"Emotionally it was fine"- Celine Boutier loses lead after disappointing day 2 of women's golf at the 2024 Olympics
Celine Boutier had a very solid opening round at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Her second round was relatively subpar and dropped her from first to tied for seventh. Although the French golfer is still well within the range of competing for a medal but faces an upward climb after shooting four over.
Boutier, whose second round is complete, said (via Golf Digest):
"Emotionally it was fine. Definitely feel like I left a few shots out there. Had a rough patch in the back and didn't really make as many birdie putts as I did yesterday. So definitely reflected in the score."
A brilliant round of 65 led her to be three strokes ahead of the rest of the field after one round. After two rounds, she's slipped back down. The local star wowed fans with her shots on Wednesday, but couldn't keep that momentum going on Thursday.
The field is full of talent, including current leader Morgane Metraux, Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Ruoning Yin (all three tied for second presently), Pia Babnik, Mariajo Uribe, Bianca Pagdanganan, and others. All of them passed Boutier.
Additionally, Atthaya Thitikul, Miyu Yamashita, and Ashleigh Buhai are all tied with Boutier. She briefly held a pretty significant advantage over the field, but that has almost officially gone by the wayside now.
She still has two more rounds to catch back up, but she does trail by five. If Korda or another golfer finishes well during the second round, they might stretch the deficit that Boutier surprisingly faces now.
Celine Boutier was thrilled with the first round
Celine Boutier, the French golfer who shot an impressive 65 in the opening round, has expressed some disappointment over the way her second round went, as shooting four over was not ideal.
However, before that, Celine Boutier was on top of the world. The golfer said that she couldn't believe her start (via Golf Digest):
“I'm really over the moon with the way the tournament started for me. I definitely wasn't sure what to expect today, but I was able to take advantage of a few opportunities out there.”
She also admitted that the success was a bit surprising:
"It's definitely not something I'm really used to from what I usually experience on the LPGA. But it was nice. Definitely a little bit much for me sometimes. But it's just nice to have that many people excited about golf and about where my round is going,” Boutier added.
She's going to need to draw from whatever drove her in the opening round over the next two days. The Olympics for golfers conclude on Saturday, and Boutier would like to be standing with a medal in France.