Celine Boutier dazzles French crowd with 65 to lead women's Olympic golf by three

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — For all the countless times Celine Boutier has played Le Golf National, what carried her to a 7-under 65 and a three-shot lead Wednesday in the Olympics were the two days when she didn't even have her clubs.

Boutier watched from the gallery over the weekend as the French fans cheered and chanted and sang for Victor Perez and Matthieu Pavon, ovations they rarely hear anywhere else.

When it was her time to perform, the 30-year-old from France delivered a round to remember. On a course so difficult that only two players broke 70, Boutier rolled in seven birdie putts and chipped in for another birdie to steal the show.

“I'm really over the moon with the way the tournament started for me,” said Boutier, who won her first LPGA major last year at The Amundi Evian Championship in France.

That wasn't quite as raucous as it was on Wednesday, which had ticket sales of 26,000 and a gallery approaching 20,000. They scattered about Le Golf National early and followed their star in the afternoon as she poured it on with three straight birdies.

The last one was a chip-in from behind the green on the par-3 16th, causing an unmistakable cheer that resonated across the course.

Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa had a 68, and only 10 other players broke par. The group at 70 included Gaby Lopez of Mexico, who birdied her last three holes, and Lilia Vu, the two-time major champion and former No. 1 who played alongside Boutier.

“It was so cool to see all her fans push really hard for her,” Vu said.

Nelly Korda, the gold medalist from the Tokyo Games and No. 1 player in women's golf, had to push hard to get back to even for the day at 72. She had a trio of three-putts early and was 3 over through eight holes until she sorted out the green speed and made a few putts.

Don't get the idea the overwhelming support made it easy for Boutier. Le Golf National was a beast – the scoring average was 74.1 – and demanded her full attention. And all the cheering for her was a new sensation.

“It's definitely not something I’m really used to from what I usually experience on the LPGA,” Boutier said. “So it’s nice to have that much support. Coming last weekend, being able to watch some of the men’s round and their tee shots helped me out just because I was able to see the support and the crowd that they got and was able to help prepare myself for today and for the rest of the week.”

Perrine Delacour of France was given the honor of the opening tee shot. The crowd was slow arriving, but there were still plenty of fans to greet her with “La Marseillaise." Delacour thrust her arm in the air when the crowd belted out, “Aux armes, citoyens!”

“Not crying on the first tee, that was hard. I mean, I’m just trying to do my best. I knew it was going to be a lot of emotion,” Delacour said.

She shot a 79, and she wasn't alone in her struggles. Charley Hull of England posted an 81, one of three players who failed to break 80. U.S. Women's Open champion Yuka Saso had a 77.

The rough was trimmed but still dense at the bottom. Finding fairways was imperative to have a reasonable chance of getting it on the green. Throw in the endless cheers, and Boutier had her hands full.

“It's such a tough course that you have to focus on your game,” Boutier said. “You can’t just look around and laugh with the crowd. So it’s definitely nice to have some support, but you definitely have to focus out there.”

Korda, who has slowed since her record-tying run of five straight LPGA wins this year, took three putts from the fringe on No. 1 for bogey. She three-putted from long range for par on the third and had another three-putt bogey at the seventh. She reached the par-5 18th in two, only to three-putt for par from 65 feet.

“I actually didn’t hit it that bad. I just made four three-putts,” Korda said. “The greens were just so completely different – from the practice green to the golf course, they were a lot slower. So it was just a pace thing.”

Course experience certainly played a part for Boutier. She used to play the junior national championships at Le Golf National every summer, and she joined the French golf academy that operates at the course. She said they would play practically every day for a full year.

Boutier let her putter do most of the work on this day, holing three birdie putts from outside 20 feet and pulling away with three straight birdies on the middle of the back nine.

“It’s definitely nice to get some energy from the crowd after I make a putt,” she said. “And sometimes I try to take from that, and they also sometimes take from me. So I hope it’s an exchange. And I think it’s fun when you’re getting the momentum going.”

Minjee Lee could hear it the whole way, playing in the group in front of Boutier. She heard the constant chanting of “Cee-Line” just about the whole way around.

“Just the energy is really amazing out there,” Lee said. "And they all have been really supportive of all the players, I think. So it’s quite nice to have that kind of experience after the inaugural in Rio, and obviously Tokyo was COVID edition.

“It really feels like what I imagined the Olympics to be.”