South African star Ashleigh Buhai, who rose to prominence last year with her major victory at the AIG Women’s Open, earned her second LPGA Tour win on Sunday at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer with a third-round 65, her second in a row.
Throughout the week, Buhai was draining birdies left and right, ultimately making 19 birdies in 54-holes (35%), the most in the field.
On Championship Sunday, she made four birdies in her first five holes to overtake first- and second-round leader Dani Holmqvist and runner-up Hyo Joo Kim by hole 6. Buhai added one more on 8 before making her only mistake of the day with a bogey on 11.
Tied with Kim at that point, Buhai made birdie on 13 while Kim made bogey on 12. Walking up the par-5 No. 18 with just a one stroke lead, Buhai landed her second shot just off the green and rolled her short chip just 4 feet past the hole. Feeling the pressure, she stepped off her putt but easily drained the 4-footer once she calmed her nerves.
“I kind of looked up at the leaderboard after my second shot and I saw Hyo Joo had birdied (on 17), so I said to myself, well, got to get up and down to give myself a chance to win it outright and would make her have to eagle and put some pressure on her,” Buhai said. “I just kind of stuck to my processes and steps that we have worked on… tried to focus more on the moment, and that shot and not the result and the outcome, which is something that has got me to this position and something that has paid off…”
With Buhai finishing -14, the pressure indeed moved to Kim with a two-stroke deficit. Knowing she needed to make eagle on 18, Kim sent her chip shot straight at the hole and, garnering a huge gasp from the gallery, nearly made it in. One more roll would have forced a playoff, but instead the ball came to rest just a foot from the pin.
“When I was about to hit my second shot, I knew she had already birdied so I knew there was a two-shot difference,” said Kim, who used her 58-degree to hit the 78-foot shot. “I thought to myself I have to eagle no matter what and can’t hit my approach short no matter what. I really thought it was going in… Since the first round and until the end, I had good results. Of course, disappointing to not win, but hoping to continue this momentum to next week and then in the majors too.”
Hearing the crowd, and the result, from the scoring tent, relief washed over Buhai as she secured her second victory and was showered in champagne by…
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