Inbee Park wasn’t shy in delivering praise for AIG Women’s Open leader Ashleigh Buhai, who grabbed control of this historic championship Saturday while playing alongside Park and leads the field by five shots entering Sunday’s final round at Muirfield.
“She was flawless,” said Park, who knows what it takes to win a major on links; she did so at Turnberry in 2015.
That year, Park shot 7 under on the final day to best runner-up Jin Young Ko by three shots. It was a round in which Park likened to the one Buhai posted on Saturday.
Buhai, the 33-year-old South African who owned just one top-10 (a solo fifth at the 2019 Women’s Open) to go along with 20 missed cuts in 42 previous major starts, fired a 7-under 64 that was capped by a bogey at the par-4 18th hole.