Ashleigh Buhai is relishing a return to the AIG Women’s Open for her title defence at Walton Heath from 9–13 August.
Addressing media gathered at the renowned Surrey venue yesterday, Buhai spoke about her time as the AIG Women’s Open Champion after winning in dramatic fashion at Muirfield last year. The South African defeated In Gee Chun of Korea at the fourth extra hole of a sudden-death play-off to win her first major title.
The 34-year-old let slip a five-shot overnight lead with a closing four-over 75 – largely due to a triple bogey at the 15th – to finish level with Chun on ten-under-par. However, Buhai held her nerve to finally win with a par at the fourth time of playing the 18th to secure her biggest win.
Buhai said, “I feel like I hit one bad shot on the 15th hole which was the drive. TV didn’t quite show the lie I had in the bunker because it plugged up in the face. I only had one way to go, which is the way I went. Before I knew it, I made triple.
“The mental work I had done on my game stood me in good test for that moment. It was really the first time I looked up at the leaderboard and I saw then I was tied for the lead. I said to myself, ‘well, I haven’t lost the lead’, which I think was a good point of view.
“I’m very proud of myself to be able to fight back and finally come in and win the AIG Women’s Open the way I did.”
The AIG Women’s Open was the beginning of a strong run of form for Buhai who went onto win the ISPS Handa Australian Open in December 2022 and the Investec South African Women’s Open in March this year.
“Winning the AIG Women’s Open in the fashion that I did kind of just sparked something in me, it gave me the confidence to know that I could win in the biggest pressure situation.
“Since then it’s been the best eight months of my career. I went down to Australia and won the Australian Open; again, coming down the gun on the last few holes. Then went back to South Africa because my goal was then to hold three National Open titles at the same time. I think that was the most pressure I put on myself being my home title and wanting to win really badly, and just managed to get the job done there.”
Looking ahead to August, Buhai is relishing the chance to compete at Walton Heath with hopes of becoming the first player since Yani Tseng in 2011 to successfully defend the AIG Women’s Open.
Buhai is looking forward to competing in front of large crowds at Walton Heath after The…
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