Last updated: August 2026
| Full Name | Ashleigh Ann Buhai (nee Simon) |
| Born | May 11, 1989, in Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Profession | Professional Golfer |
| Team/Club | LPGA Tour |
Ashleigh Buhai is a South African professional golfer best known for winning the 2022 AIG Women’s Open, her first major championship. Her total LPGA Tour earnings exceed $5.4 million as of 2025, making her one of the few golfers on this site with a genuinely documented income figure, even though a full personal net worth has not been independently confirmed.
Early Life & Family
Ashleigh Ann Buhai, born Ashleigh Simon, was born on May 11, 1989, in Johannesburg, South Africa. As an amateur she became the youngest player to win the South African Amateur Stroke Play and Match Play double, and represented South Africa three times in the Women’s World Cup of Golf before turning professional.
Rise to Fame
Buhai turned professional in 2007, the day after her 18th birthday, and won the Catalonia Ladies Masters in only her third professional event — an early sign of the talent that would eventually carry her to the LPGA Tour, which she earned a card for in 2014.
Career History
Buhai has recorded 22 professional wins across multiple tours. Her defining moment came at the 2022 AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield, Scotland, on August 7, 2022. After building a five-shot lead through rounds of 65 and 64, she survived a triple-bogey on the 15th hole in the final round before beating South Korea’s In Gee Chun in a four-hole playoff, having finished level at 10-under-par. The win made her only the second-ever South African winner of the AIG Women’s Open, after Alison Sheard in 1979, and the first woman to win a professional tournament at Muirfield. She went on to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open in both 2022 and 2023.
How They Built Their Wealth
Buhai’s wealth has been built through prize money on the LPGA and Ladies European Tours, including a share of the $7.3 million purse at the 2022 AIG Women’s Open. Her total LPGA earnings exceed $5.4 million as of 2025, alongside further income from her other 22 professional victories.
Personal Life
Buhai married David Buhai in December 2016, after which she began competing under the Buhai surname rather than her maiden name, Simon.
Ashleigh Buhai’s finances rest on one of the more clearly documented earnings records on this list — more than $5.4 million in LPGA prize money — built over nearly two decades as a professional golfer, capped by her breakthrough major win in 2022.