Asterisk Talley (USGA Photo)
The 36-hole championship match of the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club was scheduled to take place in its entirety on Sunday, but Mother Nature had other ideas.
With Sunday storms in the forecast for the Tulsa, Okla., area, the first 18 holes of the championship match were contested in the afternoon on Saturday after the two semifinal matches were moved up to the morning.
No strangers to USGA finals, rising stars in junior golf Rianne Malixi, 17, and Asterisk Talley, 15, advanced from the semis to set up a rematch of the 36-hole 2024 U.S. Girls’ Junior championship match, which Malixi won, 8 and 7, 21 days ago. This week marked the first time two finalists have faced off against each other in the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur championship matches.
“We have been talking like all week. On the putting green it's like, ‘Play well today. Like, I hope to see you again,’” Talley said of her rematch with Malixi. “But, I mean, earlier this morning on the putting green she was like, play well today and I was like, ‘Yeah, I hope to see you again in the final.’ She was like, ‘Me too.’”
“It's amazing. I love Asterisk,” added Malixi. “She is such a good player and good person as well. It's fun being matched up with her again.”
The match got off to a hot start as Talley went right at the hole with her approach from the rough to set up an easy birdie on No. 1 for a 1-up lead. Two holes later, Malixi got in the mix with three straight wins on Nos. 3-5 thanks to a pair of pars sandwiched around a birdie on the short par-4 4th hole.
“The first four holes I feel like really aren't tie holes. I feel like they're really like you could double it or you could birdie it,” Talley said of the opening stretch at Southern Hills. “It doesn't -- it's just like someone usually always wins those holes.”
Then it was Talley’s turn to hit a trifecta and flip the match in her favor with birdies on Nos. 6 and 8 around a par on No. 7.
Both players missed the green on No. 9 and two putted for par from off the back edge, but Talley extended her advantage on No. 10 after Malixi three-putted. Shortsided with the green running away from her and another bunker on the opposite side of her line, Talley hit a pro-level shot from the bunker on the par-3 11th to avoid a dropped shot and keep her 2-up advantage.
Talley’s lead got as large as 3 through 12 holes when a Malixi shank from the bunker led to an early concession of the hole, but Malixi immediately clutched up and ripped a 5 wood from the fairway onto the green at the par-5 13th to leave a 12-footer for eagle. Talley laid up in the fairway and stuffed her approach to leave less than 5 feet for birdie, but Malixi claimed the hole and walked in her eagle putt with confidence to cut the deficit to 2 up.
“On that hole I tried to maintain my cool,” Malixi said of her eagle. “I tried to calm myself down after a bad hole. So I hit -- I hit a really poor driver shot, but had 215 yards left and then used 5-wood. Stuck it to ten, twelve feet and had a left-to-righter and drained the putt.”
“It's just nice to cut down some of Asterisk's lead,” she added. “Yeah, it was such a confidence booster because I didn't really see some of my putts drop in today.”
Malixi won two holes later with par to bring the match within one with three holes left to play on the day, then hit a gem of a bunker shot on the par-5 16th to tie the match with a late birdie. Another lead change came at the 17th, where Talley two-putted for par and Malixi missed the green with her approach and couldn’t scramble to save par.
Talley’s tee shot took a big kick from the fairway and almost ran onto a cart path near a bridge over a creek that dissects the fairway. From the go-zone in the fairway, Malixi found the back edge of the green while Talley went short and left of the putting surface. Talley did well to pitch up and onto the green just outside 10 feet, but Malixi’s putt had a little too much juice and ran past the hole and down a massive false front, leaving a 30-plus yard pitch back onto the green.
“I practiced (that shot) in the practice round. I hit a couple putts there. And then when I stood over the ball I just completely hammered it,” Malixi said of her putt on the 18th. “I was like, ‘Oh, that's off the green.’ I was like, ‘I'm going to grab my wedge and get up and down then we're good to go.’”
She did just that and stuffed her recovery shot inside 5 feet for a bogey. That left Talley with two putts to tie the hole, and she lagged her putt inside a foot to preserve her 1-up lead at the break.
“I'm feeling a lot better than last time I played Rianne,” she said with a chuckle of her U.S. Girls’ Junior loss. “I feel like it's just that this course is a lot harder than (El Caballero) and what we had to play before. I mean, she shot like 10-under in the first 15 holes. You can't really do that out here, especially with us both missing a ton of fairways today.”
“I feel like that's going to be what I have to work on for tomorrow. I need to hit more fairways,” she added. “That's going to help me get close to the hole, hit more greens. I feel like that's what will be what wins tomorrow, is whoever can keep their ball in play the most.”
Malixi, a 2025 Duke University commit, is looking to become the second ever to win both events in the same summer. Eun Jeong Seong was the first to accomplish the feat in 2016. Talley, a rising sophomore in high school, shared low-amateur honors at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally and won the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball alongside partner Sarah Lim. This summer alone she holds a 15-1 match play record in USGA championships.
With inclement weather in the morning forecast, the pair will return to the course at 2:50 p.m. ET for the final 18 holes.
What’s Next
The final 18 holes of the championship match will begin at 2:50 p.m. ET on Sunday, with Golf Channel carrying live coverage from 3-6 p.m. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.
Notable
- Asterisk Talley is the first player to compete in three USGA championship final matches in the same year (U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Amateur).
- With a win, Malixi or Talley would become the fourth female to win two USGA titles in the same year.
- With a win, Talley would become the third-youngest champion in U.S. Women’s Amateur history. Kimberly Kim (14 years, 11 months, 21 days) in 2006 and Lydia Ko (15 years, three months and 18 days) in 2012 were both younger than Talley, who would be 15 years, 5 months and 27 days old.
- With a win, Malixi would become just the second player in history to win the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur in the same year, a feat only accomplished by Eun Jeong Seong in 2016. In total, eight women have won both championships, with Rose Zhang (2020 Women’s Amateur, 2021 Girls’ Junior) being the last to do so.
- Both finalists have earned exemptions into the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally. The runner-up must remain amateur to utilize her exemption. The championship will be held May 29-June 1 at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis.
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ABOUT THE
U.S. Women's Amateur
The U.S. Women's Amateur, the third
oldest of
the USGA championships, was first played
in 1895
at Meadowbrook Club in Hempstead, N.Y.
The
event is open to any female amateur who
has a
USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 5.4.
The
Women's Amateur is one of 14 national
championships conducted annually by the
USGA,
10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
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