Here’s a list of players and caddies who have found a good rhythm and seem to be in it for the long haul.
There’s turnover every season when it comes to player-caddie partnerships on the LPGA, particularly at the start of the year. World No. 1 Lydia Ko has changed caddies regularly throughout her career, including this season, despite having an enormously strong 2022.
Minjee Lee, who won a couple majors in the past two years, will begin 2023 with a new looper after enjoying much success with veteran Jason Gilroyed.
[affiliatewidget_wineclub title=”Join the Golfweek Wine Club” description=”Get exclusive access to rare, limited-availability wines that are hand-picked by top sommeliers, then shipped directly to your doorstep.” url=”https://wineclub.golfweek.com/” button_text=”JOIN TODAY!”]
Plenty more players have made changes, but there are a number who have stood the test of time. While not by any means exhaustive, here’s a list of players and caddies who have found a good rhythm and seem to be in it for the long haul:
Four tournaments stood out from the pack, three of which were major championships.
The discourse that dominated professional golf in 2022 largely focused on the off-course battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
Despite the back-and-forth war of words and lawsuits, the on-course action in both the men’s and women’s game was just as compelling. But which tournament was the best of the rest?
The Golfweek staff debated the topic, and after all the deliberation, four events stood out from the pack, three of which were major championships, and two even included a tie to LIV, the upstart Saudi Arabia-backed circuit.
Check out the 2022 tournament of the year (as well as the three honorable mentions).
The final round wasn’t kind to the Aussies playing in their national open.
The unique ISPS Handa Australian Open – held over two courses with men’s, women’s and all-abilities divisions playing concurrently – featured a trio of great finishes on Sunday, but the final round wasn’t kind to the natives in their national open.
On the men’s side, 54-hole leader Adam Scott struggled to a 2-over 72 thanks to a crucial double-bogey on the par-4 17th. After making eagle at the par-5 18th the previous two rounds at Victoria Golf Club, the 2013 Masters champion instead signed for a par on Sunday to seal his runner-up fate at 9 under. Adrian Meronk, on the other hand, eagled the final hole to sign for a 4-under 66 to extend his winning margin to five shots at 14 under.
Two more Aussies finished in the top five as Aussie Min Woo Lee placed third at 8 under, with Haydn Barron T-4 at 7 under alongside Alejandro Canizares.
“I’m super excited and to finish like that on the 18th hole is just unreal,” said Meronk.
On the women’s side, three Aussies finished Nos. 3-5 while Ashleigh Buhai claimed a one-shot win over Jiyai Shin at 12 under after Shin missed a putt to force a playoff on the final hole. Hannah Green led after 54 holes, but similar to Scott, a 2-over 72 on Sunday saw her fall off the pace to finish two shots back in third at 10 over. Grace Kim was 2 under through 15 holes in the final round but a costly double-bogey on the par-5 18th brought her back to even on the day and fourth at 9 under for the tournament. Minjee Lee shot a 1-under 71 to finish fifth at 8 under.
Kipp Popert won the all-abilities division with ease thanks to the lone round under par on Sunday, a 3-under 69. Currently No. 1 on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability, Popert finished the three-round event at 2 under, seven shots clear of runner-up Kurtis Barkley.
“I was thinking too much in my 20s. Once I reached my 30s, I was like, ‘stop thinking and just play golf.'”
A sneeze nearly ended Jodi Ewart Shadoff’s career. It sounds rather silly now, but in January 2021, an under-the-weather Ewart Shadoff sneezed, and an hour later, she couldn’t walk. The American Lung Association reports that sneezes can travel up to 100 mph, and the force behind Ewart Shadoff’s sneeze resulted in a herniated disc.
The Englishwoman missed two months of tournaments that season, and as a veteran of back ailments, didn’t know if she could battle through another one.
“The game that I loved for 25 plus years, I was starting to resent because I was in so much pain,” said Ewart Shadoff. “I just didn’t know if I could keep going.”
It was her team, Ewart Shadoff said, that pushed her through one of the most trying seasons of her career and last Sunday, it all paid off. Ewart Shadoff, 34, won in her 246th start on the LPGA, one of three players over the age of 30 to break through for their first LPGA title this season, joining South Africans Paula Reto (32) and Ashleigh Buhai (33).
“I keep telling people I wake up in the morning and think ‘Oh, that was a weird dream,’” said Ewart Shadoff of her wire-to-wire victory at the LPGA Mediheal Championship.
“Then ‘Oh wow, it’s real. That actually happened.’ ”
Im beyond proud of @Jodi_Ewart winning on the @LPGA for the first time. From the countless hours of practicing, to the close calls. She’s missed weddings and funerals. Injuries so bad I’ve had to help her step into her clothes. 11 years later, you’re a champion, Jodi. I love you.
In all, six players over the age of 30 have won this season, putting the average age of winners on at 26.52. Eun-Hee Ji (36), Lizette Salas (32) and Marina Alex (31) round out the veteran group. On a tour full of prodigies, these women give inspiration to those taking the long route.
“I’ll play this game until I’m 50, I love it so much,” said Paula Reto, who won for the first time in her 157th start last August at the CP Women’s Open. The Purdue grad contended last week at the Mediheal as well, until two late bogeys dropped her into a share of third.
Reto said she overwhelmed herself in those early years on tour, trying to do too much at once. If she could go back, she’d tell herself to focus on the small things and get those right.
“I was thinking too much in my 20s,” she said. “Once I reached my 30s, I was like stop thinking and just play golf.”
Disappointed with her putting so far this season, which is normally a strength, Reto hired Abimbola Olakanye in Canada to help give her more confirmation on the greens. Becoming a better green reader, she said, is one of her offseason goals.
“I feel like I’m going to peak more,” Reto said.
Buhai didn’t finish with her press obligations at Muirfield until 10:30 p.m. in Scotland after her playoff victory at the AIG Women’s British Open. The R&A kept the players lounge open late for Buhai and her pals to celebrate.
“We ended up not catching our flight on the Monday back to the States,” she said with a laugh.
Buhai was a star in her home country before she could drive, winning the 2004 South African Open at age 14, a title she has claimed three times, and leading her country to the World Amateur Team Championship title on home soil in 2006, before turning professional the following year.
But despite that early success, it took 221 starts over the span of a dozen years for Buhai to win on the LPGA. That she triumphed at historic Muirfield, following in the footsteps of South Africa’s Gary Player and Ernie Els, made it all the more special.
“Obviously there was so much, I wouldn’t say pressure, but expectation from a young Ashleigh to come out the blocks and carry on winning,” she said, “ but it’s hard out here and it’s gotten harder every year.”
Player, who won at Muirfield in 1959, sent along four key notes to Buhai during the championship: You’re going to hit bad shots, just let them be; stay patient; think win; and keep your head still on your putts.
“It’s easy to just back down when you’re in that moment,” said Buhai, who clinched victory with a sensational bunker shot on the fourth playoff hole.
The major title brings with it a five-year exemption, and Buhai said it couldn’t have come at a better time in her life. She and husband David, who caddies on tour for Jeong-eun Lee6, want to start a family at some point, and the assurance that a major title brings opens up their options.
“Financially, it has taken so much pressure off of me,” said Buhai.
Playing the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach next year has been high on her list as well as another British Open at St. Andrews (2024) and another Olympics (2024).
The five-year exemption and $1,095,000 paycheck from the Open means that Buhai could stop for and unpaid maternity leave and not worry so much about finances and her status on tour upon return. And if she decided after she did come back that she didn’t want to carry on competing, she’d leave the game a major champion.
“Now, I have the flexibility,” she said, which is priceless.
Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa celebrates after her putt shot on the 18th hole in the third Play Off for winning the AIG Women’s Open with his husband during Day Four of the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield on August 07, 2022 in Gullane, Scotland. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
For the past several years, Ewart Shadoff has watched friends compete in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions near her home in Orlando and wished she could be there. Not long after she signed her scorecard last Sunday, Ewart Shadoff realized that she’d have a spot in the field next January at Lake Nona.
Her next goal: win a major.
“Now that I know that I can win under that kind of pressure, and that kind of nerves,” she said, “I feel much more comfortable moving forward.”
Ewart got her American driver’s license shortly before graduating from New Mexico in 2010 and struck out for Iowa for her first Epson Tour tournament the same day she got a car.
With a dead GPS and printed-out directions that took her the most direct route rather than the highways, Ewart Shadoff got her first speeding ticket in Kansas.
If she could turn back the clock, would she tell that 22-year-old with big dreams?
“I would say, stay very patient,” she said. “Don’t give up hope and just fight through all the adversity. You’ll get there eventually, and you’ll become stronger because of it.”
Maja Stark became the seventh first-time winner on the LPGA this season with her commanding five-stroke triumph at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland. The victory qualified Stark, a former standout at Oklahoma State, for immediate LPGA membership.
Stark has now won seven times worldwide since turning professional last summer.
Two of the seven first-time winners – Jennifer Kupcho and Ashleigh Buhai – won majors. Last week, Buhai became the 44th player to become a Rolex first-time winner at a major.
The record for most first-time winners in a season is 11, set in 1995. In 2018, there were 10: Jin Young Ko, Pernilla Lindberg, Moriya Jutanugarn, Annie Park, Nasa Hataoka, Thidapa Suwannapura, Georgia Hall, Marina Alex, Nelly Korda and Gaby Lopez.
Here’s a closer look at the seven first timers in 2022:
Ashleigh Buhai claimed the first-place prize of $1,095,000 at Muirfield.
It’s been a banner year for prize money in LPGA majors.
Jennifer Kupcho earned $750,000 for winning the first LPGA major of 2022, the Chevron Championship, the only major first-place prize that did not exceed $1 million this season.
Minjee Lee won the 77th U.S. Women’s Open to claim the biggest prize, banking $1.8 million for her dominating performance at Pine Needles Golf & Country Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Even runner-up Mina Harigae took home seven figures.
In Gee Chun, runner-up at the AIG Women’s British Open, pocketed $1,350,000 for winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
At the Amundi Evian Championship, Brooke Henderson made $1 million for winning her second career major. She won $525,000 when she won her first major six years ago.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai claimed the first-place prize of $1,095,000 after becoming the first woman to win a professional title at historic Muirfield. The 33-year-old has now earned $3,503,926 on the LPGA over the course of her 12-year career.
Take a look at the complete money list from the 2022 AIG Women’s British Open.
If an LPGA victory felt like a long time coming for Buhai, consider that women have waited centuries for this.
During a practice round at Muirfield, Ashleigh Buhai pulled up a YouTube video of Ernie Els’ magnificent bunker shot on the par-3 13th from his victory 20 years ago for inspiration. One day, a young South African will do the same to Buhai after she pulled off a sensational bunker save of her own on the fourth playoff hole to win the 2022 AIG Women’s British Open over three-time major winner In Gee Chun.
If an LPGA victory felt like a long time coming for Buhai – 221 starts over the span of a dozen years – consider that women have waited centuries for this opportunity.
In 2019, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers invited its first female members in the club’s 275-year history. That only came after the R&A took the iconic course off the men’s British Open rota after a 2016 membership vote to bring women in failed to reach the two-thirds required. A re-vote in 2017 pushed it through.
Buhai became the third South African to win a British Open at Muirfield, joining her heroes Els and Gary Player, who won in 1959. While this marked the first women’s professional event ever held at Muirfield, the men have staged 16 British Opens at the historic club, dating back to 1892.
Buhai joins a storied list of Muirfield champions that includes Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Walter Hagen, Harry Vardon and Phil Mickelson.
“For me to be a female South African and a major winner,” said Buhai. “I’ve got no words, it’s life-changing.”
Buhai took a commanding five-shot lead into the final round after carding 30 and 31 on the front nine in the second and third rounds, respectively.
After Buhai rifled a 3-wood into the green on the par-4 first hole Sunday and converted a 6-footer for par, she looked in control on a blustery day in East Lothian.
It all seemed to unravel in a flash, however, late on the back nine.
Standing on the 15th tee, Buhai held a three-shot lead when her worst drive of the week found a poor lie in a fairway bunker. A rushed second shot out sideways went long into the fescue and it was a tangled mess from there, with a late triple-bogey bringing a host of players back in the fray.
“You know, it was very easy to panic and probably come home in an ambulance,” said Buhai, who told herself internally to get back in it.
Buhai ultimately closed with a 75, while Chun shot 70 to leave the pair knotted at 10 under for the tournament, one better than 2019 AIG champion Hinako Shibuno. It marked the first playoff at the British Open in three decades.
Ashleigh Buhai plays her third shot from the bunker on the 18th hole in the playoff after the following round of the 2022 AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield in Scotland. (Photo: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
The pair traded sudden-death blows down the 18thfour times, with the Muirfield clubhouse providing a dramatic backdrop. The closing hole played the hardest on the course for three straight days, and after Chun found a fairway bunker the fourth time down, Buhai faced a daunting greenside bunker shot as daylight dwindled.
“Show them why you’re No. 1 in bunkers this year,” encouraged her caddie, Tanya Paterson.
Buhai hit a beauty, and after Chun knocked in a bogey putt, the stage was set for the 33-year-old former South African prodigy to etch her name into history.
“I think I did what I can do,” said Chun, who was vying to become the eighth player in LPGA history to win four different majors. She’ll have to wait until 2023 for her next attempt.
Leona Maguire, the first Irishwoman to win on the LPGA, carded the day’s lowest round, a bogey-free 66, to vault into a share of fourth.
Rose Zhang, the No. 1 amateur in the world,claimed the Smyth Salveras the only amateur to play the weekend at Muirfield. The Stanford star finished 1 over for the tournament in a share of 28th place.
Buhai, née Simon, began playing golf at age 6 and has been the face of women’s golf in South Africa since she was a teenager. The one-time prodigy won the 2004 South African Open at age 14 and led her country to the World Amateur Team Championship title on home soil in 2006, before turning professional the following year.
Buhai met her husband, David, at a golf academy in Johannesburg and the couple began dating long distance 15 years ago. After Buhai’s caddie suffered a broken leg, David took a leave from the shoe store and never went back, working for Ashleigh right up until they got married, when he picked up another bag.
Why the sudden change?
“Some people say it might be good to stay married,” Ashleigh once joked.
David, who now caddies for Jeongeun Lee6, was on the 18th sweating every shot during the playoff and raced onto the green when his wife sealed the championship with the up-and-down of her life.
“In this championship in 2019 at Woburn,” said Ashleigh, “he missed the cut and he was carrying a backpack around full of beers to keep himself calm.
“It’s always harder for those watching.”
Coming into this week, Buhai had only one top-five finish in 42 majors starts and that came three years ago at the AIG, when she was paired with eventual winner Shibuno in the final round. Four of the last five British Open champions, including Shibuno, have made this event their first LPGA title.
Buhai became the second South African woman to win a major, joining Sally Little (1980 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 1988 du Maurier Classic). Seven South African men have won majors.
Back in February, Buhai began working with sports psychologist Duncan McCarthy, and their time together has been game-changing for the LPGA veteran. Buhai said she’s been swinging good for some time but couldn’t keep herself in the moment.
That certainly wasn’t the case this week.
“I’m just so proud of how I’ve stuck it out,” said Buhai of the expectations she has carried for decades.
“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.
“It’s been a long journey, but man, it’s all worth it right now.”
Buhai called her round Saturday, “one of the best rounds of golf I’ve ever played.”
Twenty years ago, Ashleigh Buhai’s childhood hero, Ernie Els, won the British Open at Muirfield. That victory came not long after Buhai met Els for the first time at the 1998 South African Open. She bought the life-sized poster she kept in her bedroom there for him to sign.
South Africa legend Gary Player, who won the British Open at Muirfield in 1959, left her a message on Saturday morning.
Now Buhai, a 33-year-old who joined the LPGA in 2008, has the chance to follow in their footsteps at the historic club, where she has a five-stroke lead heading into the final round of the AIG Women’s British Open.
“Obviously I’m very pleased,” said Buhai, who shot 64 with a bogey on the last hole to finish at 14 under for the championship.
“To be able to I think shoot that score in those conditions, you have to be able to pat yourself on the back; so much so that I thought I was 6 under, not seven, so I was 8 under playing the last, which I think I have to look back is probably one of the best rounds of golf I’ve ever played.”
Buhai has 12 career top 10s on the LPGA, no victories and is currently ranked 84th in the world. She found herself in three divots on a windy Saturday in Gullane and never missed a beat. When she missed her first green on the back nine on the par-5 17th, Buhai chipped in for birdie.
Relentless.
Ashleigh Buhai chips in for an eighth birdie of the day 🤯
“I was feeling pretty calm,” she said. “I’ve done good work on my swing with my coach for so long now, and I feel my lines are where they need to be and I just need to keep my tempo. If I keep my tempo, then most of the time it tends to fall. The club tends to fall where it needs to fall.”
Still, Buhai knows that if she has posted such low scores in trying conditions, that means someone else can, too.
American Sherri Steinhauer came from four strokes back to win this championship in 1998, as did Se Ri Pak in 2001, the largest comebacks since records were kept.
The largest comeback in overall LPGA major championship history is seven strokes, and it’s happened on three occasions: Patty Sheehan, 1983 KPMG Women’s PGA; Karrie Webb, 2006 Chevron; and Minjee Lee, 2021 Amundi Evian.
Here are five players to keep an eye on for a Sunday charge:
“It’s pretty cool to be able to play well for the first two rounds here and try to follow in his footsteps.”
During a practice round at Muirfield, South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai found herself pulling up a YouTube video of Ernie Els’ magnificent bunker shot on the 13th hole. Els was Buhai’s hero growing up, and she wanted to relive his greatest shot en route to victory at the British Open 20 years ago.
The 2022 AIG Women’s British Open marks the first time that professional women have had the chance to compete at historic Muirfield, host of 16 men’s British Opens. Buhai now lives full-time in Florida and has had the chance to play several rounds with Els when not on the road, though she didn’t get the chance to ask him about Muirfield.
Buhai led by three strokes after two rounds at Woburn in 2019 and now finds herself tied with Madelene Sagstrom at 7 under, one back of leader In Gee Chun.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to play well for the first two rounds here,” said Buhai, “and try to follow in his footsteps.”
A three-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, the 33-year-old Buhai has yet to break through on the LPGA. It looked like she might set a new championship record for a links course after a front-nine 30 that included an eagle on the par-5 fifth. A disappointing par on the par-5 17th, however, followed by a bogey on the 18th, left her with a 6-under 65. Buhai said she would’ve gladly taken that score at the start of the day.
“Super chuffed with how I played today,” she said. “I stayed very patient.”
South Korea’s Chun In-gee plays a shot during her second round 66 on the second day of the 2022 Women’s British Open Golf Championship at Muirfield golf course in Gullane, Scotland, on August 5, 2022. (Photo by NEIL HANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
South Korea’s Chun recently won the KPMG Women’s PGA for her third different major title. Should she claim the AIG Women’s British, she’d have four of the five major titles, only missing the Chevron Championship (thus it would be a career grand slam in the eyes of the LPGA).
Chun shot 66 on Friday and said that a bet she had with caddie Dean Herden helped her to stay focused.
“If I make the bogey-free round,” she said, “he said he’s going to buy dinner and pay me like $100 for each day if I can make it.”
Chun has recorded one bogey each day so far but enjoys the challenge of making Herden pay.
Sagstrom, who finished runner-up last year at Carnoustie, said she has only recently begun to enjoy links golf.
“It was hate at first sight,” she said. “Mega hate at first sight. I remember particularly well we played a British Am in Wales and the weather was horrendous and I couldn’t keep the ball low to save my life. I figured it out from there. This is my sixth season as a pro, so it’s taken me a little bit of time.”
Sagstrom recorded eight birdies in her second-round 65, including a couple on the last two holes.
Speaking of coming in hot, Australia’s Hannah Green birdied four of the last five holes to rocket up the board with a 66. She’s three back with Japan’s Miyu Yamashita.
Inbee Park of Korea Republic plays her tee shot on the 12th hole during Day Two of the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield on August 05, 2022, in Gullane, Scotland. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
Seven-time major winner Inbee Park is alone in fourth at 6 under. Park last won a major at the 2015 AIG Women’s British Open at Turnberry.
“Believe it or not, I’ve been striking the ball so well … just all year this year,” said Park, “but my putter has been just not good at all. A lot of three-putts and just missing every single opportunity on the green.”
But that changed this week, which should sound the alarm for everyone within shouting distance of the lead at Muirfield.
World No. 2 Minjee Lee, winner of two of the last six majors, is four back and has a chance to move to No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings for the first time with a victory at Muirfield after Jin Young Ko missed the cut.
Lee also could rise to No. 1 with a solo-second finish, should No. 3 Nelly Korda finish solo-third or worse.
No Aussie has been No. 1 since the rankings debuted in February 2006. South Korea’s Ko has been ranked No. 1 for 27 consecutive weeks dating to January 31, 2022. She’s been No. 1 for a total of 133 weeks in her career.
LPGA golfer Ashleigh Buhai took on her childhood idol Ernie Els ahead of the 2021 season and made some money off their round.
OCALA, Florida – Ashley Buhai had a life-sized poster of Ernie Els in her bedroom growing up. She first met her idol at the 1998 South Africa Open, which played about five minutes from her home. Buhai took the poster to the tournament to have it signed by the four-time major winner.
They’ve met several times since then but only recently started playing casual golf in south Florida now that Buhai has a home in Palm Beach Gardens. She might have taken a little money off of the Hall of Famer too.
Buhai, a three-time Ladies South African Open winner, played her first round in four weeks with Els and Branden Grace, who won last week’s Puerto Rico Open on the PGA Tour. She made nine birdies out at Turtle Creek to take $50 off them.
“They were pretty impressed with that,” said Buhai, who currently sits in a tie for seventh at the LPGA Drive On Championship after rounds of 70-70.
With such a short offseason, Buhai, 31, didn’t go back home to South Africa due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hard enough getting back to the tour last summer when it restarted, taking 38 hours from their home to Chicago.
“I mean, obviously miss not being able to go back to South Africa,” said Buhai of having an American base, “but I think it’s going to be really good for me. It’s going to give me a sense of somewhere to go on my off weeks and not living out a suitcase all the time.
“I used to play so much because I didn’t have anywhere to go kind of thing. I’m going to be able to plan my schedule a little bit better and rest up more.”
Ashleigh’s husband, David, currently caddies for 2019 U.S. Women’s Open winner Jeongeun Lee6. The couple first met at a golf academy in Johannesburg and were dating long distance when David flew out to sub in after Ashleigh’s caddied suffered a broken leg.
David, who was a general manager of a shoe store at the time, never went back, looping for Ashleigh until they got married.
Ashleigh, who is still looking for her first LPGA title, said playing with Els was as much of a rush for David as it was for her.
“It was funny, when I tee’d it up with (Els) and even Brandon I felt at ease,” she said. “which was cool. I wasn’t nervous. My husband Dave got to play. I think he was more excited than me and he held his own too, so it was cool.”
