Prashanth Primed for Quarter-Final Clash with Clemente

Tarzana, California, United States: Avani Prashanth held her nerves in check to book her place in the quarter-finals of the 75th US Girls’ Junior Championship.

Following tense victories against American Amelie Zalsman and Japan’s Isaki Sakashita, the Indian will face her sternest test to date when she squares off against high-flying American Gianna Clemente on Friday morning.

Leading individual at last year’s Queen Sirikit Cup, Prashanth, who is 55th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), is turning heads in what is her first USGA championship.

On Wednesday, the 17-year-old saw off American Isabel Brozena at the 19th hole in the Round of 64. In another tense contest on Thursday morning, Prashanth edged past 2024 US Women’s Open qualifier Zalsman, one-up.

She then got the better of incoming Stetson University freshman Sakashita 3&2 to set up the mouth-watering clash with Clemente, the 2023 US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion who is 22nd in the WAGR.

Runner-up to Rianne Malixi of the Philippines in this year’s Women’s Australian Master of the Amateurs and fourth individually in the 2023 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in the United Arab Emirates, Prashanth will call on her caddie to keep her calm as she aims to make further progress at El Caballero Country Club.

A member of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation team that took on the European Golf Association at last year’s Solheim Cup-style Patsy Hankins Trophy in Spain, Prashanth said: “I try and take a couple deep breaths and distract myself in the best way possible, which is either to stare at my yardage book while I think of something else. Or I’ll just talk to my caddie, Nico, who has been really helpful distracting me from these things all week.”

Prashanth is joined in the last eight by Malixi, who is gunning to go one better than last year when she reached the final, only to lose out to current University of Oregon All-American Kiara Romero.

Malixi survived a scare in the Round of 32 on Thursday, needing 19 holes to eliminate University of Virginia signee and US National Development Programme grant recipient Kennedy Swedick.

But a birdie on the par-five 19th hole – El Caballero’s first – sent her into the final 16, where she easily dispatched Canadian Elaine Liu Yanling, 6&5.

In between matches, Malixi managed to fix a small issue with her short irons, which led to a four-under performance.

Malixi arrived in Southern California as the second-highest ranked player in the field at 19th in the WAGR. The Duke University commit for 2025 captured the 2024 Australian Women’s Master of the Amateurs and was the runner-up to Asterisk Talley in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. She also was fifth in the Women’s Asia-Pacific Amateur.

“One key factor for sure is my irons,” said Malixi, referencing her performance on Thursday. “They were a lot better. But I made a lot of clutch putts in both of my matches today. I’ll credit that to my putter.”

Malixi is now focused on her quarter-final opponent, American Madison Messimer. “It's amazing. I know it's not going to be easy, but I’m just honored to reach the quarter-finals [again] and hope for the best.”

Among those to be eliminated in the Round of 16 were China’s Kinsley Ni Nixin. The medallist and top seed was soundly beaten by Clemente 7&6.

Bowing out in the Round of 32 were Yuka Nishina, beaten by fellow-Japanese Sakashita 5&4, Korean Chanel Dangela, ousted 6&5 by WAGR number seven Jasmine Koo, and the Hong Kong China duo of Sophie Han (one-down to American Shyla Brown) and Arianna Lau (lost 4&3 to Canada’s Elaine Liu).

There was disappointment, too, for Thailand’s Thanana Kotchasanamee who put up a brave fight against Talley, eventually losing out on the 21st hole to the 15-year-old who this year has won the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and shared low-amateur honours in the US Women’s Open.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be contested on Friday with the 36-hole championship match on Saturday.