Asterisk Talley’s biggest supporter in Pennsylvania isn’t her father. Make no mistake, he was at the U.S. Women’s Open, providing crucial inputs to her game. But just not the person you or the world thought. You see, the tattooed person with the loudest cheers wasn’t her father. In fact, he wasn’t biologically related to the teenager at all. 

Asterisk Talley clarified after being faced with a question about her ‘tattooed’ father. “Well, for one, that is not my dad. The person you’re talking about is not my dad.” Her dad, she revealed, didn’t show that much excitement. Contrarily, her father was more focused on her game. That has always been the case. 

“Bad round, he’s just going to try and tell they what I need to work on and then when I have a good round he’s going to still tell me what I need to work on because we’re always going to make mistakes even when we play a good round, so yeah,” Talley said in the post-round press conference. 

Her father, too, is inked on his arm. But the person with a full-sleeve tattoo was his friend. The 15-year-old joked, “They’re really excited.” They had enough reasons. At 15 years old, Talley is the youngest player on the field. Yet, her maturity on the course has made it look like anything but that. 

Saving par is the best strategy, Talley revealed. She has made three bogeys and one triple bogey through 36 holes. That strategy has paid well for the 15-year-old; she is T10 within five shots of the leader at the moment the report went for publication. If that makes you wonder how she is so calm and composed on the greens, like a seasoned pro, Asterisk Talley credits her father.

Asterisk Talley reveals the one piece of advice her father gave

After the second round, Talley sat down for a chat in the Golf Channel’s Live From studio. Lancaster Golf & Country Club has given the top-of-the-crop a run for money. Nelly Korda carded a 10 yesterday. Only a handful of pros broke par. Did that make her nervous? Even if she was, it didn’t show in her game. The 15-year-old said, “My dad always taught me not to be nervous because if I am nervous, then I am just going to mess up anyway.”

Notably, her dad was looking for her at the Augusta National earlier this year.  Speaking about her dad’s influence on her game, Talley said, “A lot of people think it’s like tough, because, you know, golf dad.” On the contrary, the teenager revealed she prefers to travel with her dad to the course. Her dad knows her game better than anybody, courtesy of the duo practicing regularly. “He knows my game probably better than myself.” 

Asterisk Talley signs with a star on top of the ‘i’. She has been practicing that since a young age. That skill might come in very handy in the years to come for the teenager, who is juggling between studies and her first U.S. Women’s Open.