Major champion Ashleigh Buhai made a hole-in-one on Saturday at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in the third round of the Maybank Championship.
The 34-year-old South African aced the par-3 4th hole with a gap wedge from 101 yards. It is the first hole-in-one of Buhai's LPGA Tour career and the 18th ace of the 2023 LPGA Tour season.
"I think it was about 98 meters, which was a perfect yardage for a full gap wedge,” said Buhai of her first ace in Tour competition. “Hit it straight at the pin. Pitched like two yards short. I couldn't see it go in, but we heard from the crowd at the top that it went in. I threw the club up in the air and was like, about time, because I burnt edges all day. I said, well, at least it's one way I don't have to putt.
“Just more relief that I finally got under par today. Tanya's (Paterson, her caddie) deal was when I had a hole-in-one, she had to do cartwheels. So I said, start doing cartwheels."
Today's ace will contribute $20,000 to the CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude. This season-long charitable giving program turns aces into donations with a minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is leading the way in how the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and life-threatening diseases. Buhai’s ace raises the 2023 donation total to $360,000 with three events left on the 2023 LPGA Tour calendar.
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