ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Ashleigh Buhai may have won the AIG Women’s Open two years ago, but the running joke is she’s not even the Buhai who has gained the fame from that week.
Who could forget Buhai’s nerve-racking Sunday at Muirfield? It began with a five-shot lead, featured a closing 75 that knocked her back into a playoff with In-Gee Chun, and then ended with a four-hole playoff triumph.
But also, who could forget David Buhai? Caddying for another player earlier in the day, David showed up to watch his wife on pins and needles, cameras in his face all afternoon, and then he bolted onto the green after the playoff culminated, lifting Ashleigh up into the air with a massive bear hug.
“People do remember him more than me,” Ashleigh said Friday at St. Andrews, where she sits 3 under and five shots back of Nelly Korda.
There’s a funny story to that, too.
“We were in Cincinnati airport,” Ashleigh tells it, “and it was just after that win, and I had the trophy with me, and David loaded my clubs on the belt, and the guy checking me in was like, ‘You look familiar,’ to my husband, and then he saw the clubs, and then he put two and two together. He’s like, ‘You ran on to the green! But you won the tournament!’
“It was like, ‘Yeah, I’m here.’ Then I had the trophy with me and took it out.”
She may soon get to take out another.
That was an unlikely thought entering this week. Buhai’s year has been devoid of a top-10 on the LPGA. Her best finish came in February, a T-10 at the LET’s Aramco Ladies International. More recently she has been recovering from a broken left pinky toe, which she injured during the KPMG Women’s PGA. The injury was so bothersome, that Buhai withdrew after just three holes of the Evian, and then she played the Olympics with a hole cut in her golf shoe.
“It’s been a really long two months,” Buhai said.
But on Friday, she looked more like the player at Muirfield. Her 3-under 69 was highlighted by eagles at Nos. 14 and 15, where she got up and down from behind the green and holed an 85-yard shot, respectively.
This week, David is looping for Lee-Anne Pace, who, at 3 over, will also make the weekend. And who knows, by Sunday maybe David will have another chance to add to his celebrity status.
Though if that’s the case, one would hope the bag-check spotlight would fully go to a two-time Women’s Open champion.
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