Walton Heath heather quickly catches attention of AIG Women's Open hopefuls

It’s already unanimous. For its first staging of the AIG Women’s Open, the heather at Walton Heath is beautiful on the eye but a potential to create tears in the final major of the season.

Defending champion Ashleigh Buhai, centre, with Jiyai Shin, Steph Kyriacou, Atthaya Thitikul, Kokona Sakuri, Lauren Coughlin, Linn Grant and Yu Liu at a photo shoot at Walton Heath for this week's AIG Women’s Open. Picture: The R&A.

“I don't know what those little purple flowers are for, but you don't want to be in those,” declared South African Ashleigh Buhai, the defending champion at the Surrey venue after her title triumph at Muirfield 12 months ago.

With its deep bunkers, the event’s first visit to the home of the Honourable Company of Golfers proved a fitting test for The R&A event on that occasion and it’s the same again this year at another venue but for a different reason.

“Very demanding off the tee,” added Buhai of a venue that is widely regarded as one of the best inland tests in the UK. “The fairways are generous but, if you do miss them, obviously you're in the heather. I said to my coach, ‘if you're a member here and you don't hit it straight, I think you’ll lose a lot of golf balls’.”

It’s something new for world No 5 Lydia Ko. “Before I came here people said, ‘oh, this is a heathland-style golf course’ and I said, ‘I have no idea what that means’,” admitted the Kiwi. Now she’s seen it, she’s excited about the challenge. “I think when you know you're going to a golf course that isn't super linksy, you are a little sceptical,” added Ko. “But the golf course is super nice and it actually feels more linksy than you think.”

Celine Boutier, the game’s current dominant force after back-to-back wins in the Evian Championship and Freed Group Women’s Scottish Open, is also a fan of this week’s test. “It's definitely not really what I expected to see or play, but in a good way,” said the French player.

Not since American Sherri Steinhauer did the trick in 1998 and 1998 has a player landed his title back-to-back, meaning recent history is against Buhai hanging on to her title. “It’s very difficult to defend, we all know this,” she conceded. “There’s a lot of pressure, but I’m trying not to put pressure on myself.”

Ko has two major titles to her name, the most recent of which came in 2016, but hasn’t really done herself justice in this event. “I've only actually played well at the Women's Open like twice in my career, once was at Turnberry and the second time was at Muirfield last year,” she said of finishing in a tie for seventh behind Buhai in East Lothian.

“I think last year I was super excited to go to a very historic venue and the first time that the ladies have played the Women's Open there, so there was a lot of hype about it and for me to have played really well was like an added bonus.

“This is a very different style of golf course, I think, than any of the other Women's Open that I've played. So I think it's going to draw maybe like potentially a little different names on the leaderboard to what we may be used to in previous years, and I'm hoping to be in the mix.”