Home for the Olympics
Duke Alum and France Native on Familiar Ground
Johnny Moore, GoDuke The Magazine
Three Duke women’s golfers will be playing in the Olympic Games this August. For one it will have a bit more significance with a definite home-field advantage.
Ana Belac representing Slovenia, Leona Maguire representing Ireland and Celine Boutier representing host country France all qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics as the final women’s Olympic Golf Rankings were released following a two-year qualification period.
It will mark the third straight Olympics for the Blue Devils to have golfers representing their home countries. In 2016, Maguire represented Ireland and Laetitia Beck competed for Israel in Brazil. Duke once again had two competitors in 2021 in Japan as Maguire and Boutier competed.
But, this year will be a little different for at least one of the Duke golfers. Boutier grew up playing and practicing at Le Golf National, where the men’s and women’s Olympic competition will be held, just 30 minutes for where she was born, Clamart, France.
“It is an incredible opportunity for me and I won’t be taking it lightly,” said Boutier, who now has a home in Montrouge, France, just south of Paris. “I feel very fortunate to have this happening at this stage of my career.”
Growing up at Le Golf National, Boutier was part of the French championship there every summer, and the youth golf training center for France was based there during her last year in high school. She says she trained there nearly every day.
Le Golf National has become one of the more recognizable courses in the world, having hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018. Even though Boutier knows the course very well, she understands it will play tough and she will have to be at her best.
“It’s an advantage knowing where you are and having your bearings,” she said. “But it’s such a tough course that in any case you’re going to have to play good golf.”
Boutier takes a great deal of pride in playing for France and bringing home a medal would be something very special. “It would be a dream come true for sure. It would be incredible to be able to share that with the rest of the country, the rest of the French athletes. It would also be a defining moment in a career.”
She is already recognized as one of the greatest women’s golfers in France as she captured four LPGA titles and one “very special” major in 2023.
She was the first French golfer to win the prestigious Evian Championship held at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France, and with the victory Boutier took home a check for $1 million. The win was just the third major win by a Frenchwoman, after Catherine Lacoste won the 1967 U.S. Women’s Open and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc captured the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship. Boutier also became the first women’s golfer to win the French champion of champions award given by L’Equipe, the national sports daily, to the country’s top female athlete this past year.
The next week Boutier followed up the Evian win with a victory at the Women’s Scottish Open, moving her up to No. 3 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings. She currently sits at No. 6 in the rankings. For her career Boutier has 14 professional wins, including six on the LPGA Tour and five on the Ladies European Tour.
She opened the trip by garnering her 10th cap and scoring a shootout goal in a victory against New Zealand as the United States experienced the highs and lows of competing against the best hockey teams in the world.
After attending the opening ceremony along the river Seine, Boutier plans to spend a few days in the Olympic village and hopes to catch U.S. gymnastics star Simone Biles in action. The women’s golf tournament runs Aug. 7-10.
Boutier graduated from Duke in 2016, while Maguire finished in 2018 and Belac in 2020. Boutier and Maguire played together for one season and Belac and Maguire played together for two years in Durham. Maguire turned in the highest finish for Duke in the two previous Olympics as she placed tied for 21st in 2020 with rounds of 74, 65, 74 and 69 for a 2-under 282.
Maguire is one of 15 women who have the opportunity to compete in their third consecutive women’s Olympic golf competition. Following a decorated amateur and collegiate career, Maguire became the first Irish woman to win on the LPGA Tour and this year became the first Irish woman to win on the Ladies European Tour. She has a total of five professional wins to her credit, including two on the LPGA Tour. As a rookie she was key to Team Europe’s 2021 Solheim Cup win, setting the all-time rookie points record in either the Solheim Cup or the Ryder Cup with a total of 4.5.
Both Boutier and Maguire are looking forward to a different feel with the Olympics in Paris, since three years ago in Tokyo with covid, no spectators were allowed on the course. This year 30,000 spectators are expected each day of the event.
“It was a strange Olympics,” Boutier said of Tokyo. “I hope and think this one in Paris will be much more typical, and it will be fun to be able to go watch other sports and be with other athletes.
“Tokyo was a very different Olympics, with covid,” added Maguire. “So, I’m sure there will be crowds and a lot of European support.”
This will be Belac’s first Olympic Games as she represents her home country of Slovenia, although she did participate in the Olympic youth games in 2014.
“When I qualified for the Olympic Games, I was overjoyed, and in sports there is not much time to celebrate. You have to work and practice day after day,” she told a Slovenia sports outlet. “I am aware that the Olympic Games are something special, but my goals in Paris are the same as in any tournament. Of course, I want to win every time, but I don’t think about it. My principle is to try to prepare as much as possible, to play as well as possible, whatever it is brought, but I will see at the end of the tournament.”
For all three women, this will be a very special moment, as they shine in the spotlight of their sport and representing their country.
“Seeing the rings on the Eiffel Tower, it seems like it’s going to be a really big production this time,” said Maguire.
This story originally appeared in the 15.12 issue of GoDuke The Magazine – July 2024. Dedicated to sharing the stories of Duke student-athletes, present and past, GoDuke The Magazine is published for Duke Athletics by LEARFIELD with editorial offices at 3100 Tower Blvd., Suite 404, Durham, NC 27707. To subscribe, join the Iron Dukes or call 336-831-0767.