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The U.S. Women’s Open arrived at Riviera Country Club for the first time in the tournament’s 80-year history this week, and the course lived up to its reputation. Scoring was difficult all week, and the cut came at four over par, with only a handful of players managing to finish a round without dropping a shot. On Saturday morning, a 17-year-old without a professional card produced one of the most remarkable rounds the tournament has seen.

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Justin Ray shared the news on X. Asterisk Talley, an amateur from Chowchilla, California, logged a bogey-free 66, which included five birdies. It makes the lowest weekend round ever posted by an amateur in U.S. Women’s Open history.

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“Obviously, it was a disappointing round yesterday, but after I made the cut, it was good,” Talley said. “Can’t complain about weekend tee time at Riv, right? Then I just hit the putting green after, just kind of rested, did what needed work, and then today the hole was just so big I couldn’t miss.”

Talley displayed a splendid performance. Apart from making five birdies, she dropped zero shots and finished within three places of the leaders on the leaderboard. This round has extended her bogey-free streak to 24 consecutive holes, going back to Friday.

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Despite her youth, Talley is no stranger to elite competition. qualified on May 11 at Richmond Country Club after shooting 70 and 69 (five under par). Taley became the only player in the 67-field to come in below par. She won the qualifier by five shots. This is her third consecutive U.S. Women’s Open appearance. In 2024, when she made her debut at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania, she was just 15 years old.

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Asterisk Talley has been chasing records since she was 15.

Talley was born in February 2019 in Fresno, California, and grew up in Chowchilla. In 2024, at 15, she competed in three USGA championship finals in one year, becoming the first player to do so. She won the US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball alongside Sarah Lim. She also finished runner-up in the US Girls Junior and US Women’s Amateur that year.

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In the same summer, she represented the United States in the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale Golf Club, England, where she beat the then-world number one Lottie Woad in Sunday singles. As recently as April 2026, she led the Augusta National Women’s Amateur through 36 holes after back-to-back bogey-free rounds of 66 and 67 at Champions Retreat. Still, she had a difficult final round at Augusta National, which handed the title to Maria Jose Marin. She finished tied for fourth.

Two months after finishing fourth at Augusta, Talley proved that result was no fluke.

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Roshni Dhawan

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Roshni Dhawan is a writer and researcher covering golf at EssentiallySports. With a background in brand strategy and research, she brings a process-driven approach to her coverage, prioritizing accuracy, structure, and depth in every story. Her work is rooted in making the sport accessible to a wide audience, from long-time followers to those newly engaging with the game. Her coverage focuses on narrative-driven features, player journeys, and the evolving dynamics shaping the sport. By going beyond surface-level reporting, Roshni highlights the human stories that define golf, placing developments within a broader context that resonates with readers while maintaining clarity and relevance. Before transitioning into sports media, she built experience across research and content roles, developing a strong foundation in data analysis, academic writing, and structured storytelling. This background informs her ability to approach golf with both analytical discipline and creative perspective, ensuring her reporting remains both insightful and engaging.

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Siddharth Rawat

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