Rianne Malixi touched it all off and then capped it in historic fashion. A three-week stretch that had the whole world suddenly looking at the Philippines as a rising golf power.
The euphoria over a ladies pair that performed exceptionally well at the Paris Olympics golf competition has yet to die down on Sunday when the 17-year-old Malixi ruled the US Women’s Amateur championship—one of the oldest and most prestigious events in the world—that had her occupying a special place in the sport’s history.
No other greats in the women’s game other than South Korea’s Eun Jeong Seong in 2016 has achieved what the prodigious Filipino did in a 22-day span as she became just the second player to ever win that event and the US Girls’ Junior in the same year.
“It feels so surreal right now,” Malixi told Cameron Jourdan of golfweek.usatoday.com, as the Filipino went 12-0 in those two match play events, with two of those victories coming in the finals over Asterisk Talley, a 15-year-old Californian touted by a lot of experts to be a future international force.
“It’s just an honor.”
After Malixi won the junior title, Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina also brought honor to the country after placing fourth and joint 13th, respectively, at Le Golf National in France just the day before, as the Philippines has never had this much success in a string in a sport that pales in popularity compared to basketball, and lately, volleyball.
Jourdan wrote raves on Malixi, who has committed to go to Duke next year, the next step in her preparation to make the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) full time.
Rianne Malixi hits a picture-perfect drive on the fourth hole of her final match against Asterisk Talley. —PHOTO COURTESY OF USGA
“I love Asterisk,” said Malixi in the same article. “Developing a relationship with her has just been so awesome. She’s just a great player and a great person as well.”
Only eight players in history have won both United States Golf Association (USGA) events, with Rose Zhang the last to do so completing her double in 2021 when she won the girls title, a year after winning the women’s crown.
“Just 22 days. I mean, it feels so surreal right now. Just everything just came in so quickly,” Malixi was quoted by golf.com’s Jack Hirsh.
This effectively is the fifth major victory for Malixi this year counting victories in Australia, South Korea and Japan.
Norman Sto. Domingo, Malixi’s coach since she was 11, is obviously very proud of what his ward has achieved this year.
“She really deserves everything that she gets,” Domingo told the Inquirer over the phone. “I haven’t seen anyone who works as hard on her game as she does. Simple incomparable.”
Future plans
Sto. Domingo bared some of the things that he and Malixi have talked about, especially about her plans in earning a full LPGA card by the time she’s 20.
“Duke gave her the best offer,” the coach bared. “The school has given her the option to play for them for just two years and then opt out, and after that, the school will continue to support her in her quest to make the LPGA.
“No other school gave her an offer that could even come close to that,” Sto. Domingo said as Malixi turned down scholarship offers from at least 13 other prestigious universities counting Stanford and UCLA.
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“That’s her plan. It’s not cast in stone, but she has mentioned that to me,” Sto. Domingo said. INQ