Ashleigh Buhai rounded out a great week on Saturday with a two-under-par 70 to finish fourth in the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship in Oahu, Hawaii, getting her season back onto an even keel after a less than stellar start.
Two early birdies on one and three got her going, and, although she dropped a shot on the fourth, she held things together and birdied the 16th to finish the tournament on six-under. That five shots behind the winner Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea who had a 71 to finish two shots ahead of Japan’s Hinako Shibuno. Fellow-Korean Hye-Jin Choi was third on seven-under, one ahead of Buhai.
“I’m thrilled right now,” said Buhai who missed the cut in the only other tournament she had played, the Chevron Championship. “It hasn’t been the best start to the year, and I wasn’t planning on playing Hawaii originally and then I had some visa issues and I missed San Diego, so I had to add it. They say things happen for a reason, so we’re here.
“I was just very solid. I kind of regrouped after Chevron, went back to Florida for seven days, did some good practice, and then kind of found something this week. It worked, and that’s all I thought about the whole week. Didn’t try to get ahead of myself. Conditions were tough, and it was important to just be so patient, and I felt I did that very well.”
Behind her, Paula Reto managed to put her disastrous third round behind her as she closed with a fine six-under 66 to list herself from the bottom of the field at 77th to a share of 64th.
