Boutier chasing second major win at Amundi Evian Championship

Celine Boutier won the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship and became the first French woman to win the event, now she's looking for a second major win at the tournament.

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It's a major week as the LPGA is in the majestic French Alps overlooking Lake Geneva for this week's Evian Championship, the tour's fourth major of the year.

And back in 2023, it was Celine Boutier, who in the midst of a career year, ran away from the field by six shots and became the first Frenchwoman to win the Evian Championship.

And the Evian Resort is hosting this week's Evian Championship, and it's great to see you, Celine.

I appreciate you taking the time.

Let's go back to 2023.

You'd won four times that season.

Just curious, when you have a career year like that, how does that potentially change the perception of what you think is actually possible to achieve in the game?

yeah, it was definitely a year that expe- ex- exceeded all my expectations.

I feel like I achieved a lot of, my dreams, and winning the Evian Championship was definitely one of my biggest, dreams and goals.

So I feel like it was definitely something that I was, you know, dreaming of for a long time.

And achieving it is- has been unbelievable.

and it's definitely also kind of made me very grateful, 'cause I feel like, you know, winning four times in a year, including a major, is definitely something that's kinda hard and, like, it's, not easy to do.

And I feel like now it's been, like, three years, and I've only won, like, once.

So I feel like I definitely miss that year, and when everything seemed a little bit more easy.

but, no, very grateful for, that year and for, you know, all the experiences that came after that.

Now, I remember you and I having a conversation.

I interviewed you after the first round of the Olympics in Paris, and you got off to such an amazing start.

You opened with a 65.

It felt like the entire country was behind you in Paris.

I asked you then what that pressure must have felt like, but you must have had the same pressure in Evian.

What was it like coming down the stretch with, again, all of France standing behind you, rooting you on?

I think it was a different feel.

I mean, obviously playing in France is always special, and you, you always get a little bit more, you know, support from the crowd.

and Evian was definitely not different, but I feel like Olympics was a little bit more, intense in the sense that it wasn't just golf fans going to the sporting events and to the golf course.

It was kind of like, you know, the whole country and everybody was going there, even people who didn't really necessarily know much about golf.

And so they brought a completely different atmo- atmosphere to the golf course, and it was really fun, but it was also a lot of added pressure just because I feel like, you know, they were all there to support us, me and Perrine, and I didn't want to disappoint.

and that course, I mean, I don't know if you've played the Golf National, but it is so tough- Mm-hmm on its own.

And if you add the pressure and the Olympics and everything else, it made it a lot harder.

so I think it was a little bit of a different atmosphere.

but it's always fun to be able to be the crowd favorite once in a while.

Celine, you mentioned just the one win since 2023.

It actually happened just a couple weeks ago, at the ShopRite.

I'm curious, when you finally do reach the mountaintop and win a major championship, is there sort of a natural comedown, either mentally or physically, that happens when you achieve something that you'd set out to achieve in your entire career?

I think it took me a while to even realize, what I did, and I think it took me maybe a couple months to really know and be able to enjoy and realize that what, what I had achieved.

but after that, I think there's definitely a little bit of, I wouldn't say that you're letting, like, your guard down necessarily, but you're just kind of on a cloud.

And so you're just, enjoying and, having, you know, really good memories and good times.

'Cause obviously, like, that week, everything felt like it, it was easy, and so you're really on a cloud for a while.

but I feel like golf also has the ability to humble you really quickly, you know, from one day to another or from, one week to another.

So I feel like, I definitely was able to experience that the last, you know, couple years, even though it wasn't so bad, but it just didn't feel You know, the results weren't as good as, as that year.

So I feel like that's very na- natural.

But I feel like, I'm still, you know, chasing, more wins and hopefully, you know, more majors.

but I feel like that was definitely something that, I've wanted to, to do for a long time.

Now, we saw you during the break diligently going through your yardage book.

Would you mind giving us a peek of what's inside the book?

And you also mentioned there's a couple of course changes this year that you were sort of looking at.

yes.

I was, kind of transferring my notes, from, last year.

they definitely made a couple changes to the course, especially on couple greens, number one and number five, that they made bigger.

and then they added a couple bunkers on 18, which is a par-5.

So they added a bunker, within reach on the drive and then on the second shot on the, on the left side.

So it makes things a little bit more tricky.

But, I think the changes that they make on the par-3 and the first hole on the green are good changes, 'cause it, it makes a little bit, more room.

you know, I feel like it's a course that has a lot of undulations and elevation changes.

you have to be comfortable with, you know, uneven lies and playing on two small targets.

So I feel like any time they can make the green a little bit bigger, it's, it's always good.

Celine, what have you seen out of the course conditioning this week?

We're gonna be talking to our, our pal Grant Boone, who, who said that it is, ungodly hot, so far, so far this week in France.

Yeah, it's definitely hotter than usual.

and there's not much wind either, so it feels even hotter.

but they've been watering the fairways and the greens quite a bit.

I feel like it's a little bit actually softer than expected.

I'm expecting the course to, to get a little bit more firm throughout the week, especially with the, with the heat, so it'll be important to adjust the strategy, accordingly as well.

Now, we asked you earlier, you are, like the rest of us, a casual football fan during the World Cup.

But France has been dominant.

They have a big match coming up on Thursday.

What are your expectations for your team?

Oh, my expectation is the win.

I, I think they have a really solid team.

and from all the other caddies and fans that I've talked to on the tour, everybody thinks that France thinks that France is going to win.

So that is my expectation for them.

I'm gonna be cheering them on for sure, and hopefully, yeah, they keep going, for the next, week or two.

Well, good luck to your national team.

Good luck to you, Celine Boutier, as you compete in this week's Evian Championship.

It's always great to talk to you.

Look forward to talking to you down the road.

Thank you

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