HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2023

Ashleigh Buhai

Sentosa Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're here with Ashleigh Buhai. Solid day out there. I know the conditions weren't ideal, but you ground it out, had quite a few birdies on the card. Just walk me through that round.

ASHLEIGH BUHAI: Yeah, again, obviously had to stay very patient today with all the delays. Kind of didn't -- I got off to a steady start. Made one bogey today, so one bogey in two rounds, I'm very happy with that.

And I think I just stayed very patient and then kind of waited for -- waited for it to happen.

Came back for the restart, and birdie straight out of the gate. So maybe I needed like a four-hour delay.

THE MODERATOR: Nothing wrong with that. I mean, made four birdies in a five-hole stretch there in the front, and had a couple back-to-back on the back. But just walk me through those four birdies. I mean, that's a lot in a five-hole stretch.

ASHLEIGH BUHAI: Yeah, so we came back. We had teed off on 5, playing off the back tee, played really long today, today with a 3-wood, hit wedge in to about 10 feet, holed the putt.

Next hole, up the hill, 6, hit wedge in to about 8 feet, holed the putt.

Lipped out on 7.

With the tee being forward on 8 today, had a 7-wood in there, hit a really good shot, maybe 25 feet behind the pin. Just missed the eagle. Made birdie.

And then hit it to about five feet on No. 9.

So it was a really nice stretch of golf there.

THE MODERATOR: You said you probably enjoyed the four-hour break more than most, made a birdie coming right out. But how do you kind of keep yourself loose during weather delays, and how do you kind of stay patient when you get back out there, knowing that the conditions aren't ideal?

ASHLEIGH BUHAI: Yeah, I didn't really stay loose, kind of just we sat around and just waited for the updates. And then when we knew kind of we were going to go out 2 o'clock, I went into the locker room, just started stretching. Didn't hit many balls to warm up. Hit about 10 balls, to be honest, hit a few putts, and went back out there.

I'm feeling very confident with the way my swing is at the moment. So I feel as long as I just try and keep doing that, the one move that I'm trying to do and feel, obviously the last two days I have felt it, hopefully I can keep feeling it the next two days.

THE MODERATOR: Were you a part of the group that where Megan came, took around, FaceTime with Jane Park --

ASHLEIGH BUHAI: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: That was kind of -- I saw some of the posts that she put up on Instagram. I mean, that's kind of cool. I mean, just tell me about that.

ASHLEIGH BUHAI: Yeah, it was cool. They just went over, were chatting, and chatting with Tanya, my caddie, and then Megan said to Jane, Oh, do you want to see Tanya? She said yeah, and then I was sitting next to them, and we just said hi and everything. And I was like, it's with midnight there, what are you doing awake?

But I think it was nice to see all the girls. And the funny thing is, she's like, I'm trying to see you girls, all of you, but I haven't to chatted to Pete yet today. And we were out with Pete today, too, so I said I'll say hi to him for you.

THE MODERATOR: Heading into the weekend in the mix, a few back, but not too far back. Just conditions out here. The golf course seems gettable at the moment. I didn't expect the scores to be this low, and I don't think anybody did. What's your mindset heading into another rainy couple of days?

ASHLEIGH BUHAI: I think any time a course is so soft it becomes gettable. So we're hitting, even with the long clubs, you can push put it three, four short of a hole and stay aggressive. And also, again, it doesn't bounce and go too far flying in the fairway.

So I just got to keep doing what I've done the last two days. Stay very patient, trying to play, you know, from a calm place within myself and, again, just have that one-swing thought and try and repeat that as well as I can.

THE MODERATOR: I think you and I were talking about it a few days ago, but this kind of -- when you're playing in these kind of conditions, it's all about carry. Have you really leaned on your distance this week?

ASHLEIGH BUHAI: I'm not one of the longer players out here, but if you hit it straight, that's more important, like the last few holes, didn't catch the drives, but it's in the fairway, especially the wind conditions. And if you're in the rough, you can't clean the ball, there's a lot of mud out there.

So it's a big advantage if you're definitely in the fairway. So -- and, again, even if I'm coming in with a wood, I'm hitting it in high, and it's so soft, you can still be quite aggressive.