South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, the reigning Women’s British Open champion, fired her second consecutive six-under par 65 on Sunday to win the ShopRite LPGA Classic by one stroke.
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The 34-year-old from Johannesburg, who started the day three off the tempo, completed 72 holes on 14-under 199 at Seaview in Galloway, New Jersey, to edge South Korea’s Kim Hyo-joo.
Kim wanted an eagle on the par-5 18th to drive a playoff however her pitch stopped inches from the opening to depart her in second place.
“At no point did I think it was mine until it was really confirmed,” Buhai stated.
“I did rather well to remain mentally in it, caught to my processes.
“I didn’t get ahead of myself and think of the outcome at all. I just trusted the one thing I was trying to do in my golf swing and hopefully that could take care of it.”
While it was Buhai’s first LPGA triumph on US soil, it was her fourth worldwide victory previously 10 months, together with March’s South African Women’s Open, final December’s Women’s Australian Open and her main breakthrough final August at Muirfield in Scotland.
“It’s definitely the best golf I’ve ever played in my career,” Buhai stated.
“Experience only comes from experience and I put myself in that position four times in the last eight months. Every time you get a little more comfortable.”
China’s Liu Yan was third on 202 with Sweden’s Daniela Holmqvist and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen sharing fourth on 203.
Holmqvist started the day with a one-stroke lead over Kim however struggled with three bogeys and three birdies on the entrance 9.
That opened the door for Buhai, who birdied 4 of the primary 5 holes to leap into the lead.
‘Got off to an excellent begin’ – Ashleigh Buhai
After sinking a 10-foot birdie putt on the primary gap, Buhai dropped her approaches inches from the opening to arrange tap-in birdies on the second and fourth holes, then made a protracted putt from simply off the fifth inexperienced.
“I got off to such a good start and that putt on five was a ‘Hallelujah’ and I was like, ‘Those things need to happen for you to win,’” Buhai stated.
Buhai sank one other quick birdie putt on the eighth after one other nice strategy and reached the flip with a two-stroke benefit.
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But Buhai stumbled with a bogey on the par-3 eleventh and Kim, who answered a bogey on the second with birdies at three and 4, started the again 9 with a birdie to drag degree for the lead at 12-under.
Buhai answered with a birdie on the thirteenth and Kim made a three-putt bogey at 12 to revive the South African’s two-shot edge.
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Kim birdied the par-3 seventeenth to drag inside one in all Buhai, however the South African pitched to a few ft on the par-5 18th and tapped in for birdie and a two-stroke lead.
Kim got here up wanting the inexperienced and when her tension-packed pitch stopped inches left of the opening, Buhai had the triumph.
Many of the LPGA’s prime gamers will tee off once more in New Jersey in two weeks on the subsequent girls’s main, the Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol.
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Final scores on Sunday within the 54-hole ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway, New Jersey (USA until famous, par-71):
199 – Ashleigh Buhai (RSA) 69-65-65
200 – Kim Hyo-joo (KOR) 67-65-68
202 – Liu Yan (CHN) 65-70-67
203 – Nanna Koerstz Madsen (DEN) 67-71-65, Daniela Holmqvist (SWE) 64-67-72
204 – Su Oh (AUS) 68-72-64, Harukyo Nomura (JPN) 68-71-65, Albane Valenzuela (SUI) 71-67-66, Alicia Joo (KOR) 66-70-68, Jenny Shin (KOR) 65-70-69, Atthaya Thitikul (THA) 68-67-69
205 – Marina Alex 73-65-67, Chiara Noja (GER) 68-67-70
206 – Ayaka Furue (JPN) 68-68-70
207 – Marissa Steen 70-73-64, Lauren Stephenson 70-73-64, Mel Reid (ENG) 72-69-66, Minami Katsu (JPN) 73-67-67, Yin Ruoning (CHN) 71-67-69, Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 66-70-71, Brianna Do 71-64-72
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
