Like she had done all week, Kiara Romero meticulously looked over her 7-foot par putt on the 36th green of the championship match late Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Air Force Academy Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course. It was a right-to-left putt, the type that had given Romero some fits during the 74th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.
But this one had major implications. With a precarious 1-up lead, a holed putt meant Romero, 17, of San Jose, Calif., would net the biggest prize in junior golf.
“My heart was racing,” said Romero. “I didn't really think about how it was going to be determining the match and stuff, I just tried to focus on putting a good stroke on it.”
When the ball settled in the bottom of the hole, Romero was a 1-up winner over Rianne Malixi. She also added her name to the illustrious list of luminaries on the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy, a group that includes U.S. Women’s Open champions Mickey Wright, JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Hollis Stacy, Amy Alcott, Inbee Park, Ariya Jutanugarn and Minjee Lee as well as Nancy Lopez, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang.
The reserved Romero, an incoming University of Oregon freshman who is No. 139 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®, didn’t exult, fist-pump or jump in the air. It was more a sense of relief that she had conquered two stroke-play rounds and six grueling matches over the last four days. En route to the title, she knocked out 2022 runner-up Gianna Clemente in the semifinals and 2023 U.S. Women’s Open qualifier Lauren Kim in the quarters.
“I'm just so excited and super tired,” said Romero, who now earns a spot in next year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club. “I mean, it's been a long day and I'm really glad I got it done. But I don't think [the USGA title has] really sunk in yet.”
Malixi, 16, was trying to become the second player from the Philippines to win this championship, following Princess Mary Superal in 2014 at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz. Yuka Saso also won the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open representing the country.
“It was totally a grind,” said Malixi, who is No. 95 in the WAGR. “I didn't really have my ‘A’ game today. Right before the afternoon match, I really had bad acid reflux. It was better throughout the [afternoon], but then golf wasn't nice to me today. Still, I put up a big fight.”
Both players battled balky putters throughout the match with only two birdies being recorded in the second 18 when Romero and Malixi each two-putted the par-5 29th hole after reaching in two.
So it became a test of patience and will, something the two finalists displayed throughout the week. The turning point came on the par-3 31st hole when Malixi failed to get up and down for par, missing a 9-footer. Romero took a 1-up advantage, and the remaining holes were tied.
In fact, Romero didn’t take her first lead of the day until the 26th hole when Malixi could not get up and down from a greenside bunker.
“With golf, you never know what's going to happen,” said Romero, whose last big win came in the 2021 Polo Junior Classic, the only match-play event on the American Junior Golf Association calendar. She also went 3-1 in match play at last week’s Wyndham Cup, a Ryder Cup-style event conducted by the AJGA.
“So you just have to stay calm and focus really hard. I knew this 36-hole match was going to be a grind, so I just really tried to focus on hitting the fairway, hitting the green and then getting close to making birdie. And if it didn't, I had to just stay patient.”
On the par-4 36th hole, Romero’s uphill 9-iron approach from 155 yards flew past the flagstick and onto the fringe. Her delicate recovery shot trickled 7 feet by the hole. Meanwhile, Malixi found the green but had a 30-foot downhill, right-to-left breaking birdie putt that slid 5 feet by the hole.
When Romero converted, she hugged her caddie and 50-year Eisenhower Golf Club member Chuck Delich and was greeted by her parents, Rick and Maricel, the latter of whom is from the Philippines. Her older brother, Kyreece, who also is headed to Oregon this fall, and older sister Kaleiya, a rising senior at Pepperdine, did not make the trip.
Malixi never trailed in the morning 18 of the final, building as much as a 2-up advantage before missing a short putt to lose the 18th hole and carry a 1-up lead into the lunch break. A nice crowd of some 200 spectators watched Malixi hole a 20-footer for birdie to win the par-4 12th and take the par-5 16th with a par. Romero won Nos. 4, 9, 10 and 18. The two tied the par-3 third with birdies; Malixi converting from 30 feet and Romero from 15.
What the champion receives
A gold medal
Custody of the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy for one year
Exemption into the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club
Exemptions into the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, and 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Exemptions into all future U.S. Girls’ Juniors for which she is eligible
Invitation to the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur
Notable
Next year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior will be staged at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif., from July 15-20
The runner-up received a silver medal and an exemption into next month’s U.S. Women’s Amateur as well as a three-year U.S. Girls’ Junior exemption.
Both the champion and runner-up received a special trophy from the Air Force Academy featuring a replica of the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.
Including the two finalists, 19 players from the U.S. Girls’ Junior will be teeing it up in the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club next month.
The husband/wife team of Bob and Christie Austin, Colorado residents who have worked a combined 115 USGA championships, served as the referees for the morning and afternoon 18 of the final, respectively. Bob celebrated his 70th birthday on Friday and Christie is a past member of the USGA Executive Committee.
Rianne Malixi’s caddie this week was former Asian and Japan Golf Tour player Rick Gibson, a native Canadian who was an All-American at Brigham Young University in 1984. He currently splits time between Canada and the Philippines. He posted two victories on the Japan Golf Tour and he topped the Order of Merit on the Asia Golf Circuit in 1991.
Oregon head women’s coach Derek Radley flew back out to Colorado on Saturday morning to watch his incoming freshman, Kiara Romero, in the final match. Radley was here earlier this week recruiting.
Next up for Malixi is the Canadian Women’s Amateur in Nova Scotia. She then plans to make six college visits following the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air C.C.
Romero graduated her online high school in three years so she could attend the University of Oregon in the fall. She won’t turn 18 until next March and will be eligible to defend her U.S. Girls’ Junior title.
Quotable
“I'm super excited to go off to college and this has definitely given me a lot of confidence. I know I can compete against some of the best girls in golf.” – Kiara Romero
“The biggest thing about this golf course is knowing the greens. And he definitely knew them very well. He helped me so much on putting and especially like placing your approach shots in the right spot. You never want to go above the hole on certain holes and sometimes when you do, you have to really tap it and it will still go like 10 feet [by the hole]. So he helped me avoid those situations and I'm really grateful for him.” – Romero on her caddie Chuck Delich, who has been playing the Eisenhower Golf Club since he was an Air Force cadet in 1973
“We played a few tournaments together. Last year we went head-to-head in the [Girls] Junior PGA. She got second, I got third. So I knew she was a great player and I knew it would take a lot to win today.” – Romero on Rianne Malixi
“I've been mentally stronger than before, so I think I've done a better job at that. I know what I'm really capable of. Even though I didn't really have my ‘A’ game I still put up a big fight and I found I could still perform out there. So it was still a big win for me.” – Rianne Malixi
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