With a second consecutive card of 65 (-7), Céline Boutier took the reins of the CME Group Tour Championship, the final of the LPGA circuit reserved for the 60 best players of the season across the Atlantic. She is four points ahead of her first pursuers
This is the first time that a competitor has reached -14 after 36 holes in this CME Group Tour Championship and she is French!
Mid-tournament, Celine Boutier is on course to sign the biggest victory of her young career on the course of the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida and pocket in the process the 1.5 million dollars promised to the player who won the closing tournament of the season.
Already in cane Thursday with a very good 65 (-7) in the rain, the Frenchman confirmed during the second round with the same score, on much drier and therefore more complicated greens.
Up and in for the lead! ????@celineboutier is the first to 11-under at @CMEGroupLPGA
Watch now on @GolfChannel! pic.twitter.com/c7b1OMX2f8
– LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2021
Great golf!
After a perfect start to the game rewarded by birdie entry at 1, the Ile-de-France missed a small birdie putt on 6 before conceding her first bogey of the tournament on 8.
A first alert without consequence, since Celine Boutier then offered a real recital with seven birdies on the last ten holes, including a nice “chip-in” at 13 and beautiful “planted flag” at holes 14, 15 and 18 .
12 fairways, 16 greens and 29 putts: the statistics confirm his excellent day.
The perfect way to end ???? @celineboutier breaks the 36 hole tournament scoring record with her back-to-back 65’s ???? pic.twitter.com/Xw5bgASJ6X
– LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2021
“I was slightly frustrated with my go but my long game was really solid all day and I got very close a lot and it helped me a lot on the return.” said Boutier in the mixed zone at the end of his second round.
At -14 she erases Sei Young Kim (2019), Lexi Thompson (2018), Sung Hyun Park (2017) and Lydia Ko (2016), 4 players who were in the lead at -12 after 36 holes. Note that only the first two mentioned won at the end of the 4 laps.
Already four steps ahead
With this card, the best of the day, the winner of the Lacoste Ladies Open de France at the Médoc hit Friday a big blow that allows him to extricate himself from the peloton alone in the lead.
For the solo lead ???? @minjeegolf is -4 thru 13 at the @CMEGroupLPGA! pic.twitter.com/O5fEcIMaaB
– LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2021
Part with a delay on Jeongeun Lee6, Céline Boutier is now four steps ahead of her top three pursuers: Mina Harigae, Gaby Lopez and Minjee Lee.
After his 2nd success on the LPGA Tour won last month at the ShoRite Classic the French number 1 is full of confidence and seems once again armed to compete with the best players in the world.
“My ShopRite victory came two and a half years after my first LPGA title and it did me a lot of good. The first victory we always say to ourselves that maybe it was a fluke, we don’t really know, we have to be able to confirm. So this title was huge for my confidence and I feel much better in this type of situation from now on. ” said the Frenchwoman.
Note that the rest of the classification is very compact. Simply five strokes separate the second from the 28th in the standings after two laps in the Shark Golf Club.
Jin Young Ko and Nelly Korda wrestling
Three shots behind on the evening of the first round, Jin Young Ko got closer to the world number 1 Nelly Korda that it is ahead of the Race to CME Globe, the general ranking of the LPGA. The South Korean signed a solid 67 (-5) without the slightest error to take place in 9th place.
Author of a 69 (-3), the American still has a step ahead of her rival in 5th place. As it stands, Nelly Korda would steal the title of best player of the season from her opponent.
???? @NellyKorda moves to 8-under at the @CMEGroupLPGA ???? pic.twitter.com/nawzm4gKLY
– LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2021
To follow live
Want to follow Céline Boutier’s exploits live this Saturday? The third round will be broadcast live and for free on the Facebook page of the foil as well as that of Golf Channel France, French broadcaster of the LPGA.
The video summary of the 2nd day
The leaderboard
©Douglas P. DeFelice / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
