WHEN Rianne Malixi starts her round at the Amundi Evian Championship on Thursday in France, she probably will think of what Lottie Woad had accomplished last week when the English star won the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
Woad, like Malixi, is an amateur who is ranked No. 1 in the world. Load produced some of her best golf to date and beat Europe’s top professionals by a whopping six shots last Sunday.
Woad is also entered in the Evian tournament where the world’s best are competing, this being the LPGA’s fourth major of the year.
Second shot for Malixi
Malixi and Woad are two of only six amateurs in the field with the Filipina star getting into the field by virtue of winning the US Women’s Amateur Championship last year.
This will be Malixi’s second stint in an a major tournament this year, having competed at the US Open last June where she missed the cut while dealing with a lingering back injury.
It is expected to be a tough grind for the 18-year-old Rianne who will compete against the best, including the top players in the world, led by No. 1 Nellie Korda.
The 132-player field represents 28 different countries and 18 of the LPGA Tour’s 18 winners so far in 2025.
Rico Hoey shares 11th at John Deere Classic; Ramos T22 in Morrocco
On the PGA Tour, Rico Hoey tied for 11th in the John Deere Classic last week after a closing round 66. He posted a four-day total of 269, 15 under par that included rounds of 66-69-68.
Hoey, who is the only Philippine-born golfer to play in the PGA Tour, also narrowly missed the Top 10 to follow up on his best finish this season which was a T7 at the ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic last May.
With his strong finish, Hoey is near to breaking into the Top 100 in the world rankings. He has climbed 12 spots after the John Deere Classic and is now 120th.
He has had better rankings in the past, however. His best was at 108th which he achieved two times during his rookie season. If he breaks the 100 barrier, he’d be the first Filipino to do so.
Hoey, 29, who turned pro in 2017, is still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour and this has stopped him from playing in major events. His closest to winning one was when he lost in a playoff at the ISCO Championship last year and tied for second.
The ISCO Championship will be played starting Thursday (Friday in Manila) where he is entered.
Meanwhile, at the International Series Morrocco of the Asian Tour, rookie Sean Jean Ramos had the best finish among a few Filipinos competing in the Saudi-backed $2 million event.
He finished tied for 22nd place after scoring a fourth-round two-over-par 75 and 3-under overall, pocketing around P1 million in prize money..
Justin Quiban shot a 77 and shared 40th place while Miguel Tabuena had 75 in his last round and settled for T56 at 4 over.
Earlier, cousins Carl Corpus and Adrian Chan failed to make the cut in the event after getting a special invite for winning successive Asian Development Tour events.
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