In a U.S. Women’s Amateur final against a familiar opponent that was defined by huge momentum shifts, Rianne Malixi needed one more to go her way.
At Southern Hills‘ par-5 13th, the 31st of the final, Malixi chose to go for the green from 213 yards and pulled it off. With water short and bunkers left, right and long, Malixi’s towering fairway wood found the dead center of the green, the ball falling from the sky like a sack of flour, barely rolling a foot.
Malixi cozied her eagle putt just short of the hole and was eventually conceded her birdie when Asterisk Talley failed to get up and down from 57 yards to match. That restored a 1 Up lead for Malixi, one she wouldn’t relinquish as she birdied the next three holes and won the match 3 and 2 to claim the U.S. Women’s Amateur title.
“I think on the 12th hole we tied, and then I was like, just treat the next six, seven holes as your last four holes like I did with training with my dad,” Malixi said. “And then just flipped the switch there and just kept on making birdies, and I was hitting really good shots and then putts happened to drop.”
It was a rematch of the final of the U.S. Girls Junior Amateur final just three weeks ago when Malixi dominated Talley from start to finish to win her first USGA title 8-and-7 in the 36-hole final. It’s the first time the same players have met in both finals and they’re just the 7th and 8th individuals to play in both finals in the same year.
“Just 22 days. I mean, it feels so surreal right now. Just everything just came in so quickly, and it’s just an honor,” Maxlixi said. “Honestly, I love Asterisk. I would love to be friends with her. That’s why I just kind of like kept on talking to her. Even those small talks. I know she is a bit uncomfortable right now so I’ll just give her some space. Yeah, developing a relationship with her has been so awesome. She’s just a great player and a great person as well.”
When she got to Southern Hills this week, Talley wanted another shot at Malixi. In fact, every time Talley saw Malixi, she told the 17-year-old from the Philippines as much.
“We have been talking like all week,” the 15-year-old American said Saturday night. “On the putting green it’s like, play well today. Like, I hope to see you again.”
Talley put up a far better fight in the rematch, but it wasn’t enough Sunday.
The 36-hole final was split with 18 holes Saturday afternoon before the completion Sunday after the USGA proactively played both the Round of 32 and Round of 16 on Thursday in anticipation of storms on Sunday morning.
Tying just five holes, the pair of high schoolers ended the first 18 on Saturday with Talley 1 Up after several big momentum swings. Both players won three holes in a row at different points.
That continued Sunday when Talley opened with a par to win the 19th and go 2 Up before Malixi went on another run, winning four holes in a row from 20-23 to swing momentum and the match back to her.
They advanced to U.S. Women’s Amateur final — then had folks going to history book
Malixi had opened up a 3-up lead when the pair came to the 9th. Talley stuffed her approach leading to a concession as Malixi powered her birdie putt well by. The 15-year-old phenom made another birdie on 10 and then evened the match again when Malixi left her bunker shot in the sand on the par-3 11th, the 29th of the final.
Malixi regained control with her birdie at the par-5 two holes later, then made another with a long-range putt on the 32nd hole. The killer came at the 33rd when Malixi took dead aim with her approach and canned a 15-footer up the hill to go 3 Up with three to play.
She clinched on the 34th by getting up and down for a birdie from the right greenside bunker, her bunker shot ricocheting off the flagstick. It was just the 9th tied hole in the entire match.
Malixi becomes just the fourth female player ever to win two different USGA Championships in the same year. Talley was attempting to do the same after winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in May with partner Sarah Lim.
Malixi is also just the second player to win both the U.S. Girl’s Junior and the Women’s Am in the same season, joining Eun Jeong Seong in 2016. Only eight players have won both titles at all, with Rose Zhang the last to do so in 2020.
“I know I was kind of like self-deprecating last year and then my dad just kind of like pep talked me. He tried to let me stay in the positive side of things,” Malixi said of her rapid rise this year. “Everything is just all about perspective and I kind of realized that at the beginning of the year. Yeah, everything just went skyrocket.”
