South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai made a rousing return to the LPGA Tour with a 10-under-par 62 to grab a one-shot lead after Thursday’s opening round of the BMW Ladies Championship in Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Sidelined for five weeks with a back injury, the 34-year-old Buhai reached her career-best score with 10 birdies in a bogey-free round at the 6,647-yard Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club.
“My wedge play was really solid today. I mean, I hit every time and just about had a wedge in my hand, I hit it to a couple feet. So I didn’t have to think too hard on those putts. But then I rolled the ball really well too,” said Buhai, who won the ShopRite LPGA Classic in June.
“When I didn’t hit it too close, the ones that didn’t go in burnt the edges. So I felt all round of my game is in a good place at the moment.”
Buhai said she is still recovering from the back injury but felt refreshed coming into the event.
“I’ve had one week of practice coming into here. And my goal for this week was to play with no expectations, and that’s often when you try to play well in a game,” Buhai said. “My coach came into Florida last week, we worked on three things, and I’ve just tried to stick to doing those three things.”
Alison Lee matched her career-best 18-hole score with a 9-under 63 to sit one shot back, finishing a clean round with four birdies on the front and five on the back.
Lee has two previous top-10 finishes at the BMW Ladies Championship.
“I feel like my game is in a really good place. I’m striking the ball really well. I feel really good about my swing. Just something that’s been lacking over the last year has been the putting,” Lee said. “And so today I was just making the putts I wanted to make. And it was a lot of fun for me out there, being able to shoot 9-under. I think that’s tying my record for lowest round out here in tournament play on tour. So I’m really happy with that.”
Japan’s Ayaka Furue and Australia’s Minjee Lee are tied for third at 8-under. Another shot back are England’s Jody Ewart Shadoff, Sweden’s Maja Stark, South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu and China’s Ruoning Yin.
Defending champion Lydia Ko of Australia is tied for 11th at 5-under.
–Field Level Media
