Celine Boutier is playing with extra motivation at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give.

It’s the final tune-up for Boutier, as well as many other players who are competing at Blythefield Country Club in Michigan, who will be heading to Frisco, Texas next week for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. For the Frenchwoman, who has made the Dallas area her adopted hometown, she is hoping to get her game back into peak form just in time for the third major championship of the season.

“I definitely want to put on a good performance,” Boutier said about her hopes for the major championship. “I feel like a good finish this week will help me get more confidence and hopefully some momentum going into next week.”

Boutier is well on her way to reaching her goal thanks to back-to-back rounds of 68 and is now well-positioned heading into the weekend at the Meijer LPGA Classic. It’s no surprise to see Boutier playing well at Blythefield, where she’s competing for the sixth time, and where she has never missed the cut.

“It's very nice to be in this position, but I also feel like there is still so much golf left. It's good to get off to a good start, but I also know a lot can happen still,” Boutier said after her round on Friday. “I'm just trying to focus on tomorrow's round and just try to put another solid round and see for the rest of the weekend.”

Boutier began her round on the back nine on Friday and recorded seven birdies, which were offset by three bogeys, in windy and cool conditions in Belmont, Mich. Boutier said the wind direction was the same as it was for round one, but with the winds sustained around 15 mph Friday morning, she said that keeping her ball in the fairway presented a challenge as she wanted to avoid playing from the thick rough. Boutier missed five fairways and five greens on her way to that 4-under round of 68.

“You have to hit a lot of fairways. It's very penalizing when you're on the rough because it's quite thick, and then you have no control over the carry or like the roll-out distance,” Boutier said about Blythefield. “The more you can hit fairways the better, and take advantage of the par 5s as much as possible. I think once you hit the fairway, most of them you have a good chance of reaching them in two, so I think that's quite helpful. Overall, definitely puts a premium on the tee shots.”

Boutier says the wind will play a major factor in determining how low she’ll need to go this weekend to give herself a chance at a win. Four of the last six winners of the Meijer LPGA Classic got to at least 20-under for the championship. But regardless of score, being able to put herself in this position to have to navigate the wind will be a great tune-up as Boutier looks ahead to Fields Ranch East in Frisco, which the major champion said she’s played once before and battled 25 mph winds.

“I think it's going to be quite a challenge,” Boutier said when asked about Frisco. “It can play quite long. When I played it was really windy, it was blowing like 25, so I think it was kind of challenging. I think it's going to be a great test. It’s going to be fair.”

But before Boutier turns her focus completely to the next major championship, she’ll have to first manage the challenge that awaits her this weekend at the Meijer LPGA Classic where she’ll try to keep her momentum rolling for two more days. Since Boutier enjoyed that four-win, breakout season in 2023, she has yet to return to the winner’s circle as she’s struggled to find greens at the same clip as she did during that standout year. But Boutier has seen signs of improvement with her game in recent starts as she has recorded three top 10s so far in 2025, including a runner-up finish at the Mizuho Americas Open.

“Overall, for the past few weeks, my game has been pretty solid,” Boutier said about finding some form ahead of the next major. “I feel like it's coming together kind of slowly, so hopefully a few good results here and there will help me build some momentum.”

Boutier Building Momentum for Next Major with Strong Start at Meijer

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