France’s Pauline-Roussin Bouchard will be drawing in the home crowds as the two-time LET winner plays at her home club, Evian Resort, in this week’s Jabra Ladies Open.
Roussin-Bouchard announced herself on the LET stage when she finished second and qualified for the Amundi Evian Championship as an amateur in 2019.
Five years later, the 23-year-old says that she will use the same approach as she did back then.
“I was playing so much freer, with way less fear. I’m going to try to play the course like that and hit the driver a bit more and play it the way I want to play it. I was playing by myself and being brave with my decisions, even though sometimes maybe strategically they were not the best ones. I have good memories of how well I played. This golf course is a very good test and you have to be able to play well to be able to score,” she said.
“I’ve been working on a few things, using more tools to help me. They are tools I used to use in college, so it’s back to basics and a swing which I can use for five weeks to optimise power.”
Roussin-Bouchard took her early golf lessons at the Evian Academy and has played at the Evian Resort since the age of nine. She is now affiliated to the club. She added: “I love it here and I’m very proud to be wearing the logo on my bag. It represents so much for the game, hosting a major and then all the junior tournaments as well.
“I know a lot of people here who have known me since I was around 10. It’s nice to see everyone. I am here with my parents and I have my dad on the bag, which I’m so happy about. I also had my coach come for a couple of days last week before the five-week stretch.”
Roussin-Bouchard is currently sitting in 16th place on the LET Order of Merit and the highlight of her results so far this year is a runner-up spot in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
However, the French star, who describes herself as a “hybrid athlete” was running another race last week: a 13 kilometre track which she completed in one hour and 23 minutes. The time saw her placed 5th in her age category and 11th in the women’s section overall.
“My feet are still hurting and I have huge blisters, but it was so much fun. I did have a good time and I finished well. I was expecting a good position but not as good as I did”, she said. “Pushing myself and the effort, I learned so much from that. You really get into what voice are you listening to, to keep going. It works for everything. I pushed through the blisters and the heart rate being like 190 for an hour-and-a-half. It was so cool. I just loved it, but I’m definitely feeling it now.”
One of 16 French hopefuls in the tournament, she will start round one at 13:13 in the company of Denmark’s Nicole Broch Estrup and Australian Amy Walsh.
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