Celine Boutier leads after first round of Olympic women’s golf competition

Celine Boutier (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)

The French golf fans celebrated with joy on Wednesday as Celine Boutier of Clamart, France sizzled at Le Golf National on the opening day of the Olympic Women’s Golf Tournament. Boutier, the 2023 Evian Championship winner, shot a first round score of seven-under-par and leads her nearest competitor by three strokes.

In the first round, Boutier had eight birdies and one bogey. She birdied the third, fifth and sixth holes on the opening nine. Then on the back nine, Boutier birdied the 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th and 16th holes, and bogeyed the 12th hole.

The only other golfer in contention at the moment is South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai. On Wednesday in the opening round, Buhai shot a score of four-under-par. She had five birdies and one bogey. Buhai birdied the first, seventh, ninth, 13th and 14th holes, and bogeyed the fourth hole.

Like Boutier, Buhai won a major golf tournament in Europe. She was victorious at the 2022 British Women’s Open. Buhai did not compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. The main reason for Boutier’s withdrawal was because of her personal concern of getting coronavirus at the Athletes’ Village. Boutier did not want to have to miss the British Open with the possibility that she had the disease.

In addition to winning the 2023 Evian Championship (where she dominated the field, shot -17 and beat her closest competitor Brooke Henderson by six strokes), Boutier has won one other time in France on the Ladies’ European Tour. That came at the 2021 Lacoste Ladies Open de France, where she shot -11, and beat her nearest competitor, Kylie Henry of Scotland by a stroke.

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