Céline Boutier’s reaction did not take long. Getting off to a poor start after her inaugural 77, the Frenchwoman bounced back as champion this Friday on the Old Course at St Andrews. Starting early on the 10th, the Clamart native relied on the accuracy of his iron game (fifteen greens were hit in regulation). Solid to begin with, he definitely started his day on the par 5 14th by hitting an eagle. Then the six-time winner on the American circuit followed with a birdie at the 18th.
Her bogey on 1 did not affect her good momentum as evidenced by the last birdie obtained from the gong on 9. Thanks to this beautiful card of 69, Céline Boutier went from 99th to 36th place (+ 2 overall) and will be in for a changeable day, like her compatriot Emma Grechi, author of a score of 74. Despite her five bogeys, the 26-year-old hung on, and made three birdies to rank 47th (+ 3) and stay on the right side of the cut line (set at +4). On the other hand, Perrine Delacour recorded a score of 75 (six bogeys, three birdies) and finished 83rd (+5).
Cord, the most regular
After 36 holes, the top of the ranking is occupied by Nelly Korda. Consistently, the world number 1, who hit his tee shot at dawn on hole number 10, posted a second consecutive round of 68 (four birdies), without making a single mistake: “Yesterday, the wind blew hard throughout the game. Today it rained for a good part of the warm up and until my second or third hole. The first nine holes were pretty quiet, and when we got to 18 and 1, that’s when the wind started to pick up. I didn’t really take advantage of the calmer conditions on the first nine holes but I played solid golf, and I’m happy with that.“, declared the Floridian who so far has only made one bogey.
The new leader has a small cushion of three lengths ahead of a duo consisting of Lilia Vu and Charley Hull (-5 total). In control at the end of the first round, the Englishwoman had to settle for an even card this Friday (three birdies, three bogeys), like Ruoning Yin, who alone took 4th place (-4) .
The top 10 was completed by six competitors sharing 5th place (-3 overall). There we see Casandra Alexander, Ashleigh Buhai, Louise Rydqvist, Peiyun Chien, Mao Saigo and Lydia Ko, the 2024 Olympic champion completed the course in 70 strokes (four birdies, two bogeys), in this second round.