[PHOTO: Kathryn Riley]
This moment was similar in a lot of ways. At the same time, it was noticeably different. Rianne Malixi and Asterisk Talley were facing each other in the US Women’s Amateur final at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as they had just contended in the US Girls Junior final less than a month prior. In that tournament, Malixi won the final handily, 8&7. This tournament was similar, undoubtedly, another USGA championship final, but this was the US Women’s Amateur. It was bigger.
Instead of playing 36 holes on Sunday, as is custom for the final match at the US Women’s Amateur, the pair of teenagers went off for their first 18 on Saturday morning, trying to beat the storm. When they were through, Talley held a 1-up lead that she had to sit on until 2:50pm on Sunday, then Malixi went out and defeated Talley again, 3&2.
The final 18 saw the advantage shift back and forth between the two. There was Malixi’s four-hole winning streak on the front nine, and Talley’s shot on the par-3 ninth that was so close it was conceded for birdie. But the defining moment was Malixi making three birdies in a row on the back nine. When the putt from outside 20 feet went in for birdie on the 14th hole, Maxili was suddenly 3 up with three to play.
This stretch was something she’s practised. In training with her dad, Malixi said she learned to treat the last six holes as if they were the last four.
“Just flipped the switch there and just kept on making birdies,” Malixi said. “I was hitting really good shots and then putts happened to drop.”
From there, she was able to close it out, winning the championship.
“It feels so surreal right now. Just everything just came in so quickly, and it’s just an honour,” Malixi said.
She is the fourth woman to win two USGA titles in the same year. The 17-year-old from the Philippines, who has committed to Duke University for the 2025 academic year, is the second player to win the US Girls Junior and the US Women’s Amateur in the same year, following Eun-Jeong Seong in 2016.
When Talley spoke after her round, we were reminded of a reality: this is the first of many opportunities for her.
“Just to be my first Women’s Am and being able to make it this far was really cool,” Talley said. “I’m still young.”
Talley is so talented that it requires a pause to remember that she is only 15. But with youth, there is the benefit of time. This was her first US Women’s Amateur, but it is hard to imagine there won’t be similar opportunities on the horizon for the gifted Californian.
