Celine Boutier carded a 2-under-par 69 on Friday to claim a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Evian Championship in Evian-les-Bains, France.
A three-time LPGA Tour winner who is seeking her first career major title, Boutier was born in Clamart, France, a little more than five hours southeast of Evian Resort Golf Club.
“Just really fun, you know, that they’re cheering so hard for me,” Boutier said of the local fans. “I feel like it’s definitely fun when you’re hitting good shots and you’re making putts and stuff like that, so I’m just trying to ride the wave and enjoy it.”
Boutier recorded four birdies against two bogeys on Friday to reside at 7-under 135 for the tournament.
“I came off a bogey on 11 and I was able to right it back with two birdies (in a row),” Boutier said. “That kind of really kept me going.”
Boutier, 29, is one shot ahead of Patty Tavatanakit (67) of Thailand and Yuka Saso (69) of Japan at the fourth of five women’s majors of the year. Tavatanakit and Saso each won a major championship in 2021 and are on the hunt for their second.
With five birdies and a single bogey, Tavatanakit matched the low round of the day.
“I just didn’t really let any confidence down,” she said. “I feel like I just kept it going, keep it light, and really trusted in everything and it worked.”
Gaby Lopez (68) of Mexico, Alison Lee (71) of the United States and Nasa Hataoka (67) of Japan reside in a three-way tie for fourth place at 5 under, one stroke ahead of Hae Ran Ryu (71) of South Korea and two in front of a foursome that includes defending champion Brooke Henderson (70) of Canada and first-round leader Paula Reto (75) of South Africa.
American Rose Zhang (71) and World No. 1 Jin Young Ko (70) of South Korea are part of a large group tied for 12th at 2 under.
Spain’s Carlota Ciganda was disqualified on Friday after arguing a slow-play penalty and refusing to sign her score card.
Ciganda, 33, lost her appeal of the two-stroke penalty incurred on her final hole. She carded a round of 1-over 72 but left the scoring tent without signing her card, prompting the disqualification.
Seventy players made the cut of 4 over par or better. Notable players who missed the cut by a single stroke include Women’s PGA Championship winner Ruoning Yin of China, World No. 10 Xiyu Lin of China and past major winners Sei Young Kim of South Korea and Hannah Green of Australia.
–Field Level Media
