Ransomes Jacobsen, the Ipswich-based manufacturer of turf maintenance equipment and its French subsidiary, Ransomes Jacobsen France, have signed a five year exclusive supplier agreement with The Evian Championship.

The Golf Course of Evian has also decided to extend their agreement with Ransomes Jacobsen as exclusive supplier to the golf course and official supplier to the tournament, a relationship that started over 20 years ago.

From left to right: Valentin Prost, Laurent Proupin, Yannick Le Hec, David Withers and Jean Yves Vulliez at the re-signing of the agreement.

For the past 18 years the prestigious ladies’ tournament has been known as The Evian Masters, but this year it becomes an LPGA major and has been renamed The Evian Championship. 

Every year the world’s best lady golfers return to one of Europe’s most beautiful 18 hole courses, situated in the heart of the Evian Resort, an area of over 19 hectares, which stretches from the Leman Lake near Geneva to the French Alps. This year the course has been extensively modified in line with the requests from the LPGA, to improve its technical complexity without detriment to the outstanding natural beauty of the location.

Ransomes Jacobsen France provides the turf maintenance equipment for entire resort including the two, four- and five-star luxury hotels and the high standard Evian Training Center, maintained by the teams of Jean Yves Vulliez, the greenkeeper of the Golf Course of Evian and Valentin Prost, the greenkeeper of the Training Center.

With products from the Ransomes Jacobsen manufacturing facility in Ipswich and the Jacobsen factory in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ransomes Jacobsen France provides the Evian Golf course with a range of equipment including the Eclipse 322 ride-on greens mower  with 15 blade Trueset cutting units.

Explaining the decision to extend the agreement with Ransomes Jacobsen, Yannick Le Hec, general manager of The Evian Resort said: “Ransomes Jacobsen has been supporting us from the very beginning of our Evian Masters project. The success and the evolution of this tournament has been made possible by all the employees of the resort, and also by the support of our partners, and Ransomes Jacobsen has played a key role in the dynamics of our success. 

“The quality of the course is ensured by a highly efficient maintenance programme, which can only be implemented if the machines used are reliable. Moreover, our new status forces us to apply a higher quality demand on the course which represents the foundation of the agreement we have with the LPGA. Textron, with its representative turf brands, Ransomes, Jacobsen and EZGO is the ideal partner to see us through this new stage and we are delighted to count on its expertise in our constant evolution. 

“Now more than ever, the alliance between these Textron brands and the Evian Resort represents a winning combination in the success of The Evian Championship.” 

Laurent Proupin, general manager, Ransomes Jacobsen France added: “We are very proud of the renewal of our partnership especially as the tournament becomes a major this year. This golf course was our first national showcase and continues to be our best example, but now on an international scale. This new agreement is testament to the importance of building long term relationships; a philosophy of at the heart of our business.”

The President of Jacobsen, David Withers concluded: “We are delighted to have re-signed this exclusive supplier agreement with the Evian Resort; our partnership with this magnificent five-star facility is one of which we are very proud.

“We appreciate that the ethos of Evian is to provide the ultimate leisure experience and through Ransomes Jacobsen France we are delighted to provide course maintenance equipment that ensures these superb golfing facilities are of the highest standard possible. We look forward to working together in partnership for many years to come.”