SPORTS Malixi sizzles in the heat, reigns in Iloilo with solid 66

ILOILO—Rianne Malixi put up a flawless closeout and pounced on Daniella Uy’s flawed finish as the country’s top amateur nailed another pro victory in the ICTSI Iloilo Golf Challenge presented by MORE Power with a solid 66 to beat Chihiro Ikeda by four here yesterday.

It took Malixi just nine holes to overcome Uy’s overnight six-stroke lead at the Iloilo Golf and Country Club as the former rattled off three birdies inside 6 feet for a 33 and the latter crumbled with an uncharacteristic 41 marred by a disastrous triple-bogey on the first hole.

That set the tone for the rout as Malixi, 16, stayed focused and kept her poise in the last nine holes, birdying the 16th for good measure to complete a four-under card and a 209 total after 70 and 73 in the first two rounds of the P875,000 championship.

The victory thus snapped Malixi’s run of fruitless campaigns here and abroad that saw her miss a podium finish in the recent Queen Sirikit Cup at Manila Southwoods after yielding the bronze to Korean Hyunjo Yoo in the countback, and ending up tied at 13th in the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific Championship in Singapore.

She also struggled in the first of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour’s two-leg Visayan swing where she wound up a distant joint third at Marapara and appeared headed for another unsuccessful