUNGERT: But that's interesting too. That's why very specifically, even on the tournament, we started to give $3000 if you miss the cut. Just because we all know that expenses are heavy for some players.

What Franck was talking about about the European Tour is generally for all the tours, so it's important to help them sustain their career.

By the way, let's not forget that you build sports with the champions and the role model, not events. So you have to help the world of golf, women's golf, build the champions.

Thank you all. You understand it. We need you.