Ashleigh Buhai is back at the AIG Women’s Open where she had her maiden major success, winning via a four-hole playoff at Muirfield in 2022.
This year’s edition of the AIG Women’s Open is a different test with it being played on heathland at Walton Heath in Surrey.
Following last year’s breakthrough victory for Buhai, she has gone on to have an incredible year winning the 2022 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, 2023 Investec South African Women’s Open and 2023 ShopRite LPGA Classic.
And the 34-year-old is honoured to return to the final major of the year as defending champion.
“It’s fantastic to be back,” she said. “Just a whirlwind of a year, all the memories come flooding back from this past year and obviously I’m truly honoured to be back as defending champion.
“I feel any time I step into a tournament, if my game is there, it’s what happened last year has given me the confidence to believe that I can win if I’m playing well, and that’s been proven over the last year what I’ve been able to do.
“Obviously, it’s very difficult to defend, we all know this, there’s a lot of pressure but I’m trying not to put pressure on myself. I’m trying to just enjoy being back here, being defending champion, and once I get out there on Thursday to not think about the outcome as we spoke about and just try and control what I can in my golf swing once I’m out on the course.”
Buhai will begin the defence of her title on Thursday at 12.49 pm (local time) alongside Canada’s Brooke Henderson and American Rose Zhang.
And heading into this week, the South African star did some finetuning with her coach on Monday to try and make sure she is as best prepared as possible.
She explained: “My coach in South Africa made a few little touches yesterday. The good thing is because we have been working together so long, nothing is ever major.
“I just need a feel and once I have that feel, I’ve been going, so I’m hoping that we found it yesterday. We’ll go out there and see if it’s stayed overnight. If I can take that feel into the week, then hopefully I will be able to compete.”
The heather on the course is a big factor here at Walton Heath and has been a talking point amongst the players.
Having played some practice rounds earlier in the week, the five-time LET winner is expecting a difficult test and knows how important strategy will be.
Buhai added: “The course is very demanding off the tee. The fairways are generous but if you do miss them, obviously you’re in the heather and you don’t want to be in those. It played quite long yesterday. I hit some 7-woods in.
“The greens are a lot bigger than that I thought. We can have a lot of pin placements, and especially if they are at the back, you’ve got to just make sure that you are diligent and hit it into the right spots on the greens.”
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