It was at the fourth extra hole of the playoff in last year’s AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield that Tanya Paterson, Ashleigh Buhai’s Australian caddie, found herself at a loss to know what to say to her boss.
Buhai had followed the perfect tee shot with a second which finished in the 18th hole’s island bunker. It was a mistake which would have given hope to her opponent In Gee Chun who, after driving into a fairway bunker, had taken three to reach the green’s apron.
The light was fading fast – it was getting on for 10 p.m. – and Paterson watched as her boss walked on to the putting surface to study her next shot. She knew she needed to say something to keep Buhai’s worries at bay, but it was only in the nick of time that she burst forth with the line: “Show them why you’re No. 1 in bunker stats.”
Buhai obliged.
She emerged to within a foot of the hole and duly went on to win what was her first major in 15 years as a professional.
In speaking with NBC immediately after she had handed in her card, Buhai explained that she did not want to sound as if she were bragging, but when Paterson reminded her of that sand-save ranking, it had given her the extra helping of confidence she needed.
Intriguingly, Paterson has shared rather more than the winning of the AIG Women’s British Open with Buhai. Both of their names are engraved on the South African Women’s Amateur trophy. Tanya Holl, as she was known then, won in 1996 when Buhai was 9, and Buhai (née Simon) won three times from 2004 to 2007.
Another way of placing the talented Paterson in the women’s golfing hierarchy is to explain how, when Karrie Webb moved into the professional game, she took over as the No. 1 in the Australian amateur scene.
Everyone would have expected her to follow Webb on to the LPGA Tour. Instead, her “itch to play,” arguably the most telling ingredient in the armoury of any aspiring golfer, had disappeared.
Mardi Lunn, sister of Karen Lunn, the 1993 Women’s British Open champion who is now the CEO of the Australasian WPGA, asked Paterson if she would like to caddie for her while waiting for the “itch” to return. Paterson was grateful for the offer and set about learning the art of caddying from Mike Paterson, her husband-to-be. So good of a caddie was he that he survived 15 years of looping for Webb, an amazing player who craved perfection in every area.
Tanya learned fast.
Knowing when, and when not, to speak to a golfer played an important part in her education and, in Laura Davies and then Buhai, she had two great players under her wing who could not have been more different.
“If Ashleigh has a couple of bad holes,” she said, “it’s OK for me to say, ‘Come on, mate!’ Laura, on the other hand, was a tough one. Great friends though we were and still are, you certainly knew when not to say anything. She was in her own world until she started a conversation. And when she did start talking, it would usually be about something or someone in the crowd rather than anything to do with golf.”
“One time I was caddying for Laura at the Evian Championship when I got news from home (in Australia) that my dog had gone missing a couple of days earlier. A little later on, Laura said to me, ‘Just think about it for now, but when you’re ready, I’d like to buy you a new dog for Christmas.’ "
Tanya PAterson
As anyone would recognise, Buhai and Davies also are poles apart as players, with Buhai seldom taking risks and Davies revelling in taking every challenge in sight. “When I was working for her,” Paterson said, “she only had to spot a tiny gap through the trees and she’d tell you that she was going for it. I might have asked ‘Why?’ on the odd occasion, but once Laura has the impossible in mind, that’s it.
“Nothing’s better than when Laura’s in full cry. To be honest, I feel privileged to have been a part of some of her best rounds.” She cited the 68 that Davies returned in the 2019 Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club on a morning when she was hitting her irons quail-high through a veritable tempest. (Davies views that round as second only to the 66 which paved the way for her two-shot victory over Nancy Lopez and Webb in the 1996 du Maurier Classic.)
On to where Paterson sees Buhai and Davies as being much the same as each other. “They both care about so much more than themselves,” she said.
“One time I was caddying for Laura at the Evian Championship when I got news from home (in Australia) that my dog had gone missing a couple of days earlier. A little later on, Laura said to me, ‘Just think about it for now, but when you’re ready, I’d like to buy you a new dog for Christmas.’ True to her word, she gave me a dog – a toy poodle called Winston who’s my pride and joy, and my mother’s, too.”
The dog story has a sequel. On the Sunday before this year’s South African Open, Paterson’s parents rang to tell their daughter that Winston was ill, and that the vet had said he probably would pass away the following morning.
Paterson relayed the news to Buhai and asked if her husband, David, could do the caddying while she flew back to Perth to be with her dying dog.
Buhai insisted that Paterson leave at once, and the upshot was that Buhai won with her husband on the bag, and Paterson’s dog lived – and still lives – to tell the tale.
E-MAIL LEWINE
Top: Caddie Tanya Paterson (left) says Laura Davies "was in her own world" on the golf course.
Christian Petersen, Getty Images