[Editors' note: Fourth of a series as we reveal SPIN.ph's choices for its yearend Sportsman of the Year awards, which is now on its 12th year]
RISING STAR OF 2024
RIANNE Malixi did in 2024 what very few golfers her age have accomplished when she captured two major United States Golf Association (USGA) tournaments.
Last July, the 17-year-old Malixi started the year by winning the US Girls’ Junior title by beating Asterisk Talley in a grueling 36-hole showdown at the El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, California to join Princess Superal (2014) as Filipina players to win the Under-19 tournament.
Just three weeks later, Malixi also took the US Women’s Amateur title by beating Talley again at the Southern Hills Golf Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, becoming the first Filipina to emerge triumphant in what is considered one of the biggest amateur tournaments in the world.
Just how rare Malixi’s achievement of winning the US Girls’ and US Women’s Amateur is? Only one golfer in Eun Jeong Seong of Korea in 2016 was able to achieve such milestone.
The future of Philippine golf is indeed secured with Malixi.
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