Malixi finishes T-23rd in Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship

MANILA, Philippines — There was no final round rally for Rianne Malixi, who struggled trying to sustain her third round surge and wavered at the finish to end up with a 73 for joint 23rd in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship, which Japan topped for the second straight time through Mizuki Hashimoto in Abu Dhabi Saturday.

Malixi, who shot five birdies against a bogey to move to joint 14th in the penultimate round of the 72-hole championship Friday, wrestled with her irons and putter but recovered in each of her first two mishaps before bogeying the 17th to finish with a 36-37 at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. She pooled a four-day total of four-under 284.

It was way below the tied for seventh effort by Abby Arevalo in Japan in the 2019 edition won by Yuda Yasuda, and tied for second by Yuka Saso, who lost in a four-player playoff in the inaugurals in Singapore in2 018 won by Thai Atthaya Thitikul in Singapore. The event was scrapped last year due to pandemic.

But the 14-year-old winner of the 2020 National Stroke Play crown back home proved she can measure up with the top players in the ranks. She also finished ahead of Lois Kaye Go, Nicole Abelar, Bernice Ilas and Mikha Fortuna.

Malixi bogeyed No. 4 but recovered the stroke on No. 6, yielded another shot on the 10th but regained it with a birdie on the next.

Go, a member of the gold medal team in the 2018 Asian Games and the 2019 SEA Games, blew a three-under backside start with a shaky stint in the last ninth holes that saw her stumble with three bogeys against a birdie for a 71. She wound up tied at 31st with a 287 after finishing eighth in 2018.

Abelar wound up with a 73 for a share of 39th at 290, Ilas pooled a 291 after a 74 for 41st while Fortuna squandered a two-under card with five holes left at the front as she bogeyed No. 6, yielded two strokes on No. 7 and holed out with another bogey for a 74. She ended up at joint 45th with a 295.

Hashimoto, meanwhile, battled back from four strokes down to beat erstwhile leader Natthakritta Vongtaveelap of Thailand and keep the crown for Japan with a second straight 68 for a 16-under 272 and a one-stroke victory over Vongtaveelap and fellow Thai Kan Bunnabodee and Aussie Kelsey Bennett.

Vongtaveelap actually padded her lead to four with a birdie on No. 1 but Hashimoto came through with a pitch-in eagle on the par-4 No. 3 then went on to gun down three birdies against a bogey in the next 12 holes to wrest control before holding sway for the win with a run of pars.

Vongtaveelap also hit an eagle on the par-5 No. 8 but stumbled with two bogeys and a double bogey against a birdie and fell short of forcing a playoff with a par on the closing par-5 hole. She settled for a 72 in a sorry finish for a player who had appeared to be in control with sterling rounds of 66-68-67.

Bennett rallied with a 68 but also fell short by one while Bunnabodee sizzled with a bogey-free 66 that also proved a stroke short of forcing a playoff.

The victory also netted Hashimoto a stint in next year’s two majors – the AIG Women’s Open and the Evian Championship – plus an invite to the 2022 Augusta Women's National Amateur.