GRANITEVILLE — There may have been some nerves for Asterisk Talley last spring at Sage Valley Golf Club, but not outwardly so for the then-15-year-old.
Seemingly unbothered by any potential bad break, or any spot where the pressure may have gotten too heavy, she set records for both low tournament score and margin of victory in the third year of the girls’ championship at the Junior Invitational.
Now she’s back again at Sage Valley with another year of experience and growth under her belt – and a boatload of prestigious titles as the No. 1-ranked girl by a wide margin in the Junior Golf Scoreboard Rankings.
Her title defense begins Wednesday, as she headlines an elite 24-player girls’ field in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. They and the 36-player boys’ field will play 72 holes over four days, a new wrinkle to what was once a 54-hole championship.
“I’m feeling good,” she said ahead of her Tuesday practice round. “This course is so fun to play, so I’m really excited to be back and to play my best.”
Talley led wire-to-wire last year, finishing the first round as the only girl under par and widening her lead from there. She stayed in the present to avoid any major mistakes, only making four bogeys and a first-round double bogey over the course of three rounds.
And if she did have a mis-step, it usually didn’t take her long to recover. She easily made up for those dropped shots by making 13 birdies and an eagle over the course of the week.
“I mean, I try not to get nerves on the first tee, so I feel like I’m just going to try to do that again,” she explained, “and I feel like the experience kind of helps me and course knowledge kind of helps me relieve those nerves, so I think that’s going to help me a lot.”
She stepped on the accelerator in a final-round 67 that boosted her to a tournament-record 9-under par for the championship, and her six-stroke margin of victory was by far the largest in the young history of a tournament that was filled with fireworks in its first two years.
Talley certainly handled the challenge, and the golf course, well last year upon first sight. Clearly she knows the game plan to be successful at Sage Valley, so the key all week will be to again execute that plan.
“Just kind of, like, the places you shouldn’t hit and what’s the better place to be,” she said. “I think that’s what really differs whether you’re going to play good or bad on this course. If you hit it in bad spots, you’re probably going to play bad. If you hit a bad shot and you’re still in an OK spot. you’re still probably going to survive.”
Talley has since picked up three consecutive big wins on the American Junior Golf Association circuit, earning plenty of points to distance herself from reigning Rolex Junior Player of the Year Gianna Clemente in those standings.
“I think my management of the game, just knowing where I can go on the course and stuff, just not getting too ahead of myself on the course, like thinking about what’s ahead of me, and just staying in the present,” have all been key points of growth in her game, she said.
Staying in the present will be especially important this week. Talley knows she can’t get caught looking ahead to her second appearance at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur next month – definitely not against a field that includes No. 2 Avery McCrery, No. 5 Aphrodite Deng, No. 6 Clemente, No. 7 Elizabeth Rudisill, No. 8 Nikki Oh, No. 9 Jude Lee and No. 10 Natalie Yen.
“I think playing with some of the best people in the world is something that motivates you every week and something that makes you want to come out here and keep playing the game, so that’s probably the most fun part of the week,” she said.
