Boutier in four-stroke lead after late charge

NAPLES (Florida) • Celine Boutier fired six of her eight birdies on the back nine on Friday on the way to a second straight seven-under 65 and a four-shot lead in the season-ending LPGA CME Group Tour Championship.

The Frenchwoman, coming off a confidence-building effort on Thursday, was even par through eight holes after a birdie at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

She caught fire with back-to-back birdies at the ninth and 10th holes, then added two more birdies at Nos. 12 and 13 - where she chipped in from in front of the green. After picking up a shot at the 15th, she closed with another brace of birdies at the final two holes to pad her lead.

"I was frustrated with my front, I left a couple of shots out there," Boutier said. "My long game was really solid all day, and I was able to put my shots close, and it was helpful on the back."

Boutier is among the European Solheim Cup players still riding the momentum of their victory over the United States in the matchplay showdown in September, having won two titles since - the European Tour's Ladies Open de France and last month's LPGA ShopRite Classic.

Mexico's Gaby Lopez (68), Australian Minjee Lee (68) and American Mina Harigae (69) were joint-second on 134, with world No. 1 Nelly Korda and overnight leader Lee6 Jeong-eun (71) tied on 135 alongside England's Georgia Hall and South Korean Ji Eun-hee (both 68).

American Korda, who is leading South Korean Ko Jin-young in the race for Player of the Year honours, had four birdies and a bogey in her 69 - a display she felt could be improved upon. "I think I can make more putts and I think my iron shots have been loose sometimes on a couple (of) holes here and there," she said.

"You're not going to hit every shot great, so I think I've handled it pretty well. Hopefully, I can give myself some better looks at birdies going into the weekend."

Ko, who has traded the top ranking with Korda all season, headed a group on 136 after a bogey-free 67 despite playing through a nagging left-wrist injury.

"Not perfect," the world No. 2 said. "But I hit a lot of fairways and greens as well, and I made a lot of putts."

She added that the wrist injury has troubled her since May, limiting her ability to practise at times.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Day 4: StarHub Ch204, tomorrow, 2am