Celine Boutier leads into the weekend at The Amundi Evian Championship

Firm greens, tough pin positions and gusty wind all played a part in making the second round of The Amundi Evian Championship one that you may have wanted to watch through your fingers.

The above was summed up perfectly by Jessica Korda who is currently injured and watching from the comfort of her sofa at home in America:

If the despondent look on some of the players' faces wasn't enough to realise just how tough it was, then the sighs and exclamations from the commentary team emphasised how tough it was out on the Championship course today.

The threat of rain was only seen in the distance, which proved good from a waterproof situation but bad because it meant that the greens became firmer as the day drew on. Earlier starters definitely had the better of the conditions but not many were able to capitalise on it.

Rounds of the day

Of the early starters, it was 2021 Chevron champion Patty Tavatanakit and Japan's Nasa Hatoka who both went on to score the rounds of the day, four-under-par 69s. Placing Tavatanakit into a tie for second with Yuka Saso at six-under-par and Hataoka in a tie for third at five-under-par with Gaby Lopez and Alison Lee.

Tavatankit put a lot of her good play down to having kept her confidence high and trusting in herself to get the job done. The 23-year-old has started also started working with a new putting coach which has given her more confidence in her game overall:

"When you feel more confidence about almost all aspects of your game. Just gives you a lot of room. Like ten yards become 15 easily, 20 becomes 30 easily. So it's just nice. There are some tough shots, but when you feel confident you just got to let it go and you know you can trust yourself that the dispersement is going to be tight."

Boutier leads into the weekend

Celine Boutier, who was in the afternoon wave, has a lot of added pressure, expectations and commitments this week as she plays on home soil. It's a conversation that the Frenchwoman is happy to talk about wants to stay focused on the job in hand:

"It's definitely not easy. I feel like in the past I've definitely not handled it very well. I just feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself because I don't want to disappoint anybody. If I learned anything from the past, I really have to just focus on the job and on the course, on each shot. I feel like that's really helped me really stay focused and not get ahead or think too much about the plans."

The 29-year-old can also see the positives of her situation:

"I feel like it's a positive thing that the French media is talking about women's golf and Evian. I feel like anything I can do to bring more attention to the tournament and women's golf in general is always a good thing."

And with a one shot lead heading into the weekend, Boutier is certainly doing everything right at The Amundi Evian Championship. A two-under-par round on Friday which consisted of two bogeys and four birdies, with the final bogey coming on the 18th, gives her a little positive momentum. However, there's still a lot of golf to be played.

"To be honest I'm not really sure what to expect tomorrow. I feel like the weather conditions change a lot. I just feel like you have to like adapt, and I think if it's going to be anything, you know, with like wind or rain, I feel like you definitely have to be very patient and stay focused on each shot at a time."

Reto and Ko drop back

Overnight leader Paula Reto had a tough back nine which saw her five-over-par for the last seven holes. The South African ended the day at three-under-par and in a tie for eighth. All is not lost as there is still plenty of golf to be played. Another player to suffer on Friday was Lydia Ko who dropped from second to a tie for 22nd after a five-over-par round.

The cut line fell at four-over-par and amongst the names missing the cut was England's Charley Hull (+5) who has been battling a virus, KPMG Women's PGA Champions Ruoning Yin (+5) and Xiyu Lin who has contended at all the Majors this year.

Carlota Ciganda is disqualified

There was a certain amount of mystery surrounding the reason that Spain's Carlota Ciganda was at the bottom of the leaderboard with a DQ after rounds of 74 and 72.

But it has now been revealed that the official reason was for signing an incorrect scorecard.

The situation arose out of a slow-play penalty which was given to Ciganda's final hole of the round. The Spaniard refused to acknowledge the two-shot penalty, she then signed her card without the extra two shots which led to an automatic disqualification.

An LPGA spokesperson told Golfweek: “Rule 3.3b(3) states that if a returned score is lower than the actual score, the player is disqualified from the competition. The exception to this Rule does not apply because Ciganda was aware of the penalty strokes received and upheld before signing her scorecard and leaving the recording area.”

This is a disappointing and frustrating moment for the 33-year-old and the event. Second rounds were taking over six hours, with many waiting for 20 minutes on par 3 tee boxes.

Ciganda statement

Ciganda released a statement on her Instagram story on Saturday morning:

"I got a few messages about the DQ from yesterday. I want to be very clear and the reason I did not sign a 7 on the last hole is because I don't think I took 52 seconds like the Rules Official said. I had a 10 footer on the last hole, last put and the group behind they were not even on the tee on a par 5.

"Very poor performance from the LPGA rules official, they don't understand what professional golf is about, they only look at their stopwatch like if 20 seconds is going to make a difference.

"I had family and friends watching and they all said it was impossible I took that long to hit that putt! Yesterday was tough out there with the windy conditions and difficult pins and I wish everyone gets treated the same and they don't pick on the same players all the time! That's all!"

Controversy seems to gain more traction in the media space, so we hope that these two facts aren't the only takeaways from this week.

Due to the weather there is a two tee start in three balls on Saturday morning with the first tee time at 7am local time.

View the full Amundi Evian Championship leaderboard here.

Inspired by the fourth women's Major of the season? Why not come and watch the best players in the world at the AIG Women's Open this summer at Walton Heath. Ticket prices start from £20.