Starting the day one back of 54-hole leader and 2012 champion Jiyai Shin, Buhai was the only one of the final trio to make it through the turn under par for the round on a dramatic final day at Victoria Golf Club on the Melbourne Sandbelt.
The 33-year-old birdied the short par-4 1stSt while Shin made bogey and the player everyone identified as the main home hope, Hannah Green, made par.
Green had the large crowd full of excitement when she rolled in a birdie three at the par-4 next before a double bogey at 3 was followed by the same result at the 7tha birdie at the 9thth at least allowing her to break 40.
Shin wasn’t so lucky, with three more bogeys over the opening nine seeing her turn in four-over.
Buhai meanwhile mixed two more birdies with the same number of shots lost to par to reach 14-under to assume the lead on her own and clearly standout as the player to beat.
RIGHT: Grace Kim is comforted by her caddy Chris Fan on the 18th green. PHOTO: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.
As Green struggled, Sydneysider Grace Kim stood tall as the Aussie most likely to challenge the collection of the foreign raider major champions that included, for a brief moment, So Yeon Ryu, while Minjee Lee’s run all but ended at the par-5 7th when she four putted for a double bogey. The US Women’s Open champion signed for a 71 and fifth place on eight-under.
Kim made her fourth birdie of the day at the par-4 15th to reach 11-under and draw alongside Buhai, who looked as if the back nine Sunday struggles of her Open win might return with three bogeys from the 10th to 16th holes.
However, Kim’s charge came undone at the par-5 18th when she was finally in for a double bogey seven that dropped her to nine-under after leaving her ball in the fairway bunker, the very same misfortune that she experienced at the penultimate hole when greenside.
“Probably the start of the back nine I was still comfortable with where I was and then I accidentally saw the leaderboard on the 17th tee. I didn’t know there was one there… I think that definitely got me mentally,” Kim said. “But, it’s a lesson, so it’s all right.”
“I was thinking looking at this that it’s pretty cool that my name is on this trophy as well as the British Open with a lot of greats, so that’s obviously very special.” – Ash Buhai.
As Kim was receiving emotional support from fellow New South Wales young guns Harrison Crowe and Steph Kyriacou by the putting green, Shin steadied her challenge with birdies at the 15th and 17thBuhai also birdieing the latter.
Green also birdied 17 as well as 18 to get back to 10-under and third alone, a total that ended up two shots shy of Buhai, who she helped celebrate with a bottled water showering on the 18th green. Shin missed her own birdie chance at the last to finish one behind the major winner and now Australian Open champion.
“I’ve been coming to Oz since I was a teenager. Back in the day I played the Jack Newton Invitational and now I’ve got a lot of friends and family here and we haven’t been here for almost three years,” Buhai said of her Australian connection. “I’m a golf nut, so any time I get to play on courses like this and just to be back in Oz has been fantastic.”
That fantastic feeling certainly elevated by her rare feat of holding both the Women’s Open and Australian Open concurrently and becoming the first South African winner of the Patricia Bridges Bowl.
“Obviously I was thinking looking at this that it’s pretty cool that my name is on this trophy as well as the British Open with a lot of greats, so that’s obviously very special.”
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