DOW CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 2024

Celine Boutier

Yuka Saso

Midland Country Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Here with Celine and Yuka after a record-tying 58 today. You tied the 18-hole tournament scoring record today. Talk about your day that you had out there and what it was like to go that low.

CELINE BOUTIER: Yeah, it was really fun. I think we definitely complemented each other very well. I started off good, and she picked it up in the middle and then was able to finish with a birdie on 9, which was our 18th. It was definitely a very fun round, and we are just happy to be able to rally back and get a chance to play on the weekend.

YUKA SASO: Everything she said was true.

Q. Compare your day yesterday to the day today with the two different formats, how you readjusted and stuck in the zone to make the cut and move up the leaderboard so much today.

CELINE BOUTIER: Yeah, yesterday was a little bit of a rough finish for us, and so we kind of really took that as motivation for today, and we knew that it was going to be kind of a lot of birdie chances, and we knew we still had a chance if we were going to make some birdies.

It was definitely important for us to get off to a good start, and then we got kind of in the flow on our back nine, which was the front, so yeah, it's definitely a fun format when you can be so aggressive and get rewarded with birdies.

Q. Talk about that stretch from 1 to 7, I believe. Did you guys realize how low you were going, accumulating the birdies? What were you feeling at that moment, throughout those holes?

YUKA SASO: I knew it was pretty low.

CELINE BOUTIER: That's all you're going to say? What the heck?

YUKA SASO: I don't know what to say. I might be in trouble later.

CELINE BOUTIER: Yeah, I think we just were trying to take advantage of as many opportunities as we could. We definitely going into the back nine, we knew we needed a few more birdies. Whenever we had a chance, we definitely went for it. It was really fun.

Then I definitely didn't realize we had like seven in a row until we went into the recording --

YUKA SASO: Until we went into scoring.

CELINE BOUTIER: We had eight birdies out of nine, so it would have been fun to have nine in a row, but can't be too picky about that.

YUKA SASO: I missed the one on 8.

CELINE BOUTIER: I did, too.

Q. What was clicking in those seven holes? Was it a lot of close shots to the pin? Was it just really great putting? What was clicking between the both of you?

CELINE BOUTIER: I think we just had both opportunities, like birdie chances on each hole, and so we kind of knew we could both be aggressive with our putts because we knew the other one also had a chance. In that way we really helped each other out, and she also helped me a lot on the reads, so I definitely felt more confident with the lines and stuff like that, so that helps, also.

Q. You both played really well here last year. I remember talking to you guys a ton last year. Talk a little bit about how that experience last year is giving you confidence for this year, kind of approaching the course and playing so well here before.

YUKA SASO: I don't know about confidence, but I feel really comfortable playing alongside Celine. She's a very good partner. I wasn't having a good day yesterday to start the day, but she was there to give supportive words, and that definitely helped, so I'm very thankful for Celine.

Q. Since you saw you last year you've recorded multiple wins between the two of you. What's it been like looking back at yourselves last year and how much you've grown since then?

CELINE BOUTIER: Have you grown? I don't think she's grown.

YUKA SASO: I think I'm a little bit taller.

CELINE BOUTIER: Personally, I think that week last year for me was a really good week to get started to get some momentum. We had a chance to win on Sunday, and we had a really good week just on the golf course.

So it definitely helped for me going to Europe, and then I was able to get two wins there. I feel like that was definitely the start for me, got me into a really good kind of momentum for the rest of the season.

YUKA SASO: My last year was not as good as her, but I think playing with Celine, I think because she's very calm out there and very competitive, that I don't really have as much as she does, I think that helps for me to be able to be aggressive on certain holes or some events. I think that's why we're a good team.

Q. I believe you have a different name this year than you did last year, a different team name. Can you talk about why you picked that, and what the conversation was about partnering together this year, if there was any conversation or story about partnering together again this year.

CELINE BOUTIER: I mean, she likes to play hard to get a little bit, so I really had to keep asking. She was like, oh, I don't know, do you want to do it? I was like, I don't know, do you want to? It was kind of a little bit like that.

For me, it was just such a blast last year, so I'm just glad we were able to team up again. The new name, I think we just wanted a little bit of a change. She came up with it, actually. I thought it was pretty funny and pretty good. I think we just went with it.