With a prolific season already under her belt, France’s Celine Boutier is eyeing further silverware at this week’s Lacoste Ladies Open de France as she arrives home days after retaining the Solheim Cup with Team Europe.
2023 has been nothing short of remarkable for Boutier with the French star registering three worldwide wins including a Major victory at The Amundi Evian Championship.
Climbing to the top of the Race to Costa del Sol standings in the process and reaching her best ever position in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (the current World No 5 reached World No 3 back in August), Boutier is excited to be home as she targets further success in front of friends and family.
“It’s very nice to be back,” the 29-year-old said. “I definitely don’t get as many chances as I would like to come back [to France], so it’s always nice to come back here. To be close to Paris where I live is also very nice.
“I have my whole family coming out as well as a few friends, supporters of mine that I have known for a long time. It’s very nice to be so close to Paris and to have people come out and watch me play. It’s really good to see everyone.”
Boutier was victorious in this event back in 2021 when she dramatically birdied the final hole at Golf Club du Medoc to clinch victory over Scotland’s Kylie Henry.
“It was definitely one of my favourite ever weeks”, she remembers two years on. “I feel like it was such a good tournament and a great finish right at the end. It was so good for me and my confidence to win that week. I definitely hope I can win this tournament again.”
For the second consecutive year, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France will be staged at Golf Barriere in Deauville, with Boutier expecting a different challenge compared to last year when she finished sixth.
She said: “I think the course is going to be playing a lot softer than last year so it should be interesting to see how different it will be and how I will have to adapt. But I feel like it’s a decently hilly course with not many even lies, so it should be a fun week.
“It’s a different course to the Evian Resort and to where I won the title before at Golf Club du Medoc. It’s a new challenge so I would love to be able to win it again this year.”
Boutier currently has three worldwide wins to her name this season on top of last week’s Solheim Cup retention. Over on the LPGA Tour, the Frenchwoman claimed a hard-fought playoff victory over Team Europe partner Georgia Hall at the LPGA Drive On Championship.
Two months after, Boutier wrote all the headlines as she stormed to her first Major championship winning The Amundi Evian Championship by six shots, a dominant triumph which was followed up by a second consecutive win a week later at the FREED Group Women’s Scottish Open.
Now back in France and having time to truly reflect on the national significance, Boutier is proud of the impact her historic victory is having on French golf.
“There has definitely been a lot more media attention and media coverage of women’s golf in the French media which has been very positive,” the Solheim Cup star explains. “I hope my win is going to be helpful in having people pay more attention to women’s golf in France.”
While on the Solheim Cup, Boutier is still beaming over the events which transpired just days ago.
She said: “It was definitely very intense but also very rewarding. I feel like to be able to witness it and experience it with the team was unbelievable. It was definitely the most nerve-wracking finish, but it was unbelievable to see Carlota do it in front of her home crowd. It was completely perfect and I was really really happy for her and the team.”
Boutier gets her Lacoste Ladies Open de France campaign under way at 12:40 local time playing alongside compatriot Nastasia Nadaud and fellow LET winner Christine Wolf.
Sitting top of the Race to Costa del Sol and 238 points ahead of Spain’s Ana Peláez Trivino, Boutier can extend her lead in the standings this week dramatically with the next best seven players all absent in France.
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