Rachel Heck spent 36 holes doing just enough to get into match play at The Honors Course.
On Thursday, the number beside her name was 61.
By the time she walked off the 18th green, it meant very little.
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Heck defeated No. 4 seed Anna Davis, 1 up, in one of the marquee matches of the Round of 64 at the 126th U.S. Women’s Amateur in Ooltewah, Tennessee. The USGA confirmed Heck’s advancement after a match that went all the way to the final hole.
It was the most recognizable upset of the day, but hardly the only reminder of what Thursday represented.
The first two days at The Honors Course were about accumulating strokes and finding a place among the top 64. Match play immediately changed the math. A high seed offered no cushion. A bad hole could be forgotten. A difficult 36 holes could suddenly become irrelevant.
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Heck was one example.
Rianne Malixi was another.
And 15-year-old co-medalist Hailey Kim learned the other side of that equation.
Match Play Reset
Thursday’s Bracket Flip
No. 61 Rachel Heck
Defeated No. 4 Anna Davis, 1 up
Hsin Chun Liao
Survived the nine-for-two playoff, then eliminated co-medalist Hailey Kim
Rianne Malixi
Barely reached match play at 4 over, then defeated Jasmine Koo, 6 and 5
The takeaway: Stroke play determined the seeds. Match play immediately began making them irrelevant.
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Heck Makes No. 61 Look Misleading
Rachel Heck hugs Anna Davis after winning 1 up on the 18th hole during the round of 64 of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. Darren Carroll/USGADarren Carroll/USGA
Calling Heck a No. 61 seed without context would be technically accurate and competitively misleading.
The 24-year-old Memphis native is making her ninth U.S. Women’s Amateur appearance, the most of anyone in the field, and her 13th USGA championship start. She won the 2021 NCAA individual championship at Stanford, played on two winning U.S. Curtis Cup teams and reached the semifinals of this championship in both 2021 and 2023.
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Thursday also marked Heck’s first match-play victory in the championship in three years.
That résumé was sitting on the opposite side of the tee from Davis, regardless of what the seed numbers suggested.
Davis arrived as the No. 4 seed after finishing stroke play at 4 under. She also brought considerable match-play experience of her own as a member of the 2024 and 2026 U.S. Curtis Cup teams.
Heck was 8 shots worse than Davis during stroke play.
On Thursday, she needed to be better by one hole.
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That distinction is why this championship can turn so quickly.
Malixi Flips Last Year’s Script
Rianne Malixi plays her tee shot on the fifth hole during the second round of stroke play of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. Darren Carroll/USGA
Few players illustrate that better than Malixi.
A year ago at Bandon Dunes, Malixi shared medalist honors and entered match play as the No. 1 seed. She was eliminated in the Round of 64.
This time, she nearly missed match play altogether.
The 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion opened with a 5-over 77 and needed a second-round 71 to reach 4 over, right on the eventual cut line.
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Once she got into the bracket, the struggle disappeared.
Malixi overwhelmed Jasmine Koo, 6 and 5, to advance to the Round of 32.
There is a wonderful bit of match-play symmetry in that.
In 2025, Malixi played the first two days better than almost everyone and went home after one match. This year, she needed nearly every available stroke simply to reach Thursday, then produced one of the most decisive victories of the opening round.
For a player trying to become the first repeat U.S. Women’s Amateur champion since Danielle Kang won in 2010 and 2011, surviving Wednesday may ultimately matter considerably more than where she landed in the bracket.
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Medalist Honors Do Not Buy a Second Chance
Hsin Chun Liao reacts after sinking her birdie putt on the third hole during the strokeplay playoffs of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. Darren Carroll/USGA
Thursday morning actually began with unfinished stroke play.
Weather and darkness Wednesday forced 31 players to return to The Honors Course, with Kim eventually completing a 5-under 67 to join Japan’s Anna Iwanaga as co-medalists at 6-under 138.
Then came an even more stressful exercise at the other end of the leaderboard.
Nine players tied at 4 over went into sudden death for the final two places in the 64-player bracket. Addison Klonowski and Hsin Chun Liao eventually survived to claim those spots.
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Hours later, one of the golfers who barely made it into match play eliminated one of the players who had beaten the entire field during stroke play.
Liao knocked out Kim in the Round of 64.
That may have been Thursday’s cleanest illustration of the format.
Kim had played 36 holes well enough to earn a medal.
Liao had played them well enough to earn one more chance.
Once they reached the first tee of match play, neither distinction carried forward.
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The bracket produced other lower-seed winners as well. No. 50 Lindsay McGrath defeated No. 15 Jaclyn LaHa, 6 and 4. No. 60 Anna Fang beat No. 5 Mary Miller, 2 and 1, while No. 44 Gabriella Nicastro defeated No. 21 Taylor Snively, 5 and 4.
The seedings did their job. They organized the bracket.
They were never going to predict it.
Friday Will Cut the Field Twice
There is little recovery time for anyone who survived Thursday.
The Round of 32 begins Friday morning, followed by the Round of 16 later in the day. By Friday evening, a championship that began Tuesday with 156 players will be down to eight. Quarterfinals and semifinals follow Saturday before Sunday’s 36-hole championship match.
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That makes Thursday important for more than the names that disappeared.
Road to the Robert Cox Trophy
The Championship Accelerates Friday
Friday, Aug. 7:
Round of 32 and Round of 16
Saturday, Aug. 8:
Quarterfinals and semifinals
Sunday, Aug. 9:
36-hole championship match
The field goes from 32 players Friday morning to just eight by the end of the day.
Heck now has another opportunity in a championship where she has twice reached the semifinals but never won the Robert Cox Trophy. Malixi remains alive after coming within a few strokes of never reaching match play. Liao went from fighting for the 64th spot Thursday morning to owning a Round-of-32 tee time Thursday afternoon.
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That is the U.S. Women’s Amateur once match play begins.
The number beside a player’s name tells you how she arrived.
Thursday at The Honors Course showed how little it can tell you about how long she will stay.
PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on R.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Aug 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the Golf section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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