Georgia Hall narrowly missed out on capturing her third LPGA Tour title when losing out in a playoff to France’s Celine Boutier at the LPGA Drive on Championship held at Superstition Mountain Golf Club in Arizona.
Boutier forced extra holes with Hall by making a birdie at the par-5 18th to close out a 4-under 68, matching Hall – who fired a final round 65 – in the clubhouse on 20-under in what was the LPGA Tour’s first full-field event of the season.
Playing the 18th hole again, neither player found the green with their second shot of the playoff. Boutier, chipping from nearly the same spot as she did in regulation short and right of the green, pitched to about four feet, while Hall, who hit her second shot into a greenside bunker, blasted beyond the hole and failed to convert her birdie effort. That set the stage for Boutier’s winning birdie putt.
Boutier had mixed feelings about facing – and beating – Hall, a former Solheim Cup teammate in the play-off. “I was honestly not looking forward to it,” Boutier said. “It’s a bittersweet feeling because you obviously want to win, but at the same time Georgia is a really good friend of mine and a really great player. I’m competitive, so I definitely wanted to win, but it’s not the greatest feeling.”
With the victory, the 29-year-old Boutier claimed her third LPGA victory and became the most successful ever French player on the LPGA Tour, moving past the achievements of Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne-Marie Palli. Boutier had previously won the 2019 ISPS Handa Vic Open and 2021 ShopRite Classic. Boutier is now eighth in the world ranking – the highest in her career.
Hall, 26, who was looking for her first win since the 2020 Cambia Portland Classic, which followed a victory at the Women’s British Open in 2018, tried to find some consolation in her near miss. She said: “Obviously it was fantastic to get to the position I was in. I knew I had to shoot low today, and I’m pleased I was able to do that, but I’m obviously gutted about the result. I had a lot of adrenaline flowing through me on that second shot approach during the play-off and it went a very long way. But overall I’m proud of how I played this week. I just have to keep putting myself into contention.”