Fueled by the unwavering support of her home country’s fans, Celine Boutier ran away from a loaded field Sunday to claim the Amundi Evian Championship for her first career major victory.
Boutier’s win makes 2023 the second time in the last three years that each of the season’s first four majors were claimed by first-time winners. In the last 25 major championships played in the women’s game, only five times did the winner have a major win to their credit entering the week. The fields on the LPGA Tour continue to flex their unprecedented depth and quality.
KPMG Performance Insights offer the most comprehensive, detailed analysis ever available about the LPGA Tour. The numbers behind Boutier’s big win make it all the more impressive.
Few blemishes for Boutier
Boutier made just five bogeys all week, the fewest among any of the last 10 women’s major championship winners. She didn’t miss many greens in regulation – at 77.8%, she was second-best in the field for the week – but when she did, she got up-and-down at a 75% clip, the best of any player all week at Evian Resort Golf Club. Often in big victories, the strongest aspect of a player’s game shines brightest in her biggest moment. That was the case for Boutier: She ranked second in the field in strokes gained around the green for the championship, pushing her up to fourth in that statistic on the LPGA Tour this season. She also now leads the Tour in scrambling percentage after her career week in France.
Boutier’s two victories this season have come in her two strongest putting performances. Earlier this season at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain, Boutier led the field in strokes gained putting en route to a playoff victory over Georgia Hall. The only other time this season she has ranked in the top 10 in the field in strokes gained putting came last week at the Amundi Evian Championship. Boutier gained 5.64 strokes on the field on the greens – more than 31% of her total strokes gained – ninth-best for the championship.
Boutier’s six-shot margin of victory was the largest in any women’s major championship since Lydia Ko got her first major win at this event in a six-shot romp in 2015. Since 2000, there have been 104 women’s majors contested. In that span, just eight have been won by six strokes or more – a mere 7.7%. By the way, each of the seven previous women to win a major by six or more in that span are multiple major winners during their careers, a harbinger for future success for the French player.
Henderson’s valiant title defense
Brooke Henderson finished runner-up one year after winning the Amundi Evian Championship, the best finish by a defending champion in this event since it became a major. The previous mark was held by Suzann Pettersen, who finished alone in sixth place in 2014. It was the Canadian’s best performance on the LPGA Tour since January; her second-place result and 11.9 strokes gained total were both bests since she won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in the season’s first event.
Henderson enjoyed that success despite losing strokes to the field off the tee. She hit just 65% of her fairways for the championship, nearly 8% below her season rate. On approach shots hit from the fairway last week, the field hit the green 79% of the time. When players missed the fairway, that number plummeted to 48%. Henderson was no exception: When she found the fairway on par 4s and 5s, she then hit the green in regulation 85% of the time and just 61% when she missed.
Khang loves the majors
In 30 rounds of stroke-play, non-major LPGA Tour competition this season, Megan Khang is averaging a respectable 0.45 strokes gained total per round. In the major championships, she’s a completely different animal, gaining a stout 2.17 strokes on the field per round. After last week’s tie for ninth, Khang has seven top-10 finishes in majors since the beginning of 2020, tied for most of any player in that span (Minjee Lee, Nasa Hataoka and Nelly Korda have seven apiece, as well).
Khang has ranked sixth or better in strokes gained tee-to-green in three of the four majors this season. She’s up to fourth in that metric overall on the LPGA Tour in 2023. When she gets the putter to cooperate, she’s tough to beat: The three times this season she has had positive strokes gained putting for an entire tournament, she’s finished in the top 10.
Zhang continues to impress
How do you bounce back from your first missed cut as a pro? If you’re Rose Zhang, you fire a final-round 68 to finish in the top 10 for the fourth time in five LPGA Tour starts since turning professional. Zhang is the only player to finish in the top 10 in each of the last three women’s majors. At the Amundi Evian Championship, she assembled her best ball-striking performance of the 2023 major season, ranking second in strokes gained tee-to-green and sixth in strokes gained approach.
If Zhang had enough rounds to officially qualify, she would rank 11th on the LPGA Tour in scoring average and second in strokes gained total per round. Her strong performances on the game’s biggest stages have been an early validation of the hype that preceded her professional arrival.
Saso strong again
After a tie for third in France, Yuka Saso has now rattled off five consecutive top-20 finishes on the LPGA Tour – three of those coming in major championships. That’s a sharp contrast from the four consecutive missed cuts that preceded this run of good form. Saso is at her best when using her powerful driver to its fullest potential: In each of her five best finishes this season, she’s ranked in the top 10 that week in strokes gained off-the-tee. That includes last week at Evian, when she picked up more than six strokes on the field on tee shots alone.
The fifth and final major of the season – the AIG Women’s Open – begins August 10 at Walton Heath Golf Club.
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