MANILA, Philippines – Rianne Malixi bounced back from a missed chance against Madison Dabagia in morning play with a tough 1-up win over Sophie Linder in the afternoon to move a victory away from clinching the top spot in Pool E and a quarterfinal seat in the Polo Golf Junior Classic Match Play at the Bethpage State Park Golf’s Black course in Farmingdale, New York Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time).
Malixi never trailed against Linder, taking the first two holes on birdies but wavering midway through their duel and enabling the latter to draw level from No. 12 to the 16th. But the ICTSI-backed ace pounced on Linder’s bogey on the par-3 17th to claim the match and seal a knockout match with Alexandra Gazzoli for a spot in the next phase of the only match play event format on the American Junior Golf Association calendar.
She earlier settled for an all-square match with Dabagia to pool 1.5 points.
But Gazzoli swept her first two matches, ripping Linder, 5&4, then trouncing Dabagia, 2-up, to pace their side of the four-player group. They clash for the quarterfinal berth Wednesday.
The 32-player cast is divided into eight pools with the top finishers advancing to the next round Thursday morning with the semifinals slated in the afternoon. The title clash and consolation matches are set Friday (Saturday in Manila).
Against Dabagia, the two-time AJGA champion, seeking to make up for her woeful 35th place finish in last week’s Rolex Junior Championship in Florida, blew an early 2-up lead with a couple of bogeys then missed clinching the win with another stumble on the closing par-4 18th, allowing Dabagia to salvage an all-square match.
With a birdie-birdie start, Malixi wrested control against Linder, stayed ahead by one hole at the turn before a mishap on the 12th led to an all-square score. But after they traded bogeys, birdies and pars from No. 14, the 15-year-old Malixi made a routine par on the 178-yard 17th then watched her rival yield a stroke. She then matched Linder’s par to preserve the win.
But she will have her hands full against Gazzoli, who broke away from a tied match after nine holes with Linder by taking the first five holes at the back. Against Dabagia, the Florida native went 2-up with routine pars in the first two holes, built a four-hole cushion after eight holes then held off her rival’s late surge with pars on Nos. 16 and 17.