Two years ago, Meghan MacLaren secured a one-shot victory at the Australian Women’s Classic – Bonville.
It was the Englishwoman’s third LET title and also her third title in Australia having won the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Women’s NSW Open.
The three-time LET winner returned to Bonville Golf Resort on Monday ready for this week’s Australian Women’s Classic – Presented by Pacific Bay Resort Studios.
But the 29-year-old was able to just have some quiet time to herself and reflect on the scene of her victory.
“It’s really cool,” she said. “It’s very special. It’s the first time I have actually been back to a course where I have won at. It’s just the way it has happened, we have moved courses.
“I got here on Monday afternoon, and I came on my own when there was nobody here and it’s cool to soak that up a little bit and you can’t help but feel more motivated.”
In 2022, MacLaren led from the first round, but the tournament was reduced from 72-holes to 54 due to the weather.
Coming down the stretch, the Englishwoman made three birdies in her final five holes including one of the 18th to seal victory.
She reflected: “It was a strange almost surreal feeling for the last six or seven holes of the final round, I just had this feeling I was going to have to make a birdie down the last to win.
“Even though I probably would have been behind at that point, but it was just one of those weird sensations. I managed to pick up a couple of birdies coming in which put me in that position. I had this feeling that it was all going to come down to that, so I felt calm about the whole thing.”
It hasn’t been the start to the 2024 season that the three-time LET winner would have wanted, only making one cut thus far.
However, the English star was part of the winning team at the Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – Tampa and is working through the struggles with her game.
MacLaren has teed it up around Bonville four times previously, having always made the cut finishing T57 in 2018, T16 in 2019, T24 in 2020 and winning in 2022.
Returning to a course that she knows well and has such special memories at is a positive for MacLaren.
“It’s playing very similar,” she continued. “I have played here for quite a few years, it never really changes that much.
“The forecast doesn’t look great, but that’s also happened quite a few times before. It’s nice whether you have played well or not, it’s also nice to just know a course well. We’ll see what it brings.
“It definitely helps having played here before and won here before. You see shots more clearly; you certainly feel a bit more at one with the course.
“I am not in the place I have been before whenever I have been here which is a shame, but I know where I’m at and how I need to go through it. It might not quite be ready for this week, but at the same time I would rather be trying to get through it here than anywhere else.”
The first round is due to begin at 7.15 am (local time) on Friday morning at Bonville Golf Resort with MacLaren teeing it up at 7.45 am (local time) from the ninth tee.
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