Familiar Foes Face-Off in US Women's Amateur Final

Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States: The championship match of the 2024 US Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club will feature familiar faces. Three weeks ago to the day, 17-year-old Rianne Malixi of the Philippines defeated American Asterisk Talley in the final match of the 2024 US Girls’ Junior at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, California.

The pair will square off once again in the 36-hole championship match here in Tulsa after each won their semi-final matches on Saturday morning. It's the first time two finalists will face off against each other in multiple USGA championship matches.

Malixi, a 2025 Duke University commit, defeated Talley in the 36-hole junior finale, 8&7, and is looking to become the second ever to win both events in the same summer. Korean Seong Eun-jeong was the first to accomplish the feat in 2016.

Talley, a 15-year-old rising sophomore in high school, has been the hottest player in amateur golf this summer with wins at the Sage Valley Junior Invitational (ahead of the runner-up Malixi) and 2024 US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball alongside partner Sarah Lim.

She also shared low-amateur honours at the 2024 US Women’s Open Presented by Ally and finished eighth at the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur. This summer alone she holds a 15-1 match play record in USGA championships.

In the first match of the morning, medallist Maria Jose Marin of Colombia took the lead with a par on the second hole, but Talley got in the mix with a pair of clutch putts from outside 10 feet on three for par to avoid a lost hole and again on four for birdie to square the match.

Two holes later Talley took her first lead of the match with another birdie on the par-three sixth after Marin found the greenside bunker off the tee, but the Colombian immediately bounced back and took advantage of Talley errors on seven and eight to win with par and reclaim her lead.

On the par-four ninth, Marin lipped out for birdie from outside 40 feet and then watched Talley sink another clutch birdie putt to tie the match at the turn. The two played ping-pong with the lead before Marin took the 10th with par and Talley followed suit with consecutive wins on 11 and 12 with par.

The match took a permanent turn on the par-five 13th, when Marin dropped to her knees after her approach from the fairway. After receiving medical attention, Marin fought through the pain and matched Talley with a bogey to stay one-down.

She received more medical attention before teeing off on the par-three 14th and hit a great tee shot to find the green while Talley missed off the right edge. The pair matched pars and went to the 15th, where Marin ultimately conceded the match after her approach from the right rough.

“It extended more than it should and hurt really bad,” said Marin. “Like something wasn’t broken but like something was wrong there. I just went to the ground and couldn’t move. It’s of course painful because I wanted to be in the finals so badly.

“And after getting to this point, I knew I was capable of doing something better. But I looked at my dad [and caddie] and just said: ‘I can’t. I can’t do this anymore’. And he was like: ‘Okay, just take care of yourself’.”

The second match began as a feature episode of the Kendall Todd show as she won the first hole with par and never relinquished her lead on the front nine thanks to an impressive driving display off the tee. Todd briefly went two-up with a birdie on four and par on eight but Malixi was able to get the match to within one with a pair of pars on six and nine.

Malixi, competing in her fourth US Women’s Amateur, had an answer for every question posed by Todd on the back nine. She squared the match with a par on 10, made bogey on the par-three 11th to drop the hole, and then got even once again with birdie on 13.

When Todd took a one-up lead with two to play, Malixi put two circles on the scorecard and stole a one-up win with birdies on 17 and 18, her only lead of the match.

While the outcome wasn’t in Todd’s favour, the rising senior at the University of Arkansas will take plenty of memories and lessons with her back to Fayetteville for her final college season.

“Just how much I can accomplish if I put my mind to it, how far I can really go if I want to,” Todd said of what she learned. “(My) game has been really good so confidence is high going into the season. Really looking forward to it.”