Brooke Henderson is the defending champion at golf's Evian Championship, which begins tomorrow with a field including 19 of the women's top 20 in the world ©Getty Images

Brooke Henderson is set to defend her title when golf’s fourth women’s Major of the year, the Evian Championship, begins at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France, featuring 19 of the top 20 female players in the world.

The one absentee from the top 20 list is Lexi Thompson of the United States, who will be missing from the field for a third year in a row.

All 15 winners of this season’s events on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour are set to play in Evian-les-Bains.

Women’s world number one Jin Young Ko of South Korea leads the field, while the winners of the year’s three major tournaments so far - Lilia Vu of the United States, Yin Ruoning of China and Allisen Corpuz of the United States, all feature.

Vu, Ruoning and Corpuz are all playing together in a marquee group, and are scheduled to begin their first-round tomorrow from the tenth tee at 1.15pm local time.

Celine Boutier is the big home hope at Evian-les-Bains, and will be hoping to improve on her previous efforts, of tying for 29th ©Getty Images
Celine Boutier is the big home hope at Evian-les-Bains, and will be hoping to improve on her previous efforts, of tying for 29th ©Getty Images

Home attention is set to be focused on Céline Boutier, with the world number 15 looking to improve on her two previous performances in a home major, where the Frenchwoman has finished in a tie for 29th place.

The winner is set to receive a prize of $1 million (£774,000/€903,000), with golfers from a record 35 nations among the 132-strong field.

Organisers have granted six invitational places among the field - three to golfers who have won at international tour level, and three to young amateur golfers.

The experienced players receiving wildcards are France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, a winner at this year’s Aramco Team Series in Singapore, Ines Laklalech of Morocco, who won last year’s Women’s French Open and Morgane Métraux of Switzerland, a winner at the 2022 Ladies Italian Open.

The three amateurs receiving invitations are Kaitlyn Schroeder of the United States, the 2022 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Ting-Hsuan Huang of Chinese Taipei, the winner of the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific 2022, and Rachel Kuehn of the US, a winner at the 2022 National Collegiate Athletics Association Championship with her team Wake Forest.

The tournament is set to conclude on Sunday (July 30).