BOUTIER READY FOR SPECIAL WEEK AT EVIAN RESORT

Celine Boutier is relishing being back on home soil and excited to tee it up at The 2023 Amundi Evian Championship.

The Frenchwoman, who is number 15 in the Women’s Rolex World Golf Rankings, is enjoying being back in France at Evian Resort for the fourth major of the year.

Boutier is playing well in 2023 having won her third LPGA Tour title at the end of March after she secured a playoff victory at the LPGA Drive On championship.

She sits eighth in the Race to CME Globe standings on the LPGA Tour and comes into this week off the back of a T3 finish at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

“It was a very solid week last week with my partner Yuka Saso,” said Boutier. “I feel like we both played very solid, and it was very enjoyable to be able to play with a partner. Hopefully, that will be the start of a good stretch of weeks. I feel very positive about that past week.

“I’m very excited to get started. I feel like the course is in amazing shape and I had some good practice rounds, and I’m ready to go for tomorrow.  Just being able to play in front of a French crowd, I really don’t get that opportunity quite a bit.”

The three-time LET winner is playing in The Amundi Evian Championship for the sixth time with her previous best result being a share of 29^th place.

Boutier will begin her tilt for the title at 7.51 am (local time) from the 10^th tee alongside Japan’s Hinako Shibuno and England’s Charley Hull.

But despite it being a Major championship in her home country, the 29-year-old is treating it like any other week and looking forward to having her family by her side.

She explained: “This course is very demanding off the tee and especially also on the approach shots. I feel like in the past I haven’t been able to play that well and have that many birdie opportunities to be honest, so I haven’t been able to score very well.

“The fact that it’s in France and also having a little bit more extra pressure that I put on myself, this week I’m really just trying to take it as a regular week. I feel like the best way for me to perform is to really not think about the fact that it means so much here and just try to take it as a regular tournament.

“Then just being able to have my family here also with me makes it even more special. I think that’s the most important. I feel like they’ve always been super excited to come here. Just such a great environment. It’s a very cool tournament for us.”

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