The way it started is not the way it finished for Ashleigh Buhai around Le Golf National outside Paris on Thursday.
The South African double-bogeyed the opening hole of the second round in the women’s event at the 2024 Paris Olympics but showed a lot of resilience in getting back on track and signing for a one-over 73.
That left the two-time Team SA Olympian handily placed in a tie for sixth with a halfway total of three-under 141 following her opening 68. She’s nicely poised heading into “moving day”, the third round being played uncharacteristically on a Friday.
Swiss golfer Morgane Metraux is top of the leaderboard after 36 holes on 136, while China’s Ruoning Yin charged into contention with a day’s best 65 for 137. Alone in third is New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, who improved to a 67 for 139.
Buhai is one of six golfers bunched at 141. World No 1 Nelly Korda was making a run at the lead until she made a quadruple bogey at the water-surrounded short 16th and she promptly dropped another shot at the 17th to slip to 142.
Paula Reto, the second Team SA golfer in the field, has a mountain to climb, sitting on 151 at halfway after a second-round 73. It could have been so much better but for double bogey at two and 18. She has played the last hole, a par five that was a par four for the men, in five-over-par.
Big numbers, as seen by Korda, are not ever far away on this golf course, especially if it goes wrong off the tee.
Buhai acknowledged this, saying: “There a lot of thick rough. Most of the time you can only chop it out, so that’s where it’s difficult. When you find the rough you’ve got to just look at par or even bogey.”
She admitted that after her double bogey six at the opening hole “it could have gone pear-shaped”. However, she also felt that she hadn’t made a bad swing at that hole. It was probably the double bogey at the 12th that she was most miffed by. “I was between wedges (for her third shot at the 373m par four) and basically that was bad course management on my behalf.
“But, I stayed committed after that.” She came back with six straight pars in tricky conditions.
“A lot of the holes were playing down wind and the pins were at the front. With the greens firming up all time, it was difficult to hold the ball on the green.”
Friday is a brand new ball game. Despite still playing with a broken toe that needs to heal, she is very much in contention and no one in front of her has got away. There’s plenty to play for over the next 36 holes and one imagines that “moving day” is actually quite a defining one.
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