‘Brutal’ first round has Rianne facing great weekend bid odds
CARMONA, Cavite—Rianne Malixi’s fairy-tale stint in the Smart Infinity Philippine Open is in danger of not having the Cinderella ending everyone in this country is hoping to see.
“I know I am in the gray area right now,” the 17-year-old girl wonder, the only female in the crack Asian Tour field, told reporters after firing a five-over-par 75 over a Manila Southwoods Masters layout that bared its teeth early.
“I need to hit a lot of fairways in the second round, give myself more chances for par,” she said.
Malixi rued some bad breaks in a round where “I hit it pretty straight and rolled the ball nicely (on the greens)” but where she had at least four bad holes, the worst being on No. 11 where she seemed to have hit a perfect drive just left of center of the fairway.
After making the turn at a decent two-over where she parred the 502-yard par-4 fourth hole, Malixi ran into trouble on the 11th as a bad bounce left her with such an awkward stand on the lip of the left fairway bunker that she had no option but to play out.
Playing three on the fairway with a lob wedge in hand, the reigning US Women’s and Junior Girls’ Am champ chunked it so bad she had to hit her fourth in the ravine with knee-high grass that eventually led to a double bogey.
Talk of the tournament
“The roughs are brutal,” she said of the 3-inch roughs. “And I am small that I don’t have the [hand] speed to dig it out of there.”
Easily the talk of the tournament when it was announced that she had accepted the invite to be the first female to play in Asia’s oldest national championship in more than 20 years, Malixi has a very formidable task ahead of her if she wants this story to last until Sunday.
“I will give it my best shot,” she said. “But it’s tough. The length (7,138 yards) is a factor and we are not getting any long rolls because the fairways aren’t that firm.”
Still, those who have followed her through all of 18 holes of the first round will be rooting for her, for who doesn’t love a fairy-tale ending?
