10th March 2023 | Sunshine Ladies Tour
Buhai refuses to be blown off course at Investec SA Women’s Open
10 March 2023 – Ashleigh Buhai’s fighting spirit shone through on Friday when she carded a three-under-par 69 in defiance of the effects of a stomach bug in the third round of the Investec South African Women’s Open Championship at Steenberg Golf Club.
While that paled in comparison with her opening 64 and her second-round 65, that she was able to overcome an opening bogey, make three birdies in the next four holes, and then hang tough in the face of the illness to finally make another birdie on the last hole of the day that left her four clear of her pursuers ahead of the final round of the tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Ladies Tour and the Ladies European Tour.
“There’s a bit of a bug going around this week, and some of the players have got it,” said Buhai. “Unfortunately, I was one of them and I was up from 2.30 this morning. To get through today and shoot under par is pretty good and I’m very proud of myself.”
That string of 12 consecutive grinding pars from the sixth until the 17th came as her putter, which had been so hot for the first two rounds, cooled down significantly. She burned the edges enough to keep her interested, and the pars were enough to keep her ahead of Germany’s teenaged Chiara Noja and Spaniard Ana Pelaez Trivino.
Trivino carded a fine six-under-par 66 to climb to her share of third on 14-under through 54 holes, and Noja, who was Buhai’s closest pursuer at halfway, had a closing stretch meltdown of three bogeys in five holes from the 13th to the 17th as she signed for a three-under 69, having shared the lead with Buhai after the 12th hole.
Noja’s downfall seemed to start when she left an eagle putt on 12 just short, and, although she made birdie to draw level with Buhai, she seemed to be too keen to press home what she perceived to be an advantage. She pulled driver on the par-four 13th, a bold play which seemed destined for trouble when she pushed it right.
“Me trying to carry that bunker is not even an option,” said Buhai of the surprising play by Noja. “To be honest, if you hit it over that bunker, there’s no space anyway. I hit seven-wood, wedge downwind the way the hole played today, so I don’t really see the play.
“But that was a little opening and then, I thought if I could make my birdie putt there, it could be a two-shot swing. I hit a good putt, but it didn’t drop – story of my day!”
Noja then three-putted for bogey on the 15th, found the greenside bunker on the par-three 17th and was unable to get it up and down from there, and couldn’t make the most of a birdie chance on 18.
“I think I played a lot better than I scored,” said Noja. “Obviously, 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.”
Behind the leading three, last year’s runner-up Magdalena Simmermacher from Argentina showed her class again with a second-consecutive five-under-par 67 taking her to fourth on 13-under. She was one clear of Alessandra Fanali of Italy, who also signed for a 67, and Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson, who had a 69 to move to nine-under and a share of fifth.
South Africa’s Casandra Alexander parlayed a hole-in-one on the second into a two-under 70 to move into seventh at eight-under and be the second-placed South African. Next-best of the South Africans was rookie Kaleigh Telfer, who was one shot behind Alexander in a share of eighth on seven-under after she carded a one-under 71.
For Buhai, the chase from Noja was a good bit of practice at focusing on the job at hand in the final round when she sets off in pursuit of her fourth title in her national open championship. “I like to think the calibre of shots I have will stand me in good stead tomorrow, especially with the wind,” she said. “She’s a great player. When she came out firing – and so did Maggie – I didn’t have the energy to fight back. It just showed that experience is important, and by staying patient, it definitely paid off.”
9th March 2023 | Sunshine Ladies Tour
Team Buhai soars at Investec SA Women’s Open
9 March 2023 – With her husband on the bag, as he was when she won the title in 2018, a relaxed Ashleigh Buhai posted a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 on Thursday to stretch to a four-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the Investec South African Women’s Open Championship at Steenberg Golf Club.
The reigning AIG Women’s Open champion missed five of 14 fairways, and hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation, but you wouldn’t have guessed it from the serene way she went about her work.
Of course, it helps when you’re putting sublimely, and, with just 26 putts for the second round in a row, once she hit the front, there wasn’t much doubt that she’d be in the lead going into the final two rounds of the tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Ladies Tour and the Ladies European Tour.
“It’s always good fun to have Dave on the bag,” Buhai said. “He caddied for me for eight years, no-one knows my game better other than my coach Doug Wood. It’s good when we can do these one-off weeks together every now and then.”
In her first round, she made a bogey, and for her second trip around the course, she managed to minimise errors completely.
“It is always a good day when you have no bogeys, so that’s first things first,” said Buhai, who is taking aim at what would be her fourth national open title. “My front nine was a little bit of a slow start, and I got a bit unlucky on number five when I hit the flag and it ricocheted all the way back down the green. I stayed patient and then managed to finish birdie-birdie on the front 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.”
In second place was the German teenager Chiara Noja, who fired a course-record 62 in the first round to top Buhai’s opening 64. The 16-year-old Noja, who already had a Ladies European Tour title behind her name, was only able to grind out a one-under-par 71 in the second round which she started in heavy early morning rain.
There were four players in a share of third on eight-under-par, including last year’s runner-up Magdalena Simmermacher from who out lost to Lee-Anne Pace in an epic six-hole play-off. The Argentinean had perhaps the round of the day with her five-under in the very challenging early morning conditions.
Spaniard Ana Pelaez Trivino, who also had a five-under, but much later in the day, Nastasia Nadaud from France, who signed for a two-under 70; and Dutch golfer Romy Meekers, who also carded 70 share third with Simmermacher.
Backing up Buhai’s efforts for South Africa were rookie Kaleigh Telfer and Casandra Alexander.
Telfer was impressive with a bogey-free three-under-par 69, and Alexander, who has won twice on the Sunshine Ladies Tour this season, overcame a bogey on the 10th with five birdies on her way to a 68. They were on six-under for the tournament in a share of sixth.
With the two South Africans were Johanna Gustavsson from Sweden, who had a 72, England’s Gabriella Cowley, who had a 69, and compatriot Lily May Himphreys, who leads the Investec Order of Merit on the Sunshine Ladies Tour after her win in the Joburg Open last week. Humphreys birdied the final hole for a round of 71.
The cut to 60 and ties fell at level-par, leaving a field of 60 professionals and South Africa’s No 1-ranked amateur Kyra van Kan to battle things out over the final 36 holes. For Buhai, things look pretty rosy with a four-shot lead, but she knows that things can change in the blink of an eye. “I’ll need to keep doing what I’m doing,” she said. “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.”
8th March 2023 | Sunshine Ladies Tour
Two braais in a row and an afternoon on a couch
8 March 2023 – Home comforts as well as the best opening nine holes of her career propelled Ashleigh Buhai to an eight-under-par 64 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Investec South African Women’s Open Championship at Steenberg Golf Club.
The reigning AIG Women’s Open champion made seven birdies on her front nine after starting on the 10th to turn in seven-under-par 29.
There was a dropped shot on the third – her 12th – and two more birdies, and she was two shots clear of her nearest challengers after the morning field had all handed in their scorecards in the tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Ladies Tour and the Ladies European Tour.
“I got off to a great start, making three in a row, lipped out on the fourth and made a bomb on the fifth,” said Buhai, who has won the title three times already, with her last triumph coming in 2018 just down the road at Westlake. “It was a very hot start, and the best front nine in tournament play in my career – never shot 29 before.”
It was just the start she would have wanted after having flown in from Singapore on Monday. “Travel is just part of the job, it’s what we do, but I did feel on Tuesday that I was still at 3,000 feet,” she said. “With the quick turnaround and the Wednesday start, it might have been nice to have got another day of rest, but it is what it is. But to have my family here, and my husband’s family is great. We’re in an Air B ‘n’ B, we’ve had two braais back-to-back, so we’re very happy.
“But after this first round, I’m really excited to go sit on a couch this afternoon. I didn’t get to do that yesterday, with the pro-am and practice. I stayed out a little later, because I just felt I needed to get the feel of the tweak I did with my putter, but I’m very glad I did and put in the work, because it paid off.”
It was her putting which saw her surge clear with that opening birdie-burst which consisted of three in the first three holes, one on the fifth, and then three in a row again from the seventh. “I had a putting lesson yesterday,” said Buhai. “My coach Doug Wood came down for two days and it was nice to see him after not seeing him in about five weeks. We just touched up a few things and made a little tweak here and there, and it paid off straight away.”
The heat evaporated somewhat on the back nine as it drizzled throughout her round, but the fast start had already set her up. “I hadn’t seen the front nine, so I played it blind, and I don’t feel I committed as well as I didn’t on the other nine,” she said. “It showed on the tee shot on three, where I made bogey, but after that, I just trusted Dave, my husband who is on the bag this week. He told me where to hit it and I listened to him.
“My back nine played a little more trickily. I had some longer clubs in and there was a little bit of wind, especially on the last three holes. My goal was to get it to nine-under once I got it back to seven, but those last three holes, you had to hit some good shots coming in.”
Buhai will start the second round two shots back from 16-year-old German teen, Chiara Noja, who blitzed the course in 10-under 62.
On six-under are Johanna Gustavsson from Sweden, France’s Nastasia Nadaud and Romy Meekers from the Netherlands and a further shot back, on five-under, is last week’s Joburg Ladies Open winner and Investec Order of Merit leader Lily May Humphreys from England, the only player in the top six to produce a bogey-free round.
Next best of the South Africans was Nadia van der Westhuizen, who finished on four-under together with Scotland’s Kylie Henry, Luna Sobron Galmes from Spain, Denmark’s Smilla Tarning Soenderby and Agathe Sauzon from France.
Defending champion Lee-Anne Pace started her campaign for what would be a record-extending sixth championship title with a two-under-par 70, a score she shared with South African Casandra Alexander, who has won twice on the Sunshine Ladies Tour this season.
They all have their work cut out for them if Buhai continues to score they was she started: “I wanted to play from a calm place, and to do my steps and processes,” she said. “I have four steps in my routine, and I have my one swing thought, and as long as I commit to that swing thought, that’s all I can do – I can’t affect the result. I do know if I keep doing that with the swing, and with the feel I had with the putter today, maybe seven out of 10 times, it will produce the result that I want.