Celine Boutier has three LPGA wins. A victory this week, though, would be her biggest by far.
After 36 holes at the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship in Evian-Les-Bains, France, the fourth of five LPGA majors in 2023, Boutier, a native of the host nation, holds a one-shot lead after hitting 10 of 13 fairways and 15 of 18 greens Friday.
Boutier has posted rounds of 66 and 69 to get to 7 under for the championship. She has 10 birdies and just three bogeys over the first two days.
She admitted to feeling the nerves of playing on home soil in a major.
“It’s definitely not easy. I feel like in the past I’ve definitely, you know, not handled it very well. I just feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself because I don’t want to disappoint anybody,” she said.”If I learned anything from the past, I really have to just focus on the job and on the course, on each shot. I feel like that’s really helped me really stay focused and not get ahead or think too much about the plans.”
Boutier is trying to treat this like any other tournament but there’s no avoiding things like doing news conferences twice, in two different languages.
“I feel like it’s a positive thing that the French media is talking about women’s golf and Evian,” she said. “I feel like anything I can do to bring more attention to the tournament and women’s golf, in general, is always a good thing.”
Heres some other things you should know about Friday’s second round.