KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2023

Celine Boutier

Baltusrol Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're here with Celine Boutier, three birdies on the day. What have been some of the keys that you took away from your opening round to finish under par?

CELINE BOUTIER: Yeah, definitely stayed patient all day. I feel like I didn't get myself off to a good start with a few bogeys starting off, but I knew the conditions were really tough, and there was still a lot of holes left, so I just tried to give myself as many opportunities as I could.

I know that it's a course that you can't have that many birdie chances because it's so tough and kind of long, so I just knew if I just hit a lot of greens, it would have been okay.

Q. Do you enjoy a tougher test like this?

CELINE BOUTIER: Yeah, I do. I think it's definitely a little bit tougher than expected. I feel like especially at the start.

But I think it definitely helps with the better ball strikers, and especially on a course that's especially tough. I feel like the better players definitely play better.

Q. Did you hit a fair amount of greens today or were you scrambling well? What's it like just making pars and keeping momentum out there?

CELINE BOUTIER: I hit more greens on the back nine, which was the front, I guess. It was my back. Like I said, I definitely didn't start the best, but I feel like I managed to stay very consistent on the back nine.

Q. You told me last year in Scotland you loved the wind, loved the rain, like this is your kind of golf. How comfortable did you feel out there today?

CELINE BOUTIER: Not very comfortable. I do enjoy challenging conditions, but I definitely feel like I don't feel too confident with my game, so I feel like I just had to like hit a lot of greens, as many as I could, and I feel like I did pretty well considering my form.

Q. What's been missing?

CELINE BOUTIER: I just haven't been striking the ball as well.

Q. Will you take anything away from today as you look ahead to the rest of the week? Hitting as many greens as you can hit is probably a big positive.

CELINE BOUTIER: Yeah, it was definitely very positive, and I think I also missed a few opportunities on the reachable par-5s and stuff like that, so I feel like there's definitely a little bit of room for improvement. But considering the conditions in the first round, I think I managed really well.

Q. How are you able to stay patient out here making a bogey or two and kind of knowing that there aren't that many birdie opportunities afterwards to make up for those mistakes?

CELINE BOUTIER: Yeah, you just have to know that it's going to be tough to make a lot of birdies, and you just have to make as many pars as possible. I feel like even I started with two bogeys early on, I definitely tried to not panic and just stayed very patient. I think that's definitely the key.

Q. What specifically do you do to prepare for a course like this compared to most of the other weeks on Tour?

CELINE BOUTIER: I think because it's a major, it's going to be a little bit long, and you know it's going to be tough, so you have to focus a lot on ball-striking, I think, and then specifically to this course when I got here, definitely tried to get used to the rough because it's very specific to this course I think just the way that it's being played and it's set up. I think I just also had to get a lot of practice around the greens.

Q. Can you give us a little detail on your back-to-back birdies there on 16 and 17?

CELINE BOUTIER: Yes, so 16 was the par-3, and I was able to hit it about 12 feet, which I got away with it a little bit. I feel like I thinned it a little bit but managed to carry the bunker and was 12 feet away. Had as straight of a putt as I could have and made it.

17, the par-5, I hit it to about 15 or 18 feet left of it and mate the putt.

Q. Fellow Duke player Leona Maguire has been playing some really good golf lately. What do you remember about playing alongside Leona in terms of what makes her so gritty?

CELINE BOUTIER: I think she's very competitive, and I think her game is very consistent, as well, from long game to putting. I think everything is really solid.

Yeah, I've been playing with her a long time because even before college in Europe and junior golf we would always see each other at tournaments and stuff like that. She also started to play really good really early, so we knew even before she went to college she started winning everything, so it was kind of obvious that she would make it.

Q. Have you seen anything lately in her game that reminds you of Leona of her youth?

CELINE BOUTIER: I actually haven't been with her in a long time. I haven't played with her at all lately. We haven't been paired together or anything.