ANTIPOLO – Amateur Rianne Malixi turned the final round of the ICTSI Valley Golf Challenge into a victory walk Friday, completing a dominant 13-stroke triumph over Chihiro Ikeda while playing pressure-free after virtually sealing it all with a decisive second round 70 Thursday.
Malixi’s bogeys in the first two holes hardly flustered the 15-year-old rising star as her pro rivals all continued to struggle on the challenging Valley South and the national team spearhead buckled down to work and gunned down birdies on Nos. 5 and 12 before closing out with two more bogeys for a 74.
Her faltering windup likewise didn’t matter as Malixi showed she’s a cut above the rest, cruising to the easy win with a two-over 218 over 54 holes on superb shot-making, iron play and putting on a demanding course that bedeviled the games of the rest of the field.
Ikeda scrambled for a 77 marred by bogeys in the last four holes but still came out solo second with a 15-over 231, edging Harmie Constantino and Gretchen Villacencio for the top P101,250 purse.
Constantino, a two-leg winner, limped with a 79 while Villacencio bogeyed the closing par-3 hole for a second straight 76 as they finished joint third with amateur Mafy Singson at 232s.
Singson, who topped the Splendido Taal stop last May, also bounced back from a disastrous second round 81 with a 74.
Despite her runaway triumph, Malixi said she was far from being satisfied with her two-over total, citing her struggle off the mound that often sent her ball on bad lies or under the trees.