Who is Ashleigh Buhai?
She’s only South Africa’s second female major champion, but who is Ashleigh Buhai? Find out more with our player profile on the South African here…
Ashleigh Buhai is one of South Africa’s leading female golfers, and one of just two major winners after her victory at the 2022 AIG Women’s Open.
Buhai was born in Johannesburg in May 1989, and got into the game at an early age thanks to her father’s influence. She turned professional at the age of 18, having already won four professional titles as an amateur, including the South African Open at the age of just 14.
She has had a long and storied career, winning a total of 22 times around the world. Most of those victories came on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, where she won the Order of Merit in 2017. Buhai is a four-time winner of the South African Open, with only Lee-Anne Pace having won the tournament on more occasions.
Buhai’s biggest victory came in 2022, when she won the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield. She became just the second South African female to win a major championship. She also secured her first non-major on the LPGA Tour a year later, with victory at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, her most recent win.
Ashleigh Buhai | Player Profile
Personal Information
Name: Ashleigh Ann Buhai
Born: May 11, 1989
Nationality: South Africa
Residence: Johannesburg, South Africa
Career
Turned Pro: 2007
Professional Wins: 22
Highest World Ranking: 12 – June 12, 2023
Best Results In Majors
Best Finishes:
– Chevron Championship – T18 (2023)
– Women’s PGA Championship – T18 (2020)
– US Women’s Open – T27 (2017)
– Amundi Evian Championship – T15 (2022)
– AIG Women’s Open – WON (2022)
Professional Wins – 22
2004 (1) – Acer South African Women’s Open
2005 (1) – Pam Golding Classic
2006 (1) – Nedbank Masters
2007 (2) – Acer South African Women’s Open, Catalonia Ladies Masters
2011 (1) – ISPS Handa Portugal Ladies Open
2014 (3) – Chase to Investec Cup Glendower, Ladies Tshwane Open, Chase to Investec Cup Blue Valley
2015 (1) – Sunshine Ladies Tour Open
2017 (3) – Cape Town Ladies Open, Sun International Ladies Challenge, Investec Royal Swazi
2018 (2) – Joburg Ladies Open, Investec South African Women’s Open
2019 (1) – Canon Sunshine Ladies Tour Open
2020 (1) – Jabra Ladies Classic
2022 (2) – ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, AIG Women’s Open
2023 (3) – ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, Investec South African Women’s Open, ShopRite LPGA Classic
Achievements and Awards
Sunshine Ladies Tour Order of Merit Winner – 2017
Ashleigh Buhai | What’s In Her Bag?
Buhai plays with clubs from a mixture of brands. It begins with a Callaway Epic Speed driver, along with a PING G425 and Srixon ZX fairway woods. She also uses Srixon hybrids and irons, along with a trio of Cleveland wedges. A Srixon Z-Star 7 ball is also used.
You can check out our full piece on Ashleigh Buhai’s bag right here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Ashleigh Buhai
When and where was Ashleigh Buhai born?
Ashleigh Buhai was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in May 1989. She started playing golf at the age of 6, thanks to her father’s influence.
When did Ashleigh Buhai turn professional?
Ashleigh Buhai already had four professional victories under her belt as an amateur when she turned pro in 2007.
How many professional titles has Ashleigh Buhai won?
As of May 2024, Ashleigh Buhai is a 22-time winner as a professional. As mentioned above, four of those came as an amateur, and she is a four-time winner of her home national open. Her crowning glory came in 2022, when she won her first major championship – the AIG Women’s Open.
Who is Ashleigh Buhai married to?
Ashleigh is married to David Buhai, an important figure in the golfing world. He is a caddie on both the LPGA Tour and LET, and has recently been working with Jeongeun Lee6.
Did you Know?
One Major Win, Only One Other Top Ten
Incredibly, Buhai’s victory at the 2022 AIG Women’s Open is one of just two top-ten finishes in major championships. That also came at the AIG, three years prior to her victory.
Buhai is yet to record a top-ten finish at any of the other four majors, with her best result coming at the Amundi Evian Championship in 2022, where she came home in a tie for 15th.
South Africa’s Second Female Major Champion
For a country with an incredible golfing pedigree, it is perhaps surprising that Buhai is only the second female golfer from the nation to have won a major championship. Sally Little is the only other to do so, winning the Women’s PGA Championship in 1980.
Other Ashleigh Buhai Articles
Ashleigh Buhai: ‘I’ve had a wonderful time since winning the AIG Women’s Open’
The Slam: What we can learn from the Women’s Open champion overcoming her mental demons
Buhai breaks major duck after epic Women’s Open playoff
Just how good has Ashleigh Buhai been throughout her career, with wins in three decades?! Let us know your thoughts with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
