With ANWA scars healing, Asterisk Talley looks to the future

HOUSTON — The thing about scars is, they last forever. They eventually become subtle and faint, but they don’t ever leave you.

Asterisk Talley’s first big, public scar is healing. A month ago at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the 17-year-old led with seven holes to play before hitting two balls into the water on the par-3 12th and limping home. It was a reminder that, for all of Talley’s world-class talent, she is still 17, a high school junior. As with all teenagers, Talley has a host of life lessons in front of her. No matter your gifts, trials and tribulations find you. That’s the deal. But for most 17-year-olds, those hard lessons don’t happen in front of thousands of people. You can stumble and fail, and most people will be none the wiser.

But Asterisk Talley has the curse — and gift — of rare talent and astronomical expectations.

Talley’s father, James, could see the trouble coming, as all parents can. Talley entered as the tournament favorite and played bogey-free golf through two rounds at Champions Retreat. She got through the 10th hole at Augusta National without dropping a shot, but the pressure, not only to win but to do it emphatically, was building with most of the crowd at Augusta trying to will her along. When Talley missed a short par putt at 11 to record her first bogey, her father could tell she let the frustration in.

“She got caught up in everyone saying, ‘no bogeys,’” James Talley told GOLF at the Chevron Championship about a bogey-free streak that went back to the previous year’s ANWA. “She was told she was going to win walking in. Everything was she’s going to win, she’s going to win, she’s going to win. She was leading, and she wanted to win in style. When she didn’t win in style, she gave up. She has those little frustrations. She doesn’t give up on the big picture, but she gave up on a bad hole. You don’t give up on Amen Corner.”

“There was just a lot of pressure going into those holes,” Asterisk Talley told GOLF at the Chevron. “[Winner Maria Jose Marin] was playing well, and I hadn’t made a bogey all week, and then I made the bogey on 11, and it was just unnecessary. I just missed a short putt. I didn’t think I was too flustered going onto the tee, but I just wasn’t too confident in the shot and the club with the wind always changing on the hole. Just wasn’t the tee shot I wanted at that point.”

James and his wife, Brandii, say they “blacked out” after their daughter’s lead evaporated. Unable to stop what was happening, they floated along until it all came to an end. They consoled her when she reached the clubhouse, and the tears that Asterisk Talley had worked to keep in as she tried to rally returned.

Then, what Asterisk Talley did next said more about her than any shot could. In a time when professional golfers often bolt from tournaments after losing moments before talking to the media, 17-year-old Asterisk Talley, with tears in her eyes, stood and spoke about what will be one of the toughest golf moments of what promises to be a long, successful career.

“People just want to see the side of the story of what happened,” Talley told GOLF. “People try to assume what happened. People try to blame someone else. Blame the caddie, blame the course, blame the wind. It was obviously the players’ fault at all times. Can’t really blame anyone else for your mistakes. I needed to do that.

“That’s also an obligation when you get to the big stage. People are going to want to talk to you about what you did, even if you didn’t get what you wanted. Just part of it.”

It was there she explained the “mis-club,” the issue with the sand in the back bunker at No. 12 and the decision to repeat her fourth shot from that bunker, which also found Rae’s Creek. But Talley also showed that the tears were not only for an opportunity lost, but because she felt like she had let everyone at Augusta National who had been trying to push her across the line down.

“I’m just a little emotional, not only because I didn’t get it done today, but also just everyone is so supportive,” Talley said. “It’s hard when they have to watch that and see you not do well or not accomplish what you wanted. I still played fine today even though that one hole just kind of got me.”

What Asterisk Talley took from a brutal and very public loss at the world’s most famous course is not what most 17-year-olds would’ve. They would still be stewing on losing a chance to etch their name in history. Asterisk Talley still thinks about that day; that’s only human. But for someone whose name means “Little Star” in Greek and has big dreams, she knows that’s all part of what she signed up for. If you want to win the important events, you have to be willing to get hurt.

“Obviously, it wasn’t the result that I wanted,” Talley told GOLF. “But that’s going to happen sometimes when you’re trying to win. Things won’t go your way. I’m glad that I was able to play some good golf after [the 12th hole]. Glad for the opportunity, obviously, to play ANWA every year. And I’ll try again.”

This week at the Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major of the season, is different.

All eyes aren’t on Asterisk Talley this week. Her parents walk the course at Memorial Park among sparse crowds as their 17-year-old star takes another important step toward her dreams. This week, Asterisk Talley isn’t supposed to walk to a win. This week, she’s far back of World No. 2 Nelly Korda, who will try to win her third major on Sunday. This week, Asterisk Talley is soaking up a learning opportunity in the world she hopes to one day inhabit.

“It’s the experience,” James Talley said. “Playing people she’ll eventually play with. Just that alone and playing well, knowing that she can improve, just learning the things that they know that at 17 she probably doesn’t understand quite well.”

He had her watch Korda’s second-round interview, in which she discussed “maturing” as a player and avoiding unnecessary risks. If you want to win the big events, you have to know when to pick your spots, minimize mistakes and take advantage when the opportunity presents itself. Talley hasn’t played with Korda this week. She made the cut but was 11 shots back when the weekend started. Still, Asterisk Talley has been taking notes from afar about how the LPGA’s marquee star has brought a major championship to its knees.

“She’s making it look easy,” Asterisk Talley said with a laugh. “Just the way she’s handling herself. The way she’s not getting too excited when she’s playing well and just trying to play her game, not worried about the rest of the field.”

This is Talley’s fourth major championship and second made cut. For a budding star with huge goals, these tournaments, where all eyes aren’t on her and she’s around players she hopes to one day call contemporaries, are priceless.

“This is preparation,” Talley told GOLF. “This is where I want to be. It’s the main goal. I want to do this every week.”

As Astersk Talley’s star has risen, her parents have preached the need for her to keep the humility and grace that have endeared her to many, that she showed in taking the mic at the ANWA. On that day when a life lesson was delivered — one her father wishes, as all parents do, that he could’ve stopped.

“I wish I was on the bag,” James Talley said. “I would’ve been like, ‘Hey, it’s OK. Take a breath.’”

Asterisk Talley does just that, hours later, next to the Memorial Park clubhouse, when thinking about that day. Not a deep breath, but a quick pause.

“Stuff like that happens,” she said. “Can’t really do anything about it now. Just have to forget about it.”

And with that, Asterisk Talley headed off to the practice putting green to continue her journey. As she walked by, Aapatron said he was “sorry about the ANWA.”

The scars never leave; they just fade over time.