GALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY | There’s a lot to be said for posting a number. And there aren’t many bad 63s. Combine those two truisms and you have a recipe for what happened at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. Céline Boutier (above), the 27-year-old former Duke University Blue Devil from Montrouge, France, rolled in a 7-footer for birdie on the final green on the Bay Course at the Dolce Seaview Resort within sight of the Atlantic City skyline, to get to 8 under on the day and 14-under 270 for the week.
The round included six birdies on the front nine and two more on Nos. 16 and 18, the last coming after Boutier, who has worked a lot on getting longer in recent years, smashed a 3-hybrid green-high on the right. She pitched just past the hole on the crowned Donald Ross green, leaving herself that not-all-that-easy birdie putt to take sole possession of the lead for the first time in the tournament.
“This was unbelievable, just unbelievable,” one of the walking scorers said in a distinctly Philadelphia accent after Boutier made the putt for a career-low 63. “You won’t see better golf.”
Boutier then waited 50 minutes for the final group to finish. She rolled a few putts, checked her phone, talked to Golf Channel’s Kay Cockerill and then walked through the golf shop to the locker room to watch the closing holes on television.
“There were only a few players in there and I figured it was the perfect place to watch,” Boutier said afterward.
Under any circumstances that would have been a stressful few minutes. But Boutier felt relaxed. She believed in all her heart that she was bound for a playoff. That’s because the two players in the final group were the No. 2 and No. 3 players in the Rolex Rankings, Jin Young Ko and LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park.
Park had an 8-footer for birdie on 18. Ko a 7-footer. Atlantic City would have given enormous odds against both of them missing. The fact that neither of them hit the hole with their birdie efforts shocked everyone, including the champion.
“The fact that neither Jin Young nor Inbee birdied 18 really left me, I don’t know, like kind of stunned,” Boutier said. “I’m still a little bit surprised about it. But it’s honestly been a great tournament. I played really solid from start to finish. Super happy with the way it ended obviously.”
Steve Eubanks