LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA – JUNE 01: Asterisk Talley of the United States plays a shot on the eighth hole during the third round of the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club on June 01, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
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Asterisk Talley defeated Japan’s Anna Iwanaga 8 and 6 to claim the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee. Despite rocky weather in the Tennessee area over the week which brought numerous thunderstorms and weather delays on five consecutive days to The Honors Course, Talley remained resilient and took home the win. The win is Talley’s first U.S. Women’s Amateur win in her third U.S. Women’s Amateur start.
Talley, the 17-year old from California who entered the week as the number 8-ranked amateur according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings, jumped out to an early lead winning the first hole, but Iwanaga was not to be deterred, tying the match on the third hole, both competitors winning their respective holes with pars. From thereon, it would be tough to win holes with pars with both Iwanaga and Talley swapping leads with ties with Iwanaga being one up on Talley after the ninth hole.
With her dad on the bag, Talley would go on to birdie the 11th hole to tie, then make two more birdies on the 12th and 13th holes to go two up. From there, Talley did not look back, making eight more birdies until finally taking the match 8 and 6 after the 30th hole.
Talley’s victory came after some disappointing tournament finishes earlier in her career. Making her third start at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) earlier this year, Talley began her third round in the final pairing but shot a third round 75, leaving her in a disappointing T4 finish.
On her win, “This pretty much completes my amateur career,” Talley said. “This is one of the biggest events to ever win, so I think this is going to be the top of my list from now on.” It’s unclear if Talley intends to remain an amateur or make the transition to begin a professional career.
On how she approached dealing with the weather, Talley said “I think just staying calm. Sometimes you can overthink a little bit or get a little stressed during that. I think just staying calm and knowing it was the right timing throughout the whole thing really kept us calm and good.”
Iwanaga was gracious in defeat. “I’m quite happy and I’ll learn a lot from this,” said Iwanaga. “It’s huge to come to play USGA events. I [also] played with Asterisk in March in Junior Invitational. So I saw her in March and she’s great player, so good to compete again with her.”
With her runner-up finish, Iwanaga receives a three-year exemption into the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She also receives a spot as an amateur in the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open.
With Talley’s win, she receives the JoAnne Carner Medal and gets to keep the Robert Cox Trophy for one year and an exemption into the next ten U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships. She also receives an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open (as either a professional or amateur), and likely exemptions into a number of the 2027 Women’s major golf championships including the 2027 Chevron Championship, Amundi Evian Championship, and AIG Women’s Open.