One was the hunter, and one was the hunted Saturday during the final round of the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.
Giovanni Daniele Binaghi was part of a tightly-bunched leaderboard after 36 holes of the boys' championship, while Asterisk Talley looked primed to run away with the title in the girls' tournament.
Both took different routes to get back to the 18th green for the trophy and gold jacket presentation, and both got there in historic fashion against world-class fields.
Binaghi's bogey-free 8-under 64 is the lowest round by an eventual champion in the 13 year history of the boys' tournament, while Talley's 9-under 207 total is the new record score in year three of the girls' championship.
"It's a blessing just to be here, and to win is, like, amazing and something I never dreamed of," said Talley, a Californian who turned 15 last month. She led from wire to wire this week, shooting matching 70s in the first and second rounds to build her confidence. She took a four-shot lead into the final round and continued to extend it from there, making only one bogey in a round of 67 that left her six shots clear of the field.
Binaghi was three behind co-leaders Louis Klein and Bowen Mauss, and he wasted little time tracking them down. He birdied three of his first four holes and kept rolling from there, making five more birdies while his closest competitors failed to keep pace. Klein (69) finished second at 9 under, first-round leader Joshua Bai (69) was another shot back in third, and Gerardo Gomez (70) was fourth at 7 under.
Binaghi, an Italian who played for the victorious European team in last year's Junior Ryder Cup, knew he was going to have to post a low score to have a chance at winning. He figured he'd need to shoot at least 5 under for the day, then exceeded his own expectations by carding one of the best rounds in tournament history - only a 62 in 2011 by future PGA Tour star Justin Thomas was a lower final round.
"Honestly, I don't know what happened with my putter this week, because the last three tournaments I was struggling with it," he explained. "I was hitting around 36, 37 putts per round. Out here, the greens were amazing, so the roll of the ball was perfect. My game from tee-to-green was really solid, so that helped me a lot."
He felt confident coming into the final round, and he knew he had been playing well this week. Some trouble with three-putts left him 2 over after Thursday's opening round, but he eliminated those from his game after that. He played his final 30 holes bogey-free, and he felt even more comfortable playing a few groups in front of the leaders.
"Yeah, I usually like being two, three shots behind the leaders because I'm a hunter, so I like making birdies behind them," he said. "So that's what I like."
Talley, on the other hand, thrived despite the pressure of being the tournament's front-runner. She was 5 under through her first eight holes Saturday, including an eagle on the par-5 fourth, and she bounced back from her lone bogey on the 14th hole by birdieing the 15th.
"It's definitely not as exciting as people think," she said of playing with a lead. "It gives you a lot of stress, but, you know, if you just stay calm and you know that your game will do the work, it will definitely be fun and you'll have a great week."
Scores were better nearly across the board Saturday after a rainy Friday, but unfortunately for the field that meant Talley's came down, too. Her 67 was the low round of the week, and it left her six shots ahead of Rianne Mikhaela Malixi (69). Eila Galitsky (68), Jasmine Koo (69) and Yana Wilson (71) tied for third at even par.
Talley's mindset after the first round was to not get ahead of herself. She tried to stick to that on day two, but she added a lot of confidence after again being the only player under par through 36 holes. From there, she put the pedal to the floor and left everyone behind.
"It's amazing just to know that my mindset's actually working and that I can just play my best golf and it will all work," she said.
Talley joked after putting on her gold jacket that it didn't quite fit right - her right arm is a little longer than her left, so her jacket will need a slight alteration.
If that needs to be arranged, she'll be back in the area soon. Up next for Talley is the Augusta National Women's Amateur, which is scheduled for April 3-6.
"It's given me a lot of confidence, for sure, and a lot of excitement that I know I can play against the best people in the world and just that I can play my best and it will all go well," she said.
