Talley & Malixi Are a Combined 15 under in Their U.S. Girls Junior Semifinal Victories

TARZANA, Calif. -- The semifinals of the U.S. Girls Junior Championship were streamed Friday on Peacock, and re-broadcast on The Golf Channel later in the evening. And what a show they got!

Gianna Clemente was the No. 16 seed this year, but she was a semifinalist last year, and lost to the eventual champion, Kiara Romero (a 2023-24 All-American at the University of Oregon). She drilled the medalist, Kinsley Ni, 7&6 in the Round of 32 on Thursday, and she birdied five of her last six holes Friday morning in the Round of 16 to overtake the No. 41 seed, Avani Prashanth, and win 2&1. Clemente then went 6 under for the 17 holes she played in her afternoon semifnal against No. 4 Asterisk Talley -- and lost. Talley was 9 under (with concessions) in a 3&1 victory.

The other semifinal featured the No. 2 seed, Rianne Malixi, last year's runer-up, against No. 3 Jasmine Koo, who was 20 under par in the four matches she had to win to get that far, and she got through her first 44 holes of match play without losing a single hole. Against Malixi, however, she lost the first three holes, all of them to birdies by Malixi. Koo responded with four birdies in the next five holes to go 1 up. Malixi won the 11th hole with a par, and the two players halved the par-5 12th with birdies. But Malixi rattled off another three birdies in a row at the 13th, 14th and 15th holes to grab a 3-up lead. All she had to do from there was par the 152-yard, par-3 16th to close out a 3&2 victory. She was 6 under for the 16 holes she played.

So Malixi, 17, a high school junior from the Phillipines who has committed to Duke for 2025, will now be playing in the Girls Junior final for the second year in a row.

As for Talley, she is a 15-year-old from Chowchilla, Calif., with major credentials, having won the 2023 Rolex Girls Championship, plus the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley earlier this year. (Malixi finished second.)

In her quarterfinal match against the No. 5 seed, Vanessa Borovilos, Malixi won the par-5 first hole with a par, but lost the second with a double bogey. After that, she played 4 under for the next 16 holes and edged Borovilos 1 up.

Against Clemente, Talley birdied the first hole, but lost the second and the fourth to Clemente's birdies, and she was 2 down after Clemente holed out from bunker for an eagle at the 498-yard, par-5 seventh. Talley started her comeback with a birdie at the ninth, and she matched Clemente's birdies at the par-3 10th and the par-5 12th (527 yards). Then Talley took control of the match by making three more birdies on the next three holes, all par 4s. She capped off her triumph with her seventh birdie in a nine-hole stretch, at the 415-yard, par-4 17th.

The final will be 36 holes, beginning at 9 a.m. (Pacific Time) Saturday, and it is expected to resume after the lunch break at approximately 1:45 p.m.


U.S. Girls Junior Championship

At Caballero Country Club

Par 71, 6,365 yards

Tarzana, Calif.

Match play


Round of 64

No. 9 Amelie Zalsman, St. Petersburg, Fla. def. Reese McCauley, Inver Grove Heights 3&2

No. 1. Kinsley Ni, China def. No. 64 Cathy Zhang 3&2

No. 2. Rianne Malixi, Phillipines def. No. 63 Annie Jin, Bradenton, Fla. 6&5

No. 3. Jasmine Koo, Cerritos, Calif. def. Marley Pedrique, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. 6&5

No. 4 Asterisk Talley, Chowchilla, Calif. def. No. 61 Sofia Vargas, Riverside, Calif. 3&2

No. 5. Vanessa Borovilos, Canada def. Charlotte Cantonis, Tampa, Fla. 20 holes

No. 59 Anna Fang, San Diego def. No. 6 Aphrodite Deng, Canada 2&1

No. 58 Madison Messimer, Myrtle Beach, S.C. def. No. 7 Kaili Xiao, China 1 up

No. 8 Yuka Nashina, Japan def. Veronika Exposito, The Woodlands, Texas 3&2


Round of 32

No. 41 Avani Prashanth, Inida def. No. 9 Zalsman 1 up

No. 1 Ni def. No. 33 Swetha Sathish, Canada 3&2

No. 2 Malixi def. No. 31 Kennedy Swednick, Albany, N.Y. 19 holes

No. 3 Koo def. Chanel Dangela, Korea 6&5

No. 4. Talley def. Thanana Katchasananmanee, Thailand 21 holes

No. 5 Borovilos def. Kylie Chong, Torrance, Calif. 5&4

No. 59 Fang def. Donina Zhou, Trabouca Canyon, Calif. 4&2

No. 58 Messimer def. Raya Nakao, Kanaohe, Hawaii 2&1

No. 16 Gianna Clemente, Estero, Calif. def. No. 48 Lisa Copeland, Naperville, Ill. 1 up


Round of 16

No. 16 Clemente def. No. 1 Ni 7&6

No. 2. Malixi def. No. 18 Yanling Liu, Canada 6&5

No. 3 Koo def. No. 51 Lily Peng, San Ramon, Calif. 8&7

No. 4. Talley def. No. 20 Scarlett Schremmer, Birmingham, Ala. 2&1

No. 5. Borovilos def. Shyla Brown, McKenny, Texas 19 holes

No. 41 Prashanth def. No. 40 Isaki Sakashita, Japan 3&2

No. 59 Fang def. No. 22 Brynn Kort, Henderson, Nev. 5&4

No. 58 Messimer def. No. 23 Kathryn Ha, Roanoke, Va. 20 holes


Quarterfinals

No. 2 Malixi def. No. 58 Messimer 2&1

No. 3. Koo def. No. 59 Fang 1 up

No. 4 Talley def. No. 5 Borovilos 1 up

No. 16 Clemente def. No. 41 Prashanth 2&1


Semifinals

No. 2 Malixi def. No. 3 Koo 3/&2

No. 4. Talley def. No. 16 Clemente 3&1



Stroke play

Final results

1. Kinsley Ni 66-65--131

T2. Jasmine Koo 69-66--135

T2. Rianne Malixi 68-67--135

4. Asterisk Talley 69-67--136

T5. Aphrodite Deng 65-72--137

T5. Kaili Xiao 68-69--137

T5. Yuka Nishina 68-69--137

T5. Vanessa Borovilos 70-67--137

T9. Kylee Choi 65-73--138

T9. Natalie Yen 67-71--138

T9. Amelia Zalsman 68-70--138

T54. Reese McCauley 73-73--146

Missed cut -- 147 (there was an 8-for-3 playoff at that number that started late Tuesday, and it will be continued Wednesday morning)

Gabriella Eifrig 77-76--153