Malixi fuels Asiad medal drive with solid 68

HANGZHOU, China – With everything to gain in her Asian Games debut, Rianne Malixi let loose and went on an attack mode all day, producing a solid round that put her right in the medal mix at the start of the women’s golf competitions here Thursday.

Ranged against the world No. 2 and a former LPGA campaigner, Malixi didn’t cringe and came through with a pair of birdies on each nine of the West Lake International Golf Country Club in Xihu District, preserving a bogey-free 68 with a couple of gutsy par saves and gaining a share of seventh in a field of 39 in the individual competition of the 72-hole tournament.

While Chinese Ruoning Yin outshot her by one to join four others at second with 67s behind Japanese top amateur Saki Baba, who flourished with a 65, the 16-year-old Malixi’s gritty performance spoke well of the caliber of the player making her debut in the continent’s premier sporting competitions.

“I played well today. It’s a great start,” said Malixi. “I made a lot of great shots and good putts and really just opened doors for birdies. Even if I did a couple of mistakes, I was able to recover it for par.”

After two pars, she hacked a superb tee-shot and birdied the par-3 No. 3, gained a stroke on the par-4 fifth and dominated the par-5 10th to go three-under. She missed a couple of chances in the next five holes but flashed another solid iron play to birdie the last short hole on the 16th.

“Just knowing that I’m here to play against the best players, I have nothing to lose, which gives me more freedom to be aggressive in my game,” added the ICTSI-backed Malixi. “This is my mindset because I’m still young as this is my Asian Games debut and I’m just really trying to soak all the experience.”

Teammate Lois Kaye Go,