Celine Boutier wins 9-hole playoff to claim 4th LPGA title of the season
Celine Boutier’s stellar season continued in Malaysia at the Maybank Championship, where a final-round 64 earned her a berth in a playoff against Attaya Thitikul.
Third-round leader Rose Zhang fired a final-round 71 to finish T3 alongside Jasmine Suwannapura at 19 under par, two shots behind Boutier and Thitikul.
Boutier’s final round featured eight birdies, four on each nine, and no bogeys. She led the tournament from the clubhouse as Thitikul played in the final threesome. Thitikul then birdied three of her last four holes to get into a playoff with Boutier. The playoff was a marathon, going nine holes in addition to a 90-minute weather delay. But a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-3 15th finally went in for Boutier, giving her her fourth LPGA victory of the season.
Boutier had two career LPGA wins heading into the 2023 season. Then, she won the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain in March and two back-to-back tournaments over the summer, claiming the Evian Championship for her first major title, followed by the Women’s Scottish Open.
The 29-year-old Frenchwoman is now ranked 5th in the world, and with two tournaments remaining before the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, Boutier tops the Race to CME Globe ranking by a significant margin. Only the top 60 players from the ranking are eligible to compete at the CME Group Tour Championship, which offers a $2 million winner’s check, the largest single prize in the history of women’s golf.
To put that figure in perspective, Boutier will take home $450,000 for her win at the Maybank Championship, and has earned $3.18 million in 21 events thus far this season.
This week, the LPGA Tour heads to Japan for the Toto Japan Classic, followed by the ANNIKA in Belleair, Fla.
The CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla. begins on November 16.
SOURCE: [Golf.com]
