Ashleigh Buhai

Ashleigh Buhai captured the AIG Women's Open title in 2022 after defeating In Gee Chun in an epic four-hole play-off.

The victory came after stunning second and third rounds of 65 and 64 respectively gave Buhai a five-shot lead with one round to play. A difficult 14th hole on Sunday however appeared to put a serious dent in her title hopes, but she recovered admirably to set-up a play-off and eventually outlast Chun.

It was Buhai's first major title, and she became just the second-ever South African winner of the AIG Women's Open, following Alison Sheard's victory in 1979.

Buhai said: "It's been a long journey. I turned pro when I was 18, there were a lot of things expected of me. I won straight off the bat on the Ladies European Tour. But this game has a way of giving you a hard time.

"I'm just so proud of how I've stuck it out. I have said the last four or five years, I've finally started to find my feet on the LPGA and felt I could compete, and although I'm 33 now, I feel I'm playing the best golf of my career."

Buhai won the Australian Open in December 2022 and followed that up with victory in the South African Open in March 2023, posting an impressive score of 22-under-par. She won for the first time in the US in June 2023 by edging out Hyo Jon Kim in the Shoprite LPGA Classic and rounded off an impressive year by retaining the Australian Open in December 2023.

When a then-18-year-old Buhai won the Catalonia Ladies Masters in 2007 – her third event as a professional – she became the youngest-ever professional winner on the Ladies European Tour.