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Hi it’s Ash, I’m on the golf course making cash!

by | Aug 8, 2022

During Ashleigh Simon’s stellar amateur career (it’s hard to believe but she won the first of her three South African Opens at the age of just 14) she used to leave a message on her cellphone when she couldn’t take your call: “Hi, it’s Ash, I’m on the golf course making cash!”

Of course not being a professional at the time she couldn’t earn a cent (maybe a glass of lemonade from her beaten opponent but definitely no money). It was just a little joke.

But when she turned professional just a day after her 18th birthday she figured she was going to make some serious money in the paid ranks. No more joking. She was determined to live up to her little saying.

And in just her third start as a professional she proved that her making cash was not just a fanciful idea because she won the 2007 Catalonia Masters, becoming the youngest ever professional winner on the Ladies European Tour.

Now, if anyone had dialled her number on her way to victory in the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield this past week, and she couldn’t take the call (she had more serious business to attend to, like shooting a fabulous 65 in round two and an ever better course record 64 in round three) they may well have received that same voice-mail: “Hi it’s Ash. I’m on the golf course making cash!”

Serious cash, that is Like $1,095,000. Because that was the winner’s share of the pot in the Women’s Open now that prize money for the coveted Major Championship has been upped. And all those dollars translate to approximately a rather tasty R17 million.

The 33-year-old, who plays out of Royal Johannesburg & Kensington, has earned just over $ 3,5 million on the LPGA Tour, after first earning playing status for that tour in 2014 at Q-School. She has now won 16 times as a professional, but her Muirfield magic earns her a first victory at Major level and she follows in the spike marks of fellow South Africans Gary Player (1959) and Ernie Els (2002) who both won the men’s Open at Muirfield.

‘Ash’ now plays under the name of Ashleigh Buhai after marrying her husband David in 2016. He used to caddie for her and loopers usually get 10 percent of the winnings. Maybe, because he’s her better half, David may still get that 10 percent of Ash’s cash!

Written by Randpark Club member Grant Winter.

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