By Gus Trompiz
PARIS (Reuters) - France's hopes of finishing on the podium in the Olympic golf competition have been boosted by the ascent of Celine Boutier and Matthieu Pavon over the past year.
The French contingent will have two representatives each in the men's and the women's competitions, which take place at Le Golf National south of Paris in early August.
Each competition will have 60 participants face off over four rounds in a stroke-play format, with the United States boasting the biggest contingent, headlined by world number ones Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda.
Boutier's stellar 2023, including a first major title at the Evian Championship on home soil, lifted her as high as number three in the women's world rankings.
Pavon, meanwhile, has established himself on the PGA Tour, finishing fifth at last month's U.S. Open to climb as high as 20th in the men's game.
"This season is the best of my career so it's fair to say the Olympic Games have come at just the right time," Pavon told reporters at Le Golf National.
"I don't really feel any pressure at the moment. It's more excitement and wanting to start the competition because we've been waiting for this for years."
The Paris Games will be the first Olympic experience for Pavon and teammate Victor Perez.
The Olympics will also be a first major event for women golfers at Le Golf National, but Boutier is familiar with the venue, which houses a training centre for the country's youth players.
"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's form dipped earlier this year but she feels she is about to turn the corner.
"I feel I'm heading in the right direction so it's encouraging for me that the Games are coming soon," she said.
Boutier, for whom it is a second Olympics like for teammate Perrine Delacour, is keen to immerse herself in the Olympic experience after the COVID-related restrictions at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
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.
Le Golf National hosted the 2018 edition of the Ryder Cup, the hugely popular men's team competition between Europe and the United States, but the Paris Games' committee has drawn flak for limiting the number of daily spectators allowed into the venue.
Golf has fallen foul of the Games' focus on limiting car use, with the venue's distance from the capital making it difficult to bring in big crowds on public transport, Pascal Grizot, the federation's president, said.
As such only 30,000 spectators, about half the level seen at the Ryder Cup, will be allowed into Le Golf National each day.
"These kinds of events don't happen very often in France and it's a shame not to let golf fans take advantage," Grizot said. "We've never had a top 20 player in both the men's and women's games."
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Christian Radnedge)