TULSA, Okla. — Rianne Malixi doesn’t show much emotion, but there’s a fire within that burns strong enough to conquer any obstacle.
It didn’t used to be like that. Malixi, a 17-year-old from the Philippines, admits she used to be self-deprecating. When things weren’t going her way on the golf course, she wouldn’t make anything easier for herself.
But everything, as she says, is all about perspective. And in the past 22 days, her perspective, and that of those who follow amateur golf, knows she’s one of the best young players in the game.
Malixi topped Asterisk Talley 3 and 2 on Sunday to win the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in historic fashion. Malixi was patient, riding the waves of momentum all day until she reached the summit: a second USGA championship in the span of 22 days. Four straight birdies from Nos. 13-16 were the dagger in a two-day historic marathon.
“It feels so surreal right now,” Malixi said. “It’s just an honor.”
SHE DID IT… AGAIN! 🏆🏆
Just three weeks after winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior, Rianne Malixi is the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion! pic.twitter.com/pTM1tLJj2q
— USGA (@USGA) August 11, 2024
Three weeks ago and 1,350 miles away from Southern Hills, Malixi beat Talley, a 15-year-old from California who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball earlier this year, 8 and 7 in the championship match of the U.S. Girls’ Junior, a record margin of victory. On Sunday at the famed Perry Maxwell design, Malixi beat Talley again, this time in one of the oldest amateur championships in golf.
U.S. Women’s Amateur: Photos at Southern Hills
Malixi is the second player ever to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior in the same year, joining Eun Jeong Seong in 2016. Her and Talley are also the first duo to meet up in the championship match of both events ever, let alone in the same year. She’s also the first player from the Philippines to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Malixi, a Duke commit in the 2025 class, went 12-0 in USGA match play events this year. Talley went 15-2, but at least this year, Malixi proved her kryptonite.
“I love Asterisk,” said Malixi, who also roomed with Talley at the Junior Invitational earlier this year, an event Talley won and Malixi placed second. “Developing a relationship with her has just been so awesome. She’s just a great player and a great person, as well.”
Throughout the duration of their 36-hole championship match, Malixi and Talley had numerous conversations, even if it was just small talk. The first 18 holes were played Saturday afternoon because of rain and storms in the Tulsa area on Sunday morning, with Talley taking a 1 up lead into the overnight intermission.
On the first hole Sunday, Talley won with a par, taking a 2 up lead. But Malixi, as calm as she looked on the outside, remained positive on the inside, one of the changes her dad tried to implement when he noticed his daughter’s mental game wasn’t at a championship level.
Malixi won four straight holes, and after Talley made a 40-foot bomb for birdie on the par-4 seventh, Malixi responded with a 15-foot make of her own. She then won another hole and was 3 up with 10 holes to play.
But in a match of runs, even extending to Saturday afternoon, Talley responded. She won three straight holes, and on the par-4 12th and the match tied, Talley had a short birdie putt to take a 1 up lead with five to play.
She made the stroke, a bit too firm, and the ball lipped out.
“I knew she was going to make it,” Malixi said. “It’s why I went for it and hit it four or five feet past the hole. Then I was surprised she missed it. Then I was like, ‘Oh, we have to make this putt.”
Talley left the door open. Malixi slammed it shut.
On the par-5 13th, Malixi blasted her tee shot. It rolled out roughly 75 yards after landing on a downslope and sprinting down the fairway. She went for the green in two, landing 30 feet beyond the flag. Talley had a birdie look but missed. Malixi’s eagle look didn’t quite reach the hole, but birdie was conceded.
“I feel like she just — she hit some good shots. I missed a short putt on 12. I just hit it too hard. Maybe just misread it a little bit,” Talley said. “And then she got on in two on 13. I couldn’t really help she made a birdie there. I missed another makable one on that hole. I feel like that’s what kind of switched her momentum, seeing me miss a short putt and her just having an easy birdie.”
On the par-3 14th hole, Malixi found the green and left herself 25 feet for birdie. Talley’s tee shot ended up in a bunker, and her sand shot rolled out just over the green. Her comeback attempt didn’t matter because Malixi made yet another birdie.
Then on 15, the most difficult green at Southern Hills, Malixi again found the fairway then green. As Talley’s birdie attempts didn’t quite break enough, Malixi’s shot found the center of the cup again.
3 up with three to play, Malixi and Talley were both greenside in two on the par-5 16th, and Talley’s chip shot rolled out 4 feet past the hole. Malixi, a savant from the bunkers all week, hit her sandy to roughly the same distance below the hole.
Talley poured in her putt, but Malixi responded and did the same.
Four straight birdies, and a special hug with Talley, before the celebration began.
Rianne Malixi makes history! She wins the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills, only 22 days after winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior. Only the second person to win both in the same year pic.twitter.com/P3rzURN4OG
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) August 11, 2024
“Honestly I just wanted to play good golf,” Malixi said of her goals this year. “That’s it. I wasn’t expecting to win (the) Australian Master of the Amateurs in January, and then won U.S. Girls last month and then this one. I was like so surprised. Even though I was playing good golf, I was just not expecting it.”
Three weeks ago in California, Malixi dominated at the U.S. Girls’ Junior, making 14 birdies over 28 holes in the final. This week, Southern Hills provided a test she hadn’t faced yet, and she still conquered the course in magisterial fashion, and now she’s on top of the amateur world.
“I’m thankful for my dad who kept on pushing me beyond my limits,” Malixi said. “Everything is just all about perspective, and I kind of realized that at the beginning of the year. Yeah, everything just went skyrocket.”
