South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai earned her second LPGA Tour victory on Sunday at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer in Galloway, New Jersey, finishing with a 14-under-par 199 total after rounds of 69, 65 and 65.
Buhai was in superb form all week, leading the field with 19 birdies over 54 holes at Seaview’s par-71 Bay Course. In the final round, the 34-year-old made four birdies in her first five holes and never let up, eventually winning the US$1.75 million tournament by one shot over Hyo Joo Kim of Korea (67-65-68).
Kim could have forced a playoff with an eagle at the par-five closing hole, but her chip stopped just short. Hearing the result at the scoring tent, Buhai was showered in champagne by her husband David, caddie Tanya Paterson and fellow South African golfer Lee-Anne Pace.
This was Buhai’s first victory on U.S. soil as her previous LPGA Tour win came at last year’s AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield in Scotland. Following her Major success, she won the 2022 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open and the 2023 Investec South African Women’s Open this March.
“My goal this year was to win in the U.S. as I hadn’t won here yet. After the AIG Women’s Open, I won in Australia and South Africa, so my goal this year was to get the monkey off my back and finally win on U.S. soil,” said Buhai.
“I’m very proud of myself for ticking it off. I’ve been playing some really solid golf and knew that if I continued that form, one of these weeks I would be coming in close with a chance to get the job done.”
Buhai paid tribute to her team for her recent run of successes in her 16th year as a professional golfer.
“I had a really good amateur career and was going to be the next best thing out of South Africa, but golf is just not like that all the time. I kept plugging away,” she shared.
“I have a good support system around me, which I think is the most important thing. They are the ones that kept me up when I was down and told me, you can still do this. The last 18 months has just been about putting it all together and surrounding myself with the right people. It’s definitely paying off,” added Buhai.
Rookie Yan Liu of China earned solo third position on 11-under-par 202 (65-70-67), her best result on tour so far. First- and second-round leader Dani Holmqvist of Sweden closed with a 72 and settled for joint fourth on 10-under-par 203 with Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen, who signed off with a superb 65.
Malaysian number one Kelly Tan made her first cut of the season and finished joint 69th on two-over-par 215 (68-73-74).
Results (Top Ten & Ties)
| 199 | (-14) | Ashleigh Buhai (RSA) | 69-65-65 |
| 200 | (-13) | Hyo Joo Kim (KOR) | 67-65-68 |
| 202 | (-11) | Yan Liu (CHN) | 65-70-67 |
| 203 | (-10) | Nanna Koerstz Madsen (DEN) | 67-71-65 |
| Dani Holmqvist (SWE) | 64-67-72 | ||
| 204 | (-9) | Su Oh (AUS) | 68-72-64 |
| Haru Nomura (JPN) | 68-71-65 | ||
| Albane Valenzuela (SUI) | 71-67-66 | ||
| Soo Bin Joo (KOR) | 66-70-68 | ||
| Atthaya Thitikul (THA) | 68-67-69 | ||
| Jenny Shin (KOR) | 65-70-69 |
