Filipina golfer Rianne Malixi during the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam. Handout/PSC-POC Media
MANILA -- Filipina golfer Rianne Malixi made up for last year's heartbreak by winning the 75th US Junior Girls championship, Saturday in Tarzana, California (Sunday, Manila time).
Malixi, 17, battled through the blazing heat to defeat Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla, California in the finals.
After finishing tied for second in stroke play, Malixi dominated the next three days of match play. She was tied with Talley after four holes in the 36-hole finals before winning eight of the next ten.
Malixi finished the first 18 holes up six, before Talley tried to fight back by winning a pair of holes after the break. But the Filipina remained composed and won three of the last five holes to end the match on the 11th.
"It feels surreal. I'm on cloud 9 right now because I'm just really emotional I know I've dedicated a lot of time in training and it's nice to see that hard work pays off this week," said Malixi, who lost the 2023 edition of the final to Kiara Romero.
"It's good to have something off from my bucket list and I've always wanted to win this for the longest time so it feels so good," she added.
In 29 holes of action, Malixi had 14 birdies with no bogies.
She will now stay on the road with tournaments scheduled in Finland next week and Oklahoma early next month.