Duke women’s golf commit Rianne Malixi keeps making history in the summer of 2024.
Weeks after she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, Malixi won the U.S. Women’s Amateur on Sunday with a 3-and-2 triumph over Asterisk Talley at Southern Hills Country Club in Oklahoma.
Malixi beat Talley in the title match at the U.S. Girls Junior as well, a dominant 8-and-7 victory that included 14 birdies in 29 holes. On Sunday, Talley tried to even the score. The star from California built a 3-up lead through 12 holes in the 36-hole match, but just like their previous bout, Malixi sent an avalanche her way in the middle of the battle.
Malixi won the 13th, 15th, and 16th holes to even the match. Talley took two of the next three to pull ahead again, but Malixi won four holes in a row to jump 2-up through 23 holes.
Another win three holes later had Talley on the ropes, but the Class of 2027 star knotted the match with three wins in a row on the 27th through 29th holes.
Malixi, the future Duke star, sent the final haymaker again, however. She birdied the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd holes, winning all three to put the match out of reach.
Historic.
Rianne Malixi is just the second player ever to win the U.S. Women's Amateur and U.S. Girls' Junior in the same year.
— USGA (@USGA) August 12, 2024
At just 17 years old, Malixi becomes the second woman to win both tournaments in one year. In fact, only eight other women have won both tournaments in their career, and only three other women have won multiple USGA titles in a single year.