Heck, 16, to play the weekend at Evian Championship

EVIAN-LES-BAINES, France (Sept. 14, 2018) – Only four amateurs started the week at the Evian Championship, the fifth and final major on the LPGA Schedule, but only one will play the weekend. Rachel Heck, a 16-year-old from Memphis, Tenn., made the cut with two shots to spare after rounds of 70-73 at the par-71 Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France.

For Heck, this week helps maintain her perfect record in major starts. Heck played the U.S. Women’s Open in 2017 and finished T-33. She names the final round of that event, when she played alongside Lexi Thompson with her dad Robert on the bag, as one of her favorite golf memories.

It would be interesting to now find out where her week in Evian-les-Bains will fall. Heck still has two more rounds to play at the picturesque setting. Heck’s second-round 73 included three birdies over her opening nine. Four bogeys on the back – including two on her closing holes – knocked her back to 73.

Heck gained entry into the Evian when she was named the AJGA’s Rolex Girls Junior Player of the Year for 2017. She will play for Stanford beginning in the fall of 2020.

2 majors played. 2 cuts made.

Everyone join us in showing @rachelheck2020 some love for advancing to the weekend at the @EvianChamp!

The 16-year-old from Memphis is the 3-time defending Tennessee Junior Player of the Year. She finished T33 at last year’s @USGA U.S. Women’s Open pic.twitter.com/5rPUI1DUJO

— Tennessee Golf Association (@tngolf) September 14, 2018

That makes Heck one of two amateurs in the Evian field with Stanford ties. Junior Albane Valenzuela also received a wild-card entry into the event, making this her fourth consecutive Evian start. Valenzuela is well-known for representing her native Switzerland in the 2016 Olympic Games.

Valenzuela had back-to-back rounds of 75 to miss the cut.

Alana Uriell, who posted rounds of 76-72, received her Evian invitation as a representative of the winning Arnold Palmer Cup team (that event was also played at Evian Resort). Uriell is a Carlsbad, Calif., native who recently graduated from the University of Arkansas.

Korea’s Hae-Ran Ryu was the final amateur. Her second-round 70, though impressive, was not enough to get her to the weekend after she opened with 78.