Ashleigh Buhai closed with a one-under-par 71 on Sunday in the closing round of the LPGA Tour’s CME Globe Tour Championship in Florida to move to one-under for the week and a share of 33rd.
Her four birdies and three bogeys saw her finish the PGA Tour season in 26th place on the rankings, and she was 16 shots behind the winner, Lydia Ko of New Zealand. Ko, who won the Rolex Player of the Year award as well as the Vare Trophy for best stroke average, was two shots clear of Ireland’s Leona Maguire who was on 15-under. Ko’s season-long scoring average of 68.988 is the second-lowest Vare Trophy-winning scoring average in tour history, behind Annika Sorenstam’s 68.70 in 2002.
After a solid start, Paula Reto, the other South African to make the season-ending tournament on the LPGA Tour, battled over the weekend with a five-over 77 in the third round and a two-over 74 in the final round. At six-over, she was in a share of 54th. She finished 30th in the Race to CME Globe.
In the DP World Tour Championship, Oliver Bekker rounded things out well with a closing four-under-par 68 taking him to a share of 34th on level-par for the tournament. Jon Rahm took the tournament title on 20-under from Tyrell Hatton and Alex Noren, while world number one Rory McIlroy cemented his status atop the men’s game worldwide by adding the ranking title on the tour to his PGA Tour triumph earlier in the year.
Bekker dropped three places in the rankings, but finished a creditable 36th. Thriston Lawrence, who won twice on the tour this season, rounded out a solid enough weekend with a closing two-under 70 taking him one-over for the week and 41st. He dropped three places on the rankings too, to 14th.
On the PGA Tour, Dean Burmester wrapped things up in the RSM Classic in Georgia with a second-successive one-over 71 in the final round. That saw him slip to six-under for the tournament and a share of 54th. MJ Daffue also made the cut, and he closed with a five-over 75 to finish 69th on one-over.
In Japan, Jbe’ Kruger closed with a two-under 69 in the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament to finish level-par for the week in a share of 52nd. Ahead of him, Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent got himself into the think of things with his closing six-under 65 vaulting him to seventh on 14-under.
