Major champion Ashleigh Buhai is off to an incredible start at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro, firing a bogey-free, 9-under 63 to take an early lead at El Caballero Country Club.

The South African started her round on the back nine and kicked things off with a birdie on the par-4 10th hole, picking up another on the par-4 13th hole. She then rattled off three straight birdies on holes 15, 16 and 17 and parred 18 to turn in 31 at 5-under overall. Buhai grabbed another birdie on the par-5 1st hole to climb to 6-under and went 3-2-3 on holes four, six and eight to move to 9-under total before parring nine to ultimately post a 63 and hold a two-stroke lead over In Gee Chun and Madelene Sagstrom after morning play in Tarzana, Calif.

“Any day you have a bogey-free round, that's a good day,” said Buhai, who hit nine of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens on Thursday. “I was very patient, hit a lot of good shots. You have to hole a lot of good putts as well. But I felt the pins were in locations we could access them today as long as you use the slopes correctly. I feel that's kind of what this course is like. If you hit it into the right bowls, you'll get good results. Otherwise, you can shortside yourself very easily, and it can't be fun.”

Her 9-under effort is Buhai’s second-lowest 18-hole score on the LPGA Tour, one shot behind her personal best of 62 that she recorded in 2023 at the BMW Ladies Championship in the Republic of Korea. And if her early lead holds, it will be just the fifth time in her Tour career that the 35-year-old has held a first-round lead or co-lead, with Buhai’s last time doing so being at the BMW Ladies Championship in October 2024, an event at which she eventually finished in a tie for sixth.

This week’s JM Eagle LA Championship is Buhai’s fifth tournament of the season, and she has already collected three top-12 finishes so far this year – tying for 10th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, tying for 11th at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands and tying for ninth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards – performances that have bolstered her confidence early in 2025.

So, while she hasn’t posted a round this deep in the red in quite some time, Buhai knew that her game was trending in the right direction and had a feeling that great things were coming her way if she could just remain patient on the golf course.

“To be honest, I've been playing some good golf,” Buhai said. “Played well at the Match Play. I thought I played well in Phoenix. The course doesn't suit me much because I don't spin the ball very much, and it was so firm those two weeks. My caddie said to me, the minute we get on a course where you can hold the greens a little bit, we are going to do well.

“I've been trying to stick to the same thing I've been doing for the last couple of months. It's been a very consistent season so far. Finally, today, it all came together.”

Chun and Sagstrom are in a tie for second and two strokes behind Buhai after carding matching 7-under 65s at El Cab. Korea’s Chun had one blip on the scorecard, a bogey that she made on the par-5 11th hole, but the eight birdies that she posted throughout the rest of her round more than made up for that early misstep.

Sweden’s Sagstrom has been riding a high over the past couple of weeks, as the 32-year-old collected her second career LPGA Tour title in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. Her day-one 65 at the JM Eagle LA Championship saw the now two-time Tour winner go bogey-free, but it was the swing she made on the final tee box of her first round that wound up being the highlight of her day, as Sagstrom aced the par-3 9th hole to finish off her 65 in style.

“It was my first ace in a tournament ever. I was like, I never actually get to write one on the scorecard,” said an excited Sagstrom in her post-round interview. “I said to Shane (her caddie), ‘Oh, it’ll probably never happen. Whatever.’ 128 yards. It got really cold our last three holes, so I have this shot that I play. We call it a 2-2-2, and it's a little lower wind shot. I'm like, I don't think I can reach with my pitching wedge right now. Let's hit a little 2-2-2 9 (iron).

“It was perfect. I hit it really well. It would've been good anyway, but I was like, ‘Nope, it went in,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, did that just happen?’”

Three players are tied for fourth at 6-under, including 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup Team member Lauren Coughlin, Japanese rookie Akie Iwai and major champion Sei Young Kim. A logjam of players are in a tie for seventh at 5-under, most notably Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda, who made three bogeys and eight birdies en route to an opening 67.

Ashleigh Buhai Bolts Out to Early Lead With Opening 63 at El Cab

Related Articles