Malixi eliminated in first round matchplay of US Women's Amateur Championship

Rianne. c/o USGA

Rianne Malixi's hopes for a title defense were snuffed out on Wednesday, as she bowed out after the first round of the matchplay portion of the US Women's Amateur Championship at the Bandon Dunes Golf Course.

The defending champion lost 1-up to a fellow incoming freshman in Arianna Lau, who was the final woman to make the matchplay field. The Hong Kong native, who is set to join Northwestern, survived a six-hole playoff against Sarah Lim, as the final twosome of a fifteen-player playoff to officially complete the 64-woman field.

On both occasions, Lau had the steely resolve to finish the job on 18. She converted a four-foot putt for birdie in the playoff that Lim was unable to match, then later in the day nailed a thirteen-foot putt for eagle that Malixi could not answer.

Lau actually caught the Filipina off-guard, managing to establish a 3-up lead, before Rianne battled back to keep it level multiple times, with the final one being on 17 to set up the final hole heroics due to Lau missing a four-foot par putt.

Arianna shared afterwards, "I'm just really grateful, especially today... Like it taught me how to handle pressure, especially in match play."

Fellow medalist Asterisk Talley also fell victim to the upset axe, losing to Ella Scaysbrook 6 and 4. Fresh from claiming the Girls Junior PGA Championship the previous week, the US Junior National Team standout never got into a groove, trailing by two after three holes, then dropped four straight starting from 11 on to prematurely conclude her matchup against the Aussie.

Scaysbrook, the 63rd player in the field after nailing a birdie on the 12th in the playoff, got hot to finish off the win, converting three birdies in the last four holes of their matchup.

Malixi and Talley's exits meant that this is the first time since 2015 that multiple medalists were not part of the Round of 32.

Other notables from the first round of matchplay include:

Golf Channel personality Emilia Doran needed twenty holes to keep her from doing full on-course broadcast work, defeating Reagan Zibilski. Doran (nee Migliaccio), a former All-American and NCAA champion at Wake Forest and two-time Curtis Cup team member for the United States, is seeking to be the first mid-am to win the competition since 1978.

She says after her victory, "I'm high on adrenaline right now." After her round, Emilia resumed her role of on-course correspondence for the afternoon session.

Doran will need to dispatch Lau on Thursday morning to remain on track to accomplishing that feat.

Doran's fellow Demon Deacon and this year's Inkster Award recipient Carolina Lopez-Chacarra needed an additional hole to stun University of Texas All-American and British Women's Amateur Championship runner-up Farah O'Keefe, completing a comeback from being 3-down to earn a spot in the next round.

Ashley Kozlowski won the last three holes to force extras against Vanessa Borovilos, who set a tournament record with her 9-under 63 the previous day. The Colorado native and Purdue graduate needed a 25-foot par put to keep things tied after nineteen holes before claiming the 20th on a two-putt par.

Ivy Leaguers Catherine Rao (Princeton) and Allison Paik (Columbia) needed 24 holes to determine a winner, with the former claiming the win after a birdie on the sixth, denying the latter of an opportunity to make the quarterfinals for a fourth straight year.

Rao would say afterwards, "I never want to go this long again. I think I gave my entire family heart attacks, like my legs are sore."

Round of 32 action takes place in the morning, with the Quarterfinalists to be known by the end of the day.

Malixi, Talley share lead heading into US Women's Amateur Championship matchplay

Malixi (c/o USGA)

Last year's finalists at the US Women's Amateur Championship are back together again, as Rianne Malixi and Asterisk Talley shared the lead after the conclusion of stroke portion of the competition on Tuesday at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

Conditions along the southwest Oregon coast were conducive for low scoring at the course, and the field took advantage, led by Vanessa Borovilos, as the Texas A&M student-athlete shot the lowest round in tournament history with her 9-under 63.

But it Malixi and Talley who earned the top spot with an aggregate 9-under 135 in two rounds of action. The former followed up her 68 with a 67, while the latter managed a 66 after an opening round of 69. By topping the stroke play portion, both will be sharing the medalists award. And for Malixi, it would be the first time a defending champion took home such an honor since 1975-76.

Both players had a chance to provide some separation. After starting on the back nine, Malixi had her second bogey on her penultimate hole, but closed out with a birdie to make up for it on her final hole on 9. At the same hole, Talley had a shot for an eagle, but she two-putted the green to settle for birdie.

Rianne shared about the conditions, "I was looking at the morning scores and there were some pretty low scores out there. But I was expecting the wind to pick up in the afternoon. Instead, it got warmer, so my ball actually flew further than what I expected. I think, give or take, it was a good setup for me, so I took advantage of it."

Talley adds, "I had to take my sweater off on the second hole. So that was different. Pretty much zero wind all day. Very surprising."

Just a stroke behind the co-leaders is Eila Galitsky of Thailand, as the South Carolina sophomore also carded a 66 to follow her first round output of 70. Borovilos is a shot further back with her historic round alongside a couple of upperclasswomen in Lyla Louderbaugh of Kansas and Catherine Rao of Princeton.

With fourteen players tied at the +1 cut line, a playoff is set to take place early Wednesday morning to determine the remaining six players to complete the field of 64 for the matchplay portion of the competition.

Both Malixi and Talley will have to wait to see who will their opponents be in the afternoon, as they will try to advance into the next round on Thursday. 

Malixi shares opening day lead at US Women's Amateur Championship

Malixi, c/o USGA

Rianne Malixi overcame a lot to be able to make it to the 2025 edition of the US Women's Amateur Championship, which takes place at the Bandon Dunes course in southwestern Oregon, and her grit pulled through in the first day with a bogey-free 4-under 68.

The lone Filipina in the field shared the Monday lead with a couple of student-athlete seniors: Overland Park, KS native Julia Misemer of the University of Arizona, and Hong Kong's Cindy Hsu of the University of Texas.

Recent rival Asterisk Talley is one stroke back, alongside a few others: fellow US National Junior Team member Scarlett Schremmer, US Elite Amateur Program member Anna Davis of Auburn, recent NC State graduate Lauren Oliveras of Mexico, and former All-American at Wake Forest and two-time USA Curtis Cup member Emilia Doran.

Malixi had to deal with a back issue since the start of the year, and it flared up a couple of months later at the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship. As a result, she was forced to take a break from the sport for three weeks.

In the process, Rianne was forced to withdraw from a couple of tournaments her victory last year at Southern Hills earned invites to, one of the LPGA majors in the Chevron Championship, and the Augusta National Women's Amateur.

The ninth-ranked top female amateur in the world shared about the experience being sidelined, "Hitting 400 balls a day made it worse," she said. "So I had to rest." Malixi also missed the cut in the subsequent two majors, the US Women's Open at Erin Hills and the Evian Championship.

Complicating matters is the quest to secure a student visa necessary for her incoming freshman season at Duke University, a situation made worse with the recent weather conditions in the Philippines. The needed approval came with just six hours prior to her scheduled flight across the Pacific, and she only managed to arrive this past weekend, managing to get a full round-and-a-half of practice before tourney proper started.

Malixi did manage to find videos of the two most recent USGA tournaments hosted by the David McLay Kidd-designed course to aid her short preparations: the 2020 US Amateur and the 2022 US Junior Amateur.

Seeking to be the first to hoist the Robert Cox trophy in consecutive years since Danielle Kang back in 2010-11, she took advantage of an early tee time to card her 68, converting four birdies and saved par thrice after finding the fairway bunkers off the tee.

After her round, Rianne adds, "Today was eye-opening for me. Having experience [with links golf] helped me a lot for this week," citing her participation in the British Women's Amateur Championship back in 2023 at Prince's Golf Club in England and in 2024 at Portmarnock in Ireland.

One more round of action is set to take place on Tuesday before the field is trimmed to 64 to commence the matchday portion the next day.