Celine Boutier looked unstoppable on Friday at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Celine Boutier goes nuclear at LPGA event; seizes lead with superb round
After a tough opening round, Celine Boutier bounced back with a vengeance at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
The Frenchwoman waltzed around Sentosa Golf Club, carding a bogey-free, 8-under 64 to take the solo lead through 36 holes.
She sits at 7-under for the championship, after signing for a 1-over 73 on day one.
“I think my putting was a little better,” Boutier said after the round.
“I feel like I didn’t really make that many putts yesterday, and today I felt like I made everything. So I felt like that was definitely the main difference between yesterday and today”
Funny enough, her nine-shot discrepancy between rounds one and two can be directly attributed to her work on the greens. Boutier hit 31 putts during Thursday’s opening round, making three bogeys to two birdies in the process.
Boutier needed only 22 putts the next day, as she poured in eight birdies on Friday.
“I was trying to think less, to be honest,” Boutier said when asked about her mindset on the putting surfaces.
“[On Thursday], I actually played pretty well but just came up pretty sort. [On Friday], I just went to putt to the right place and not be too indecisive.”
The change in approach paid off for Boutier, who shot her best round of the 2024 season on Friday.
In her two starts this year, Boutier finished in a tie for 16th at the LPGA Drive On Championship, then struggled somewhat in Thailand. She tied for 49th last week in Bangkok.
But her recent struggles were nowhere to be found Friday, just like the wind that died down.
Photo by Roslan Rahman/Getty Images
“It was definitely less windy, and I was able to get a good start and two birdies on the back, which was my front nine,” Boutier explained.
“That gave me a lot of confidence to keep going, and I was able to take advantage of a lot of birdie putts and just kept going. I feel like I played solid all round long and was able to get a low score.”
Boutier leads Ayaka Furue of Japan by one stroke at the midway point.
These two players will be joined by Madelene Sagstrom, who sits at 5-under, in the final pairing Saturday at 9:25 a.m. local time.
With Singapore 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, the final group will tee off at 8:25 p.m. ET Friday evening.
Live third-round coverage of the HSBC Women’s World Championship begins on Golf Channel at 9:30 p.m. ET Friday.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
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