It has been an incredible two weeks on Tour for Celine Boutier as she heads into the final major of the year – the 2023 AIG Women’s Open.
The Frenchwoman has won back-to-back titles starting with her maiden major on home soil at the Amundi Evian Championship and she followed it up with victory at last week’s FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open.
As a result of her two victories, Boutier has risen to number three in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and sits at the top of the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol and 2023 Race to CME Globe.
Reflecting on her past two weeks, the Solheim Cup winner admits she is a little bit tired but is still finding it hard to believe what she has achieved in such a short space of time.
“I’m feeling good,” said Boutier. “I’m definitely a little bit tired physically, but I’m just really trying to recover and rest as much as I can before Thursday.
“It was always something I always dreamt of doing in my career. Winning a major at home is something you definitely want to do and to be able to do it two weeks ago with the crowds and with some of my family and friends there was definitely something that I probably will never forget.
“In Scotland, I tried to focus on resting for the first few days, and I had some good memories from that tournament, from that course the year before, because I had played pretty well.
“I felt pretty confident, and then my main goal was really to put some solid rounds together and try to stay focused on the task and not really think about the week before. Just being able to have a chance to play for the win on Sunday was a bonus.”
Boutier will begin her title tilt at 12.27 pm (local time) on Thursday alongside England’s Georgia Hall and Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul.
Having had two wins in her previous two weeks, Boutier knows that conserving energy is a must heading into the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath.
The prospect of winning a third tournament in-a-row would be an unbelievable achievement but the French star is not having any expectations.
She explained: “The first few rounds, you definitely try to focus on yourself a little bit more and just try to put some good rounds together just to be able to have a chance to play for the win on Sunday.
“It’s definitely a little bit tiring because it’s now been three weeks on the road. It’s definitely starting to settle in and it’s not easy to stay focused and motivated, but at the same time, it’s also the last major of the year. I’m just trying to focus on that and trying to finish strong.
“Even winning two in a row is already pretty low odds, so I know three – it would be unbelievable if it happens, but I’m just not going to put a lot of pressure on myself about that. I’m honestly trying to put some good rounds together and see at the end.
“I was actually excited when I saw the pairing, I think it’s going to be a fun group. They’re both great players and really good people as well. I’m really looking forward to playing with them.”
Walton Heath in Surrey, just south of London, is a heathland course with heather a prominent feature of the rough.
Boutier’s game has been locked in for the past few weeks and she believes that playing at Evian and Dundonald has been great preparation for this week.
She added: “The course is definitely not really what I expected to see or play, but in a good way. It’s a great course. It’s definitely very long and very soft, which I expected it to be a little bit firmer. I think it’s been raining quite a bit here. I think it’s been a great test.
“You have to be very accurate off the tee but also on the approach shots because you have such long clubs. I think it’s going to be a good test and I feel like you have to definitely play well here to be able to score low.
“My long game has been really solid the past few weeks because they were both pretty demanding courses. You had to be pretty accurate with the approach shots, so I feel like this is going to help me a little bit this week. It’s a little bit of a longer course, so I will have a lot of hybrids, but I feel like as long as I can hit it off greens and give myself some chances, it should be pretty good.”
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