In just three months, Céline Boutier will play almost her entire season. On the program, four Major tournaments including one in Evian (July 11-14) where she must defend her title before dreaming of winning gold at the Olympic Games (August 7-10).
And this long marathon begins this week at the Chevron Championship (Texas), the first Grand Slam of the season on the American LPGA circuit. The world number 3 sets off at 8 p.m. sharp this Thursday alongside Allisen Corpuz, defending champion of the US Open, and Ashleigh Buhai, winner of the British Open in 2022.
An “ideal” tournament for Boutier, who plays almost at home
Enough to put a slightly lackluster start to the season on track. If the 30-year-old Frenchwoman passed all the cuts of the six tournaments in which she participated, her second place in Singapore, where she narrowly missed becoming the first French number 1 in the world, frustrated her a lot.
This was followed by anecdotal 12th, 35th and even 47th place in the three subsequent events. “I was a little frustrated with my first tournaments. It took me a while to feel comfortable with my game and on the course. I haven’t really managed to score the last two weeks. I feel that things are getting better and, even if there were six tournaments before the Chevron, we feel that the year is really going to begin,” she explains in comments reported by L’Équipe.
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Ruoning Yin pic.twitter.com/srZZg65zRe— LPGA (@LPGA) April 17, 2024
Another positive point of this Chevron Championship which comes at the right time: the event has been taking place for two years now in Texas on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club, a reasonable distance from Dallas where the French number 1 lives on a daily basis. “It’s really ideal for me. The course is really not very far from where I live,” she confirms.
Delacour to score big points
The first Major of the year is also the one that has been the most successful for her, apart from (obviously) her victory in Evian last summer, with a 4th place in 2022 and a 14th place in 2023. The native of Clamart plays so win this week. “It’s the first Grand Slam of the year, so it’s important to do well because after all everything will come together very quickly,” explains Céline Boutier. It’s a good time to test your game and put everything in place to put yourself in good conditions for the rest of the year. »
At the start, she will also find another Frenchwoman: Perrine Delacour. The stakes are perhaps even greater for her since she is not yet guaranteed to go to the Olympic Games next summer. The 30-year-old also has not had a single top 40 finish in six starts in 2024 and sees Pauline Roussin-Bouchard slowly approaching in her mirrors in the Olympic rankings. A good result at the Chevron Championship would allow him to get some fresh air.
