In an incredible atmosphere, France’s Céline Boutier wins the first major championship of her career, The Amundi Evian Championship. Armed with her past experience and support from a crowd passionately devoted to her success, the French player shot a final round 68 (-3) to win with a six-shot lead over Brooke Henderson. France has not experienced such glory at a major since the crowning of Patricia Meunier-Lebouc at the Kraft Nabisco 2003. For Céline and those close to her and all blue-white-red golf lovers, Sunday 30^th July will go down as a milestone.

It was her time.

Right from the start of the round, there was a sense that nothing could go wrong for her. Her attack of the green dropped 2 yards from the pin at the 1st and was rewarded by a perfect putt, followed by a long putt on 2 and a superb lob shot at the 3rd. That was enough to let her contenders understand she was not going to let her game drop. Despite her excellent putting, Japan’s Nasa Hataoka couldn’t compete with her partner of the day. At best, she was able to keep Céline Boutier vigilant, by staying on her heels for a long time. This was also true of the defending champion Brooke Henderson. The Canadian put on a great show, even managing to produce the lowest 9-hole score at a women’s major. But she was unable to take the reins of the tournament, as the French player managed to hold on to her lead.

An historic season, records galore

The new major winner, who has lived in Dallas (Texas) for around ten years after studying in North Carolina, spends most of her time in the US. As a full-time member of the LPGA Tour, Céline Boutier spent two years in Europe on the Symetra Tour – the antechamber to the Ladies European Tour, now the Epson Tour – and put in hundreds of hours of hard work at Paris Country Club. Her brother Kevin, who is also a golf enthusiast and now teaches in Miami, explains “When she went to train all by herself for two hours on the putting green, she went for two hours and not 1 hour 55 minutes,” he told this month’s Golf Magazine, “she is never distracted. For her, every second counts and is goes towards golf. »

Inevitably, when she returned to her home continent of Europe to compete in a tournament in her childhood stomping ground, Céline piqued people’s curiosity, at odds with her reserved character. On the other side of the Atlantic, even though she was a key player on the US Tour, things seemed different. Her brother explained to our colleagues at Golf Magazine that the US media were naturally interested in their own headline players, which offered Boutier much-appreciated peace. That said, she didn’t let herself get flustered and was sometimes seen competing in various Ladies European Tour challenges with a smile. Her victory at the Lacoste Ladies Open of France in 2021 certainly set her free and convinced her for once and for all that she could win in front of a home crowd.

Here we are two years later and this now realized dream of winning a major in front of her fans has become a reality. After becoming the most titled Frenchwoman in the history of the LPGA Tour, the first Frenchwoman to make it into the world top-10 – achieving 8^th place – following her victory at the Drive On Championship in March, today she becomes the third player from France to win a Grand Slam, after Catherine Lacoste (US Open 1967) and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (Kraft Nabisco 2003). It was clearly with tears in her eyes, full of emotion, that she left the 18^th green this afternoon. She quickly became aware of the feat that she had just achieved, not only the actor in her own dreams but also a spectator. Trophy in hand, it’s now a tangible reality. This year 2023 marked by all these records gives a whole new substance to her career. May the celebrations be huge, in this sometimes unrewarding sport, where fate often descends with no warning, it’s time to immortalize this historic win forever.

Snippets of news

- Nelly Korda didn’t make the comeback she had hoped for. After carding a splendid 64(-7) yesterday morning, the world number 2 was unsuccessful and posted a final-round 72(+1), enabling her nevertheless to finish in 9^th place. Among the other favorites at the 2023 tournament, Minjee Lee finishes 16th, Jin-Young Ko 20^th as does Hyo Joo Kim.

- Followed by around fifty people of all ages and backgrounds, and watched by her coach Alain Alberti who had come to supervise his protégé this week, Pauline Roussin held on this morning after a tricky start to the round. The young French player shot a second consecutive 71 (par), after her two rounds of 73 (+2) in the qualifying rounds.

- A third hole-in-one was made on the par-3 8th hole by Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn, following the other just as impressive aces by the Callaway player Emma Talley at the 2^nd and the amateur Saki Baba on hole 16. On 1-under overall, sisters Moriya and Ariya Jutanugarn finish side by side in the rankings.

- Heralded as the future star of women’s world golf, Rose Zhang shot 68(-3) this Sunday. The American once again proved she is ready to make herself at home among the elite, at just 20 years of age. She turned pro in May and is continuing her studies at Stanford in the Silicon Valley, to the south of San Francisco, where she plans to graduate. Among the current top players, three of them also chose not to give up their studies: Céline Boutier, Allisen Corpuz and Lilia Vu. Well, what do you know, doesn’t that remind you of this season’s major winners ?

- Earlier in the week, we mentioned Norway’s Celine Borge, who completes her first appearance in Haute-Savoie with a superb 3rd place, after making birdies on three of her four final holes.