On the heels of ANWA, Asterisk Talley and Caroline Canales make LPGA Tour starts

By Amy Rogers

TARZANA, Calif. - Still basking in the glow of competing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Asterisk Talley and Caroline Canales will enjoy another unforgettable moment this week at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by PlastPro where they’ll compete against the world’s best on the LPGA Tour.

Talley, who finished runner-up at Augusta National Golf Club, and Canales, who came away with a top-30 finish in her first appearance, each received sponsor invitations to compete at El Caballero Country Club after writing to JM Eagle CEO Walter Wang. Canales was competing on the Epson Tour when her entire family jumped on the call to celebrate the good news and Talley was making a run up the leaderboard in Augusta when she received the call that she didn’t have to try her chances at the Monday Qualifier to try and get into the field.

"That's what really prepares you for toournaments like this and getting to feel the pressure with such a strong field and getting to play with such great players," Talley said about how her experience at Augusta equipped her for this week's challenge. "I think that's what prepares you for tournaments like this with even better players and more pressure and patrons."

“Greens were pretty firm and fast, and then obviously Augusta was incredible,” Canales said about her week in Augusta. “The number of patrons was shocking for me my first time there. We were treated like we were playing the Masters. It's a week that I think all the players will remember forever. I wish I could play it again.”

While Talley and Canales have shared a common road from Augusta to Los Angeles, this is where their paths will diverge.

For Talley, 16, the week is an opportunity for the young amateur to further gauge her game against the best in the world. It's something she’s grown quite familiar with in recent years, having made appearances at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2025 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, where she won the low amateur gross division after clinching Annika Sorenstam’s junior tournament to earn a spot in the field. Next week, she’ll make another major championship start on the LPGA Tour at the Chevron Championship.

“People think that I don't measure up, I think, to people that are here and in other amateur events,” Talley said about her mindset this week. “I think I'm trying to prove my game every week to show how good I am in my eyes and in other people's eyes as well. I just think it's great to get experience and to prove myself and build my confidence in these events and bring that with me to other events I play in in the future.”

While Talley will continue to climb the amateur ranks, Canales is ready to close that chapter of her playing career and will turn professional and make her LPGA Tour debut this week at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Canales is a senior at UCLA and was an honorable mention All-American.

“I definitely wanted to play ANWA, so I played the first three Epson Tour events of the season as an amateur so that I could experience ANWA,” Canales said about the timing of her decision to turn professional. “I'm so glad that I made that choice because it was just such a memorable week. I'm really blessed to have received this sponsor's exemption, and it just worked out perfectly that I could finish up ANWA and turn pro right after it finished and come play here.”

Both Talley and Canales will be leaning heavily on their local knowledge this week, which they believe will give them an advantage on the venue which is largely new to their LPGA counterparts with the course not having hosted an LPGA Tour event in nearly 25 years.

“The course knowledge really helps you with knowing the quirks of the course, knowing where to hit and not to hit,” said Talley, who finished runner-up in the 2024 U.S. Girls Junior Championship played at the course. “Something that's going to help me through the week, knowing that I've played here before and I know a little bit about the course [is going] to help me get through.”

Canales grew up a short, 15-minute drive down the road in Calabasas and often played the club thanks to a family friend who gave her access. She says the complexity of the greens of El Caballero is one of the course’s biggest defenses, and they’ll be the largest putting surfaces that the LPGA Tour has seen so far this season.

"I think it's a scoreable course if you're placing the approach shots in the correct areas," Canales said. "There are quadrants of the greens, so definitely some opportunities, and also some areas that maybe you need to respect a little bit more with those approach shots."

Fresh off the experience of a lifetime at Augusta National, Talley and Canales will make another priceless memory this week when they compete against the world’s best. It’s a chance to showcase what they learned from their experience competing at one of the best venues in the world, and to be able to showcase their local knowledge.

“Of course make the cut. Try and get up there on the leaderboard. Try and climb,” Talley said when asked about her goals for the week. “But I think just learning from my game is always something that I try and do every week.”

"To have an event of this caliber be my professional debut, it's really cool," Canales said ahead of her first LPGA Tour start. "I'm so grateful."