Celine Boutier has lived in Texas for eight years, but no one in the Olympic field is more familiar with Le Golf National than the 30-year-old Frenchwoman.
“I definitely know it with my eyes closed,” said Boutier, whose family home is 40 minutes away.
A six-time winner on the LPGA, Boutier broke through with her first major championship on home soil at the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship, becoming the first Frenchwoman to win the LPGA’s fifth major.
Currently No. 7 in the world, Boutier will be the fan favorite Aug. 7-10 when the women’s competition heats up in France at the Olympic games.
“You definitely have to be a really good ball-striker to be able to have a chance there and to be able to control your ball,” she said of 2018 Ryder Cup venue. “I think it’s a great test.”
One of several LPGA players who took part in Friday’s opening ceremonies on the Seine River, this marks Boutier’s second Olympic Games. Fans can gain more insight into the former Duke star by watching a recently released “Playing Lessons” episode on NBC’s GolfPass. The two-part program, taped last March at Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, is hosted by PGA Tour caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay. Golfweek was on the scene in Florida as the pair met for the first time to film.
Boutier isn’t big on technique. She leaves that to her younger brother Kevin, a Lead Master Instructor at The Jim McLean Golf School in Miami. Not that she likes to talk instruction with him either.
“Just in general, I don’t like to talk about swings. I may also be a little bit scared of what he might say, so I’d rather not inquire about it,” she said with a laugh.
Scenes from Celine Boutier’s appearance on GolfPass show “Playing Lessons” at Omni ChampionsGate on Monday, March 18, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Cy Cyr / GolfPass)
This episode of “Playing Lessons” is less about technique and more about strategy, as Boutier walks Mackay through her routines and how she goes about selecting which type of shot to hit. Mackay, who spent most of his caddying career with Phil Mickelson, carried the bag for Boutier as they played three holes, talking about her career in between shots and what goes on inside the ropes.
This marks the fourth season of “Playing Lessons” and Mackay became a regular host of the series after being called to fill in for a Jon Rahm episode in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they both live. Mackay, who also works as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel/NBC, agreed to give hosting duties a shot.
“I was pretty horrible,” said Mackay of that first stint. “I mean, you saw me do three or four takes of things today. That day, when I tried to introduce the show, I bet you we did close to 20 takes. So my level of comfort was really, really low. But we had so much fun. And you know, it’s like a little family out here. We have this crew of the same folks that do virtually every show, and it’s fun. We put the band back together, and we go here, and we go there. But that Jon Rahm experience was something that took me a little while to get over because I had a lot to learn.”
Kevin Schultz, senior director of golf content, notes the humble Mackay tries to stay in the background. He’s raking bunkers and repairing divots for the show, as the personable caddie has done for decades on Tour. But hosting a show puts him front and center, and that some getting used to.
“He’s helped us get players,” said Schultz of the show’s top-tier guests, “because they want to do it for Bones.”
While Mackay spends most of his time on the men’s side, he has called the action at women’s majors as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. LPGA guests on “Playing Lessons” include major champions Patty Tavatanakit and Sophia Popov as well as the inspirational Haley Moore.
“I just love how in control the women are, you know,” said Mackay. “There’s no length being sacrificed here. But whether it’s in ‘Playing Lessons,’ or I remember doing TV at the Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink, and Jennifer Kupcho hit 18 greens in regulation one round. I remember thinking to myself, if the men were playing out here today from the same tees, how many guys would be able to hit 18 greens in regulation, and it wasn’t going to be many. I just remember just being blown away by that ball-striking feat and how good everybody is.”
During the episode with Boutier, Mackay and senior producer Chris Graham put the French star in a fairway bunker and asked her to show how she’d advise players of varying handicap levels to proceed. Boutier hit three different shots, saving the more aggressive approach for the elite player til the end, when she hit it to 3 feet.
Scenes from Celine Boutier’s appearance on GolfPass show “Playing Lessons” at Omni ChampionsGate on Monday, March 18, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Cy Cyr / GolfPass)
Boutier hasn’t competed since the Evian, taking time to prepare for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of enjoying an Olympic Games so close to home.
While winning a major in front of a French crowd gives her more confidence, Boutier said it does nothing to minimize the pressure she feels.
“I feel like every season you start from scratch,” she said, “every week you start from scratch. It doesn’t really matter what you did before.”
Only the glory that lies ahead.