Malixi Shows Moxie in Winning U.S.Girls’ Junior in Record Fashion

c/o USGA

For 363 days, Rianne Malixi had to live with the sting of a heartbreaking, championship-match loss in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. The 1-down defeat to Kiara Romero, who then enjoyed an All-American season at the University of Oregon, in Colorado Springs, Colo., provided more than enough motivation for the 17-year-old from the Philippines in the months leading into the 75th edition at El Caballero Country Club.

Plenty of sacrifices were made, including giving up some social activities, as Malixi wanted to avenge the defeat. From the moment she arrived in Southern California, one could sense the purpose and drive in the diminutive dynamo. There was confidence in her gait as she rolled to the No. 2 seed in stroke play, sharing second position with University of Southern California incoming freshman Jasmine Koo; they were four strokes behind medalist Kinsley Ni. Malixi’s focus never wavered as she eliminated foe after foe, including a 19-hole thriller in the Round of 32 over Kennedy Swedick, and an impressive 3-and-2 semifinal triumph on Friday over Koo, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 7 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR® and a member of the 2024 USA Curtis Cup Team.

And then in Saturday’s 36-hole championship match against Asterisk Talley, 15, of Chowchilla, Calif., in sweltering heat, Malixi performed as if her name had been already engraved on the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy.

Her impressive 8-and-7 victory over the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion was the largest in championship history. Nancy Lopez (1974) and Michelle McGann (1987) each registered 7-and-5 decisions back when the final was contested over 18 holes (the format switched in 2006). Malixi, who plans to play at Duke University in the fall of 2025, joined Princess Mary Superal (2014) as the only U.S. Girls’ Junior champions from the Philippines. Yuka Saso, in 2021, won the U.S. Women’s Open representing the Philippines, the country of her mother. She captured the title again in June representing Japan, the country of her father.

The victory earns Malixi a spot in the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at Erin Hills, where she hopes to play a practice round with Saso and current World No. 1 Nelly Korda.

“It's huge I know,” said Malixi with a wide smile dashed across her face. “It's hard for me to comprehend right now because everything just came in so quickly. I know being USGA champion means a lot. Being able to do that is a huge honor for me and I'm very grateful."

“It was such a heartbreak last year because I was so close. After that U.S. trip I just practiced a lot. I spent a lot of hours training in Manila. I sacrificed a lot of my social time, school time. Not only me, but my dad (Roy) also sacrificed a lot of time for me just to accompany me. My family had their share [of sacrifices] and I'm just really grateful for everything.”

Malixi had arguably one of the best days of her career on Saturday, registering 14 birdies against no bogeys in 29 holes of golf. In the morning 18, she shot the equivalent of 9-under 62 – with the usual match-play concessions – in taking a 6-up lead into the 2½-hour lunch break. One of those birdies came on the par-5 first hole, where she made 4 eight times in 10 visits.

But Malixi wasn’t going to rest on her laurels, especially given that Talley edged her for the title in this year’s Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, a prestigious event held in late March in Graniteville, S.C. In fact, the two shared one of the on-site cottages. Talley later would finish eighth in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (Malixi failed to make the cut), win the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with partner Sarah Lim in May at Oak Hills Country Club and share low-amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open with reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill and USC All-American/2024 USA Curtis Cupper Catherine Park.

And Talley did come out firing with three birdies over the first four holes in the afternoon session but could only cut the margin to as little as 5 down. Malixi won the par-5 25th with a birdie to go 6 up, birdied the par-4 27th from 20 feet to take a 7-up lead, and closed it out two holes later with a par after Talley’s recovery shot from a greenside bunker sailed well past the flag into rough guarding the back of the green. She nearly holed out for par, and once Malixi coaxed her 15-foot putt to 3 feet and converted the par attempt, the two exemplary juniors hugged.

For the No. 57 player in the WAGR, it was an emotional loss as she tried to become just the fourth woman to win multiple USGA titles in the same year to join Pearl Sinn (1988), Jennifer Song (2009) and Eun Jeong Seong (2016), and just the second player to have won a U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball (Erica Shepherd).

In Friday’s semifinal win over 2022 runner-up Gianna Clemente, Talley was the player on fire with 10 birdies over 17 holes.

“I'm proud of myself for how I played this week, but I made too many mistakes out there today,” said the fourth-seeded Talley, fighting tears. “I tried to turn it around in the [second 18] but I was too far away, and I couldn't reach her. She was playing too well. She played her butt off today and I couldn't do anything.”

Golf is a game where opponents can’t play defense and Talley had no answers for the birdies being stacked by Malixi. In fact, Malixi only trailed for three holes the entire week, and that was in her semifinal win over Koo. She also only needed 107 holes to win the title, the second fewest in the 36-hole, championship-match era (Eun Jeon Seong 104 in 2015) that began in 2006.

Playing tournaments in 11 different countries over the past two years has toughened the Manila native. Earlier this year, she finished fifth in the Korean Women’s Open. She also competed in the Women’s Amateur Championship conducted by The R&A at Royal Portmarnock in the Republic of Ireland, and represented her country in last year’s Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in the United Arab Emirates.

And now there will be a lot more travel in her future. Besides all of the USGA championships, she also receives a sponsor’s exemption into the LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship that will be held at El Caballero C.C. next year due to renovations going on at nearby Wilshire C.C. She also has a likely invite to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.