August 10 ------ Young Filipina golfer Rianne Malixi cruised to the US Women’s Amateur Match Play with a second straight 70 after the 36-hole stroke play qualifying at the Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, California.
Malixi secured the score with a late frontside birdie and eventually finished as the No. 23 seed, matching her joint-24th placing in last month's US Girls Junior in Colorado. There, she defeated five rivals in varying fashions in the knockout stage before yielding a one-hole result to Fil-Am Kiara Romero in the 36-hole final. Malixi will now face American Ellie Koo, who charged back with a 68 to tie for 39th, at 12:30 p.m. The unranked Californian from Harvard-Westlake Athletics wound up at No. 42.
A victory will set up the 16-year-old Malixi against the winner in the Malia Nam-Bailey Shoemaker duel. Malixi, who is ranked no. 75 in the Women's Amateur Golf, tied the likes of world No. 17 Rin Yoshida of Japan, who also carded a 70, last week’s Canadian Amateur winner Lauren Kim, who fired a 69, and Thai Thanana Kotcha sanmanee, who made a 71.
American Briana Chacon, with a world ranking of No. 104, grabbed the low medal honors in record fashion, finishing with a 131 after an eagle-spiked 65, two strokes clear of Swede Andrea Lignell, the world No. 19 who also put in a five-under card laced with seven birdies against a double-bogey, for a 133. Other fancied bets who advanced were world No. 24 Rachek Heck of the US (67-137), Romero (68-138), American Rachel Kuehn (68-138), Megha Ganne (67-141), 2022 US Girls’ Junior titlist Yana Wilson (69-141), Shoemaker ( 69-143), Jeaneth Wong (70-143), Katie Li (69-143) and world No. 4 Anna Davis (72-143).
Ten players, including Canadian Amateur runner-up Brooke Davis, finished at 56th with 144s. They will dispute the last nine spots at 7 a.m. Wednesday Eastern Time with the head-to-head duels to start at 9 a.m.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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