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Céline Boutier, Evian’s new star.

July 30, 2023 | R. Forgues

COMPETITION

Céline had already etched the name Boutier in the hall of fame of French golf. She needed to take just one final step for her name to go down in the rich and wonderful history of the discipline. This step was undoubtedly the most difficult of them all. She has chosen Evian to take it, at home, in France. Powerfully symbolic.


Her history with Evian began in the summer of 2014 when young Céline, then aged 20, first trod the green boards of the Evian Resort Golf Club stage. At that time, she was still studying psychology at the prestigious Duke University (North Carolina, USA). Haute-Savoie brought to the eyes of the world the reserved character of a player with a bright future ahead of her. Both literally and symbolically, she was walking in the footsteps of French players Karine Icher, Gwladys Nocera and Joanna Klatten.


Despite being new to the task at hand, she was nevertheless a talented competitor. Benefiting from the shade cast by the limelight of her elders, she took advantage of her first appearance to give the French spectators their first shivers of excitement. On a course completely renovated one year earlier, she cautiously showcased the breadth of her skills. Finishing in 29th place at the end of the week, one shot behind Karine Icher, this was act one of the Boutier performance at Evian.


The years that followed were a mix of hope and disappointment. The Champions Course did not become a major championship course by accident, and its rigidness has brought disappointment to many. Numerous players have come unstuck here as often as they have met with success. Take Angela Stanford, for example, the winner of the 2018 tournament, for whom her results in Evian include an equal number of Top-10 finishes and missed cuts (three for each, in seven participations).


So since 2014, Céline Boutier has been honing her skills, refining her strategy, outlining the ideal game plan. It takes time for these efforts to come to fruition. She planted the seeds, but was unable to force the hand of destiny. As the years went by, the former player at the Paris Country Club added Top 10 finishes to her name across the pond. The LPGA Tour saw the progressive blossoming of a European player come to liven up the party for the American and Asian players. The direct consequence of her success is that she is more and more eagerly-awaited each season in Haute-Savoie.



From this point on, the native of Clamart had to account for a new factor in the equation: the huge amount of hope placed in her. In the space of a few years, the seeds we mentioned above become beautiful flowers, and the whole crowd at Evian began to dream of a magnificent grande finale. Celine, the woman, must now play Boutier, the exceptional golfer. Those of you who were paying attention may recognize this title from our first article about her.

Step by step, she raised the level of her game to reach 8th place in the world rankings in March 2023, a record for a French player. Crowned with a third title on the US Tour, she also becomes the most titled Frenchwoman in the history of the LPGA Tour. Anne-Marie Palli and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc can only bow to the performance of their worthy successor, even though the second of these ladies still has more surprises to come. You know the rest. Céline Boutier has today won the 2023 edition of The Amundi Evian Championship, the first major of her career already strewn with trophies, from the Solheim Cup to the LPGA Tour, via the Ladies European Tour and not forgetting all her amateur victories.

Of course, there will be a before and an after to this spectacular and historic win. In finally breaking this glass ceiling that she was colliding with for so many years, the current world no.15 forever joins the Evian galaxy, along with the men and who have made history in this idyllic location. Around Céline is a whole team who are on cloud nine with her: her family, her mindset coach Meriem Salmi, her coach Cameron McCormick and also her physical trainer Manny Hernando. Simultaneously having become the third French female player to win a major, after Catherine Lacoste (US Open 1967) and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (Kraft Nabisco 2003), she now forever holds a place as a star of French golf. One day, she’ll tell of the exploits of her youth to those for whom this dream is still just a faraway mirage. For now, she will continue to light up this path that’s taken her to the skies.


COMPETITIONJOUEUSESDAY 4