Razeen Gutta
Ashleigh Buhai beat Women’s PGA Champion Chun In-gee in a marathon playoff at Muirfield to secure an historic Women’s Open victory.
Buhai was five ahead overnight and looked in total control before blowing the lead at the 15th with a triple-bogey.
The players were suddenly tied on 10 under par after 72 holes. This took the battle into sudden death, where the South African won in style after a fantastic up-and-down on the fourth extra hole.
Buhai joined the likes of Gary Player and Ernie Els as South Africans to have celebrated major wins at Muirfield; and made history by becoming the first South African woman to win a major since Sally Little in the 1980s.
The 33-year-old was emotional following the dramatic victory and called it “life-changing”.
“It’s been a lot of hard work over many years. I’m very proud of myself, I had to dig deep. But I was surprisingly calm in the playoff. Just tried to stay in the moment,” Buhai said.
“Before I hit the bunker shot in the playoff, my caddie said ‘show them why you are ranked number one in bunkers this year’. It was great to do it.”
“We’re a very small country so to be able to produce quite a few major champions it’s quite something, and now for me to be a female South African major winner I’ve got no words – it’s life-changing.”
Image source: @FanSided
