France's Celine Boutier is celebrating a memorable victory in her home major, the Evian Championship, after the challenge of Australia's former winner Minjee Lee simply never materialised.
The 29-year-old Boutier recorded a three-under-par 68 on Sunday to run away with an emotional victory in front of her home fans by six strokes at the French resort of Evian-les-Bains.
She became just the third Frenchwoman to lift a major title, after Catherine Lacoste won the US Women's Open in 1967 as an amateur, and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc lifted the Chevon Championship in 2003.
But Lee's hopes of another last-round fightback to take the title, just as she did when lifting the title in glorious style in 2021, never took flight.
Looking to lift her third major crown, the 27-year-old from Perth just never got going in pursuit of the overnight leader after giving herself the briefest hope by birdieing the sixth hole.
A terrible run of six bogeys in eight holes around the turn meant she actually ended up having the worst round of any of the contenders - a four-over-par 75 - as she slumped from joint-third overnight, just four shots adrift of Boutier, to a joint-16th finish, 11 shots behind the new champion.
Lee ended up not even being the outright leading Australian as Sydney's Steph Kyriacou also finished tied for 16th on three under after a final round 68.
But Boutier showed no signs of last-round nerves as she front-ran beautifully, recording four birdies and just one bogey to finish at 14-under 270, pocketing a $US1 million ($A1.5 million) cheque with the win.
The victory - her fourth on the LPGA Tour - was especially sweet for Boutier, who was born in Clamart, five hours south-east of Evian Resort Golf Club.
"Honestly it has been my biggest dream since I started watching golf," she said breathlessly after becoming the first French winner of the event.
"This tournament has always been very special to me, even just watching as a teenager and just to be able to hold this trophy is pretty unbelievable.
"I think nothing else matters this year now that I have this trophy. I'm really good for the rest of the year!"
Her previous best finish at the Evian had been a tie for 29th on two previous occasions and she didn't even make the cut at the event last year.
The defending champion, Canada's Brooke Henderson shot a 70 to finish second at eight under, followed by a five-way tie for third - Norway's Celine Borge (68), Mexico's Gaby Lopez (68), South Korea's A Lim Kim (69) and the Japanese pair of Yuka Saso (70) and Nasa Hataoka (72).
Boutier, who got the usual champagne-drenching from her fellow players on the 18th green, never looked like giving up her three-shot overnight advantage after making three birdies in the first five holes.
With agencies
