The only women who finished ahead of Casandra Alexander on Sunday after the final round of the AIG Women’s Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews were either current or former world number one players.

The 25-year-old South African, who Monday qualified to get into the final major championship of the year, held things together superbly in tough conditions – as they had been all week – to card a closing level-par 72 under pressure which saw more experienced players buckle.

She finished the week on two-under-par for the championship, five strokes behind winner Lydia Ko, who closed out her third major championship with a three-under-par 69 to win by two. Ruoning Yin of China, America’s Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu, and Korean Jiyai Shin shared second on five-under, with another former world number one, Ariya Jutanagarn of Thailand in sixth on three-under. Alexander shared seventh with the Japanese duo Akie Iwai and Mao Saigo.

Alexander had an early bogey on her card on the second, but after that she was steady until she made birdies on eight and nine ahead of the turn to head back home. She bogeyed the 10^th and the Road Hole, the 17^th, into the teeth of the wind, but she made a fine birdie on the 18^th to bring things back to level-par for the day.

It was a performance which saw her leap 93 places on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings to a career-high of 116^th, and it showed that her career is well set on a path to the company of the world’s top players.

Ashleigh Buhai had a one-under-par 71 in the final round, and the 2022 champion finished in a share of 22^nd on two-over-par.

Paula Reto finished with a flourish with a three-under 69 lifting her to a share of 29^th on three-over-par, while Lee-Anne Pace battled to a two-over 74 to finish on six-over in a share of 55^th.