WELLINGTON - Sidelined for much of 2025, Rianne Malixi hopes to complete her comeback with a dream victory at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) championship, which starts on Thursday.
The 18-year-old rising star, ranked 21st on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will be among the top contenders at Royal Wellington Golf Club in New Zealand, nearly a year after suffering a back injury that slowed her blossoming amateur career.
Defending champion Jeneath Wong of Malaysia headlines a stellar field that features 12 players from the Top 50 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
READ Rianne Malixi withdraws from Asia Pacific golf due to back strain
“It’s always an honor to play in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific,” said Malixi ahead of her sixth WAAP start. “I’ve been playing since I was 13 or 14. I’ve always looked forward to this championship, a lot of familiar faces, new faces and it’s growing, so I’m really happy.
“To be very blunt, that (winning this week) would be the greatest comeback, at least as far as my amateur career goes. I know it’s quite a reach, but anything is possible and I’m willing to put in the hard work this week.”
She hit international headlines by winning both the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in a span of 22 days, only the second player in history to win both events in the same year, and the first since Korea’s Eun Jeong Seong in 2016.
However, she suffered a back injury at last year’s WAAP in Vietnam, which kept her out of the game for a lengthy spell. She returned to action at the Espirito Santo Trophy in Singapore last October, finishing runner-up in the individual category, and then won her first U.S. collegiate tournament, the Sea Best Intercollegiate, in Florida last month where she plays for Duke.
“There were definitely a lot of lows last year. I think I only played well in two events in the 2025 season, and then I did a lot of recuperation and recovery work — therapy in Australia, meeting with my biomechanist and my PT (personal trainer),” she said.
“Then I started getting physically stronger and more stable with my back, but I wasn’t playing as well, so that was very frustrating. I didn’t really play great until last month. It’s been a struggle, but also a learning curve for me.”
The talented teenager, who learned to play the game at the age of eight, is now smarter about how she pushes herself to improve.
“I’m being smarter about it, more efficient rather than just whacking balls on the range,” said Rianne, whose best WAAP finishes were tied for third in 2022 and tied for fifth in 2024.
“It came from playing an Asian Tour event, being the lone woman in the men’s field. I pushed myself to hit it further and was hitting 400 balls a day on mats. It was kind of a snowball effect on my back. It was already hurting during the 2025 WAAP, then I heard a big pop on the first hole and had to stop on the fourth or fifth hole because it was too painful to swing.”
The field features 84 players from 25 Asia-Pacific nations who will assemble in Wellington, reflecting both the championship’s competitive strength and its growing regional reach. No golfer from the Philippines has won the WAAP since its inauguration in 2018.
The WAAP was developed by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) to nurture talent and provide a pathway for the region’s elite women amateurs to the international stage and the rewards on offer are significant.
The champion will earn exemptions into three major championships in 2026, the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, The Amundi Evian Championship in France and the Chevron Championship in the United States.
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship is proudly supported by Rolex, ISPS Handa, Royal Wellington Golf Club, Samsung, Hana Financial Group, Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings, Peter Millar, Titleist, Sparms, New Zealand Mercedes-Benz and Tongariro, as well as investment partners New Zealand Major Events and Wellington Council and host association Golf New Zealand.
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