NorCal native and 2023-24 NCGA Women’s Player of the Year Asterisk Talley now has a PGA crown in her ever-growing list of titles.
Talley, who won the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball title with partner Sarah Lim, recently captured the PGA Girls’ Junior Championship in a thriller at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in Indiana.
Still just 16 years old, Talley finished with a 72-hole total of 12-under 273 (68-65-69-71) and held off hard-charging Zoe Cusack of Maryland to win by a stroke. The win earned Talley, the No.14 ranked female amateur in the world, a spot on the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team. The U.S. Junior Ryder Cup tees off September 23-25 at Nassau Country Club and Bethpage Black in New York.
As per the drama, Talley, who entered the final round as the leader, actually would trail Cusack by three shots after making back-to-back bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes. On the 16th, Talley got one shot back with a birdie to trim Cusack’s lead to two.
Later on the 18th, still trailing by two shots, Talley sunk a clutch 2-foot putt for birdie while Cusack double bogeyed.
“It means a lot just coming so close in the past and just grinding it out until the end,” Talley said. “It felt good to make that putt at the last hole and to not have to do a playoff.”
During one stretch, Talley went 44 straight holes without a bogey. In the final round though, her putter didn’t always cooperate.
“I just didn't make a lot of putts. I wasn't that close to the hole on every hole,” said Talley, whose season includes a runner-up finish at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. “I just tried to grind it out until the end and not make many mistakes.”
In the Boys’ Championship, Ayden Fynaut, the 2024 Junior Tour of Northern California Player of the Year, finished T-4 at 12-under 273.
