Frenchwoman Celine Boutier had a strong showing on day one at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, recording a 1-under 70 that saw her make two bogeys and three birdies, two of which came back-to-back on holes 16 and 17. The 29-year-old captured her third career LPGA Tour title earlier this season, defeating Georgia Hall in a playoff at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain, and has cooled a touch, only finding the top 15 three times in her last five starts, including a fifth-place result at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards after missing out on a berth in the semifinals. Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course didn’t play easy on Thursday morning and Boutier, who is a player that says she relishes difficult conditions, rose to the challenge, despite not being as comfortable as she normally is in the wind and rain.
“I think it's definitely a little bit tougher than expected. I feel like especially at the start. But I think it definitely helps with the better ball strikers, and especially on a course that's especially tough. I feel like the better players definitely play better,” said Boutier. “(I did not feel) very comfortable. I do enjoy challenging conditions, but I don't feel too confident with my game, so I feel like I just had to like hit a lot of greens, as many as I could, and I feel like I did pretty well considering my form.”
Boutier has missed two cuts this season at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro and the Mizuho Americas Open, her last competitive start on the LPGA Tour. But despite feeling like her game isn’t in the best spot, Boutier is still gaining strokes in every statistical category, most notably ranking fourth in strokes gained around the green, a good thing to excel it at a golf course like Baltusrol. And as she looks ahead to three more rounds, Boutier will take all the positives she can possibly glean from Thursday and apply them to the pursuit of her first major title.
“It was definitely very positive, and I think I also missed a few opportunities on the reachable par-5s and stuff like that, so I feel like there's definitely a little bit of room for improvement. But considering the conditions in the first round, I think I managed really well,” she said. “You just have to know that it's going to be tough to make a lot of birdies, and you just have to make as many pars as possible. Even (though) I started with two bogeys early on, I tried to not panic and just stayed very patient. I think that's definitely the key.”
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