Ashleigh Buhai Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Buhai storms to 2023 Investec South African Women’s Open title

Matt Smith — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 15:39:19 +0000

Ashleigh Buhai with the South African Women’s Open trophy. LET

Ashleigh Buhai fired a final-round 68 to win the 2023 Investec South African Women’s Open at Steenberg Golf Club on Sunday.

The South African had held a four-shot lead since the midway mark and maintained that advantage on the final day.

Buhai rolled in six birdies and two bogeys on the fourth day of competition to seal her fifth LET title with a score of 22-under-par and win this tournament for the fourth time.

One last drive from Ashleigh Buhai who takes a four shot lead down the 72nd hole ?#RaiseOurGame | #InvestecSAWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/ZqIGeW6xnT

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) March 11, 2023

“I’m over the world right now,” said the major champion. “I’m ecstatic to have got the job done. My goal was to come in here and win this week. I tried to play it down because it’s a lot of pressure and I knew it was going to be difficult. Now, I’ve got it done and over the line I’m really happy.

“It’s always important for me to try and play the SA Women’s Open when I can, unfortunately the scheduling didn’t work out in the last few years with it moving due to Covid but I’m happy even though it was at the end of a four-week run. I was a little tired at the beginning of the week but obviously, now I’m thrilled I was able to come back and play it.

“With what I’m doing at the moment between my golf swing and the mental side, I just need to stick it. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel and hopefully, I can keep up this consistency, that’s what my main goal is to become more consistent and give myself a chance every now and then to win a golf tournament.”

The 2022 AIG Women’s Open champion began her day with a birdie on the first and then made three birdies on the trot between holes four and six, before adding another on the ninth.

It was a tougher back nine for Buhai with bogeys on 15 and 17, but she finished in style with a birdie on 18 to win her home tournament for the first time since 2018.

She explained: “It was great to start off with a birdie especially after yesterday when I made a bogey. I hit a good putt on two and three, birdied four and five. I just kept it going.

“On the back nine, I felt I hit good shots, I was just in between yardages and the wind got a little bit trickier. Luckily, I had that big lead, so I could just hit it to the space on the green and take my two putts and they had to come chasing. I did what I had to do to get the job done.

“I’m very proud of myself with how I battled through and also Dave keeping me in it especially yesterday, trying not to exert energy. Today my energy was back and it showed with the way I came out and I did really commit to hitting those golf shots.

“I’m sure there will be a celebratory brie tonight! We’ve got a few family and friends here so it’s going to be nice to be able to share it with them.”

Another dart from @anapelaezgolf ?#RaiseOurGame | #InvestecSAWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/dDyR8iV0Dp

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) March 11, 2023

For a consecutive week, Spain’s Ana Pelaez Trivino finished in second place on the LET after she produced a round of 68 on the final day to reach 18-under.

It was a flawless day for the LET winner who rolled in birdies on holes five, 10, 12 and 18 to secure her runner-up finish.

The Spaniard said: “I felt really good this week and last week. We’re focusing on doing our job, eating well, going to the gym, resting, playing golf and being mentally stable. We’re making sure that every area is covered and then just go out there and have fun.

“Luckily, we’re playing good golf and we can enjoy it even more. I’m going to take everything to next week and hopefully get that win. I like runner-up finishes, but I’d rather have the trophy with me!”

Back-spin goals @thechiaranoja ?#RaiseOurGame | #InvestecSAWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/Gy3MDayVDo

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) March 11, 2023

Dubai-based German Chiara Noja ended the tournament in solo third place on 17-under after a fourth-round 69 which included four birdies and one bogey.

“I’m really proud of myself that I managed to pull through this week,” said the teenager. “After the first round, I was feeling really bad physically. I played decent golf today. I had so many missed opportunities and I finally didn’t miss the top 10. We’re back in business.”

Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher finished in fourth place on 15-underwith South Africa’s Kaleigh Telfer fifth on 11-under, while Czechia’s Klara Davidson Spilkova was one shot further back in sixth spot.

Five players finished in a tie for seventh place with France’s Anais Meyssonnier, England’s Gabriella Cowley, South Africa’s Casandra Alexander, Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson and Italy’s Alessandra Fanali all on nine-under.

In the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, India’s Aditi Ashok continues to lead the way with 1,210 points to her name.

Spain’s Pelaez Trivino moves up to second on 754 points with Buhai third with 545.19 points.

England’s Lily May Humphreys sits in fourth with Sweden’s Maja Stark in fifth, England’s Alice Hewson in sixth and Belgium’s Manon De Roey in seventh.

Germany’s Noja moves up to eighth place with 391.25 points, Sweden’s Linn Grant is ninth and Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela rounds out the top 10.

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Buhai maintains advantage over Dubai’s Noja at Investec South African Women’s Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 16:56:46 +0000

Ashleigh Buhai continued her fine form at the Investec South African Women’s Open with a surging 69 to maintain her four-shot lead over Dubai’s Chiara Noja heading into the final day.

On a sunny yet windy day at Steenberg Golf Club, the 2022 AIG Women’s Open champion began the day four ahead of German teen Noja, but that lead was trimmed early on with a bogey on her first hole.

However, the South African bounced back with a birdie on the second before adding three more on the fourth, fifth and 18th holes to reach a total of 18-under-par, as Noja faded to settle for 14-under alongside Spain’s Ana Pelaez Trivino.

Finishing in style ?

Buhai closes with a birdie to post a 69 (-3) and move to -18 after three rounds ?#RaiseOurGame | #InvestecSAWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/xYaLUTpqqy

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) March 10, 2023

“I’m happy with my day,” said Buhai. “I didn’t feel very well today, there’s a gastro-bug going around and unfortunately, I came down with it last night.

“For me to hang in there mentally, I think I did a really good job. The shot on one, I hit it where I wanted to and the wind switched and it fell out of the air. I made the swing and that’s all I can do.

“The wind was very difficult to deal with. I hit quite a few shots, even on nine I thought it was going to be stiff and the next minute it fell out of the sky. The wind was supposed to be down and switched back into.

“The thing you have to do at that moment is you’ve made the swing and done what you’ve wanted to and accept the outcome. That’s what I did well. I got up-and-down to keep myself in it. On the back nine, I hit a lot of solid shots. There was one bad swing on the par-five, but I hit some good putts that didn’t drop today as they have the last few days.”

Buhai is a four-time winner on the LET and has won this title three times previously — the last time being in 2018.

With a four-shot lead heading into the final day, the major champion knows she will still have to play well.

She explained: “The goal was to try and come and win this week. It would be huge, to win your home open is a huge honour. I’ve been able to do it before and to be able to do it again and tick it off would be great.

“Chiara played great today, she came at me hard in the beginning and so did Maggie [Simmermacher], I know I’m going to have to keep my foot on the gas but at the same time play my game and stay patient.”

Pelaez Trivino, who is fourth in the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, fired the joint-best round of the day with a 66 to move up the leaderboard.

“It was a really good moving day,” said the LET winner. “We started off with a couple of birdies which was nice because it was very windy at the start.”

Tiger line from @thechiaranoja ?#RaiseOurGame | #InvestecSAWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/Cd2eZ2sRlv

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) March 10, 2023

Dubai school pupil Noja produced a round of 69 with six birdies and three bogeys on her scorecard.

“I think I played a lot better than I scored,” she said. “I’m a little sick and I got a little sloppy and tired. On the back nine, I could really feel it.

“I was just trying to get across 18 and go to sleep and recover for tomorrow and try to keep myself in contention as much as possible. I’m really gutted that putt on 18 didn’t drop because I hit it and thought it was going in.

“It’s a positive I played how I did. I was pretty determined to try and keep in contention today. It’s a shame I couldn’t hold it together as much as I wanted to on the back nine, I tried my best today and I’m going to try and sleep and come out stronger tomorrow.”

Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher sits in outright fourth place on 13-under-par after carding a round of 67.

Italy’s Alessandra Fanali and Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson share fifth place on nine-under-par with South Africa’s Casandra Alexander in ouright seventh on eight-under after she made an ace on the second hole.

Six players are in a tie for eighth place on seven-under including Spain’s Marta Sanz Barrio, who also produced the joint-best round of the day with a 66, English duo Alice Hewson and Eleanor Givens, India’s Vani Kapoor, Scotland’s Michele Thomson and South Africa’s Kaleigh Telfer.

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Buhai leapfrogs Dubai’s Noja to lead at halfway stage of South African Women’s Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 04:09:02 +0000

Ashleigh Buhai fired a round of 65 on day two of the Investec South African Women’s Open to lead by four strokes heading into the weekend.

The 2022 AIG Women’s Open champion backed up her first round of 64 with a round of seven-under to put herself in pole position on 15-under-par at Steenberg Golf Club.

It was a flawless day for Buhai who rolled in her first birdie on the fourth before adding two more on holes eight and nine.

Back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 put the South African into the lead and she extended her advantage with two more birdies on 16 and 17.

“It is always a good day when you have no bogeys, so that’s first things first,” said Buhai, who is No. 18 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

“My front nine was a little bit of a slow start, I got a bit unlucky on number five when I hit the flag and it ricocheted. I stayed patient and then managed to finish birdie-birdie. I just managed to hit it to good spots on the greens and made a few putts on the back nine.

“The golf course is staying soft, so you can be a bit more aggressive, but the pins were a little bit more tucked today. At the same time, I had to be patient. I felt myself trying to push a little bit and then on seven, I hit it left and I said to myself to just hit it to my spaces and the birdies will come and that’s what I did on the back nine.”

Buhai is a former champion of the tournament having won three times previously in 2004, 2007 and 2018.

Heading into the final two rounds, the four-time LET winner is going to stick to what she knows and enjoy having her husband David on the bag.

She explained: “I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. I will stick to my process and stick to my steps and try and stick to my thoughts that I have in my swing, that’s all I can control and hopefully, the outcome will be what we want.

“It’s always good fun to have him on the bag. He caddied for me for eight years, no one knows my game better other than my coach Doug. It’s good when we can do these one-off weeks together every now and then.”

Dubai-based German teenager Chiara Noja, who led overnight, sits in second place on the leaderboard on 11-under-par after a round of 71 on day two.

The teenager had tough morning conditions with lots of wind and rain but still managed to have four birdies on her scorecard.

“My front nine the rain was quite torrential, so I was just trying to make pars,” said the 16-year-old. “I made a birdie on 11 and thought to myself: ‘Woah, how did I do that?’ I was very pleased with myself.

“I dropped a stupid two shots on 15 which was a little silly, but apart from that it was a decent day. I couldn’t quite convert some of the putts that I gave myself opportunities for on the back nine. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully, I’ll be drier.”

Four players are in a share of third place with Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher, Spain’s Ana Pelaez Trivino, France’s Nastasia Nadaud and Netherlands’ Romy Meekers all on eight-under-par.

Five players sit in a tie for seventh place with South African duo Kaleigh Telfer and Casandra Alexander, English pair Lily May Humphreys and Gabriella Cowley, as well as Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson on six-under-par.

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WATCH: Highlights of Ashleigh Buhai’s triumph at the AIG Women’s Open

Matt Smith — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 05:54:47 +0000

By Matt Smith
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai clinched the first major of her career by winning the 2022 AIG Women’s Open after a four-hole playoff on Sunday.

After being level on 10-under-par with Korea’s In Gee Chun after 72 holes, it took four holes to separate the duo. It was a par on the fourth playoff hole, after a magnificent bunker shot, which saw Buhai secure her first LPGA Tour title and the AIG Women’s Open crown.

Watch the highlights below:

[parone_video_player campaign=”397″ defaultlang=”en” feed=”51-all-videos”/]

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AIG Women’s Open: An out-of-nowhere win that nearly became a devastating loss leaves Ashleigh Buhai feeling joy and relief

Matt Smith — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 05:39:34 +0000

By John Huggan
It’s a fact of golf life. There have always been major championships where the runner-up rather than the winner is the story. Doug Sanders missing from three feet to win the 1970 Open at St Andrews is one example. Nick Price’s sad deterioration over the last six holes at Royal Troon to lose the 1982 Open is another. A dozen shots clear during the third round of the 1990 US Women’s Open at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Patty Sheehan somehow contrived to lose by one. And no one who saw the triple-bogey Jean Van de Velde made on the 72nd hole at Carnoustie in 1999 will ever forget that he did not win that Open.

There are others, but you get the picture.

Happily — at least for her — Ashleigh Buhai has avoided adding her name to that list. But only just.

The AIG Women’s Open record book will tell us that the 33-year-old South African shot a closing round of 75 at Muirfield to tie In Gee Chun on 10-under 274, then made a par at the fourth extra hole to deny the South Korean what would have been a career Grand Slam.

But that rather pedestrian description doesn’t begin to tell the tale that has to be told. Or the one that was nearly told. With four holes to play, all seemed to be proceeding to the plan just about everyone had in place. Armed with a five-shot overnight lead, Buhai wasn’t exactly burning up the course as she had en route to 64 on Saturday. But she was doing enough. Still three shots clear, she appeared to have things well in hand.

Then she didn’t.

Off the 15th tee, the South African made the error you just can’t make at Muirfield — home of 147 bunkers, most of them deep. After blasting out into heavy rough with her second shot, Buhai mucked about for three more shots before finally making the putting surface on the par 4. It all added up to a triple-bogey 7 and the complete disappearance of the aforementioned lead.

It didn’t get much better either. Not immediately. After Chun had failed to make birdie at the downwind 17th, Buhai did the same, missing from four feet or so. Two pars later we had our playoff, one that would only just beat the rapidly descending darkness and spare the championship organisers, the R&A, much embarrassment.

In the end, those bunkers decided things. Chun drove into sand on the now more than familiar 18th hole and was always making bogey; Buhai got up-and-down from the ‘island’ bunker right of the green for par to secure the biggest victory of her career.

“I can’t really put this into words,” Buhai said. “This is the result of many years of hard work. And I’m sure there are many people in South Africa right now with more grey hairs after watching me on that 15th hole. I love this course though. It’s a true test. My caddie, Tanya, gave me the confidence for the bunker shot on the last hole. She told me to show everyone why I’m No. 1 in bunkers. And now I’m a major champion. It’s life-changing.”

Still, for all her heroics, Buhai must go down as something of an unlikely champion, albeit there were more than high hopes for her as a teenager.

Winner of her national Open at the age of only 14, one of four professional events the Johannesburg-native would win as an amateur, she was seen as the classic “can’t miss kid”. For long enough though, things didn’t quite work out as widely predicted. Before this week in what is now a 15-year professional career Buhai had just three Ladies European Tour wins to her name and only one top-10 finish (alongside 20 missed cuts) in 42 major championship starts, a T-5 in the Women’s Open Championship at Woburn three years ago.

This season too, Buhai had been struggling more than prospering. Prior to arriving at Muirfield for a 15th attempt to win the AIG Women’s Open, Buhai had played well enough to finish in the top 10 only twice in 15 LPGA Tour starts. Seven times she failed to qualify for the weekend, most recently one week earlier at the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open. A lowly 84th on the Rolex World Rankings, she was a relatively unheralded 50th on the LPGA’s Race to CME Globe points list.

OK, enough.

Things are different now, of course. Today, Buhai is the AIG Women’s Open champion, a first-time winner on the LPGA Tour and $1,095,000 richer after she followed her compatriots, Open champions Gary Player and Ernie Els, in claiming a major title over the peerless East Lothian links. She is also the first female South African to win a major since Sally Little claimed the LPGA Championship in 1980, nine years before Buhai was born.

That’s a lot to take in. But four months into her work with a sports psychologist, Buhai stayed calm, even on the walk between 15th green and 16th tee.

“I wasn’t thinking of too much there, to be honest,” she said. “The drive on 15 was probably the worst swing I made all week. But it doesn’t often happened that a ball pulls in a bunker off a drive. Then I compounded the mistake. But I didn’t panic, which was huge. It would have been easy to panic and come home in an ambulance. I just tried to keep making good swings. Which I did in the play-off. I’m proud of the fact that I hit that fairway every time.”

Indeed, on what at first appeared to be her metronomic way to victory, the smoothness of Buhai’s technique (with one notable exception) was the most striking feature of her victory. Only once on that almost fateful 15th tee did she succumb to the fault strong wind most commonly causes — the shorter than normal backswing that leads to a loss of timing and less than satisfactory impact conditions.

“I have a couple of different thoughts,” she explained. “I’ve kind of got it down to where if I swing 40 per cent up and I lock it in at the top, then my tempo is good. Or I count ‘one, two, three.’ All I’m trying to do is remind myself on every shot, ‘40 per cent up, 40 per cent up.’ That’s my only focus. After that, wherever the ball goes, it goes.”

And this week, that was nearly always where she meant it to go.

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AIG Women’s Open: Ashleigh Buhai blitzes Muirfield for 64 to take five-shot lead

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 08:15:13 +0000

By John Huggan
Forget this “moving day” stuff. A more appropriate name for the third round of any golf tournament is surely “eliminating day.” Consider the following. As Saturday morning dawned on the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield, as many as 24 players were six shots of closer to the lead held by In Gee Chun on eight-under. Every one of those pursuers would be harboring hopes of potentially tournament-winning progress over the coming 18 holes.

Not for long though. Only six holes into the third round, Ashleigh Buhai was the new leader. The South African had already made four birdies and reduced the chasing pack significantly. Only 11 players were inside our arbitrary six-shot deficit. Three holes after that, Buhai had made another birdie, the gap between her and the rest increasing almost by the minute. Now, only six players could say they were less than seven shots behind.

On and on Buhai went. After 12 holes, she was six under for the day and looking down on the rest from an ever-growing height. Only four women were then inside our six-shot gap.

And she wasn’t done yet. Seven-under for the day standing on the 16th tee, Buhai had gotten rid of one more challenger. Only three remained, two — Chun and 2019 champion Hinako Shibuno — by the time the leader reached the penultimate hole.

Believe it or not, things got better still for Buhai. Over the par-5 17th green in three shots after a misjudged approach, she promptly chipped in for her eighth birdie of the day. Suddenly, only Shibuno — six back on nine-under after a 66 — is looking like she might just have a wee chance of catching the relentless leader.

A dropped shot at the last from Buhai, nudging her lead at 14-under down to five strokes, did offer at least a little encouragement to her nearest — and now only — challenger, however. The 33-year old’s seven-under 64 was two shots clear of the lowest score of the week and, in it came in blustery conditions that were never less than tricky and always at least borderline difficult. Playing partner Inbee Park was moved to say the golf Buhai played was “phenomenal”. Which is fair enough. Compiled in the afternoon, when Muirfield played close to two shots harder than it had before lunch, it was, no question, one of the top rounds of 2022.

“We are going to have to play in good golf tomorrow to catch her,” concluded Park, the 2015 champion at Turnberry, displaying a mastery of understatement.

“I’m obviously very pleased,” said the leader. “To shoot that score in those conditions, you have to pat yourself on the back. It has to be one of the best rounds I’ve ever played. We were playing a three-club wind by the end and some of those holes on the back nine are pretty brutal.”

Indeed, asked to pick out one shot as a highlight, Buhai was unable to do so, such was the consistency of her excellence.

“I’ve probably never played better than that,” she continued. “I’m most proud of how I stayed calm and focused. That’s all I try to control. I wasn’t thinking of the outcomes. But I must say my par saves were huge. I was in three divots today and each time the ball didn’t come out as I would have liked.”

The strange thing about all of the above is that Buhai arrived in East Lothian with little to commend her chances of ultimate success. A missed cut at last week’s Scottish Open was far from atypical in a year that has seen the three-time winner on the Ladies European Tour manage only two top-10 in 15 starts on the LPGA Tour. Maybe for that reason, she was reluctant to acknowledge just how many challengers she had dispensed with.

“I’m not sure about that,” she said. “In these conditions anything can happen. Anyone can come from behind. There have been low scores this week – and high ones too. But this is my favorite tournament of the year. I love links golf. I love how you have to be creative.”

A little caution — mixed with an obvious confidence — is understandable. But facts are facts. Only seven players are now within 10 shots of Bahai’s lead. Call her the eliminator.

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