EVANS, Ga. (AP) — California teen Asterisk Talley birdied her opening three holes on her way to a 5-under 67 on Thursday, finishing two rounds at Champions Retreat without a bogey to take a one-shot lead into the final round on golf's brightest stage at the Augusta National Women's Amateur.
The final round Saturday is at Augusta National, the first public look at the course ahead of next week's Masters, and it's an arena the 17-year-old Talley knows well.
She made a late charge a year ago and shot 68 to finish one shot behind Carla Bernat of Spain.
“I think just always have the highest expectations for myself possible,” said Talley, who in 2024 became the first player to be runner-up at three USGA championships. “I think if you don’t set the bar high, then you’re never going to really succeed to your full expectation. So just trying to go out there and win every week and hopefully getting a good score out there and playing my best golf.”
Talley, the first player to go bogey-free over 36 holes at Champions Retreat since the ANWA began in 2019, was at 11-under 133.
She was on the LPGA Tour last week, tying for 29th in the Ford Championship in Phoenix.
“Just playing against such good players, it kind of ups your game a little bit. I think that’s kind of good preparation coming into this week,” Talley said.
She led by one shot Stanford sophomore Meja Örtengren of Sweden, the No. 5 player in women's amateur golf who rolled in an 80-foot eagle putt from off the green at the par-5 third hole and posted a 67. Also at 134 was Arkansas junior Maria Jose Marin of Colombia, who made birdie on her last hole for a 69.
Avery Weed of Mississippi State (70) and Stanford sophomore Andrea Revuelta of Spain (72) were five shots behind in a tie for fourth. Revuelta is the No. 3 player in the women's amateur ranking.
The cut to the top 30 players and ties was at 1-under 133, a high-pressure moment to get a chance to compete at Augusta National on Saturday. All the players in the ANWA will be at Augusta National on Friday for a practice round.
Among those who missed the cut were U.S. Women's Amateur champion Megha Ganne, one of five Stanford players in the field this week. She opened with a 77 and never got on track in the second round with a 74.
Elia Galitsky of Thailand, the 19-year-old who has finished in the top 10 her previous two appearances in the ANWA, birdied three straight holes only to make par on her par-5 closing hole for a 70 to miss the cut by one shot.
Örtengren has reached the final round two of the last four years. She closed with a 76 a year ago at Augusta National to tie for 14th.
“I think I’ve learned that you need to have a lot of patience out there and be disciplined with your approaches,” the Swede said. “It can get away from you quite easily if you hit bad shots into the greens, but also you can get a lot of opportunities if you hit the right spots at Augusta. So I think that will be the most important thing, staying disciplined from the fairway and also knowing where the right and bad spots are.”
Marin, the NCAA champion last year, made birdie on all four par 5s at Champions Retreat to leave her in prime position to add what already has become the most prestigious amateur event in women's golf.
Marin reached the final round each of her first two years, and was devastated to miss the cut a year ago. Now she's back to the home of the Masters with a chance to win.
“It means the world to me, just the fact of playing Augusta National,” Marin said. “It’s amazing. It’s incredible, and it’s just an opportunity that we all get thanks to this amazing tournament. Yeah, just going to enjoy it a lot, enjoy the walk with my family, with my friends, and all of the people that are watching me back in Colombia.”
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Amateur golfer Asterisk Talley hits at tee shot at the second hole during the final round of the LPGA Ford Championship golf tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chandler, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
PLAINVIEW, New York (AP) — Before Stu Goldberg begins his night shift driving for Uber, he pulls out a notebook to read a handwritten list of reminders. “No tickets. Full stops,” he'd scrawled in the book. “Careful backing up. Watch for pedestrians and bikes.”
With a Ph.D in neuropsychology and decades of experience running his own business, Goldberg, 74, didn't picture chauffeuring strangers around when he retired. But financially, things didn’t go as planned. So he makes the best of his situation shuttling passengers through New York City at night.
“I like the freedom. I like the flexibility. I like meeting people,” Goldberg said. “I like that most of the time I can get, once or twice a day, a good conversation with somebody.”
Goldberg is one of a growing number of Americans who have “unretired” in recent years. After concluding decades-long careers at hospitals, universities and corporations, they returned to the workforce due to insufficient retirement savings, rising living costs and a desire to stay active.
Some are finding gig work, or contract jobs, through apps or digital platforms. Delivering people and parcels, taking care of pets or folding other people’s laundry suits them because they can set their own hours and work, or not, when they choose.
“We’re living longer, so people are working longer because they have to fund those extra years,” said Carly Roszkowski, vice president of financial resilience at the nonprofit organization AARP. “And this concept of retirement for most people as like a cliff or a day they’re working towards really isn’t a reality for most.”
Goldberg wanted to teach after winding down his software and telemarketing company. But he needed to earn more money than what the occasional adjunct professor job teaching statistics would pay.
“Uber came up, and it was not a bad choice for me because I was comfortable driving people,” he said. “I felt it could be a good way to make money and keep most of it.”
About 1 in 5 Americans over age 50 who aren't retired say they have no retirement savings, according to a survey the AARP conducted in January 2025.
Retirees and employment experts say gig work has advantages and downsides, including limited job protections and wages that may be insufficient to cover on-the-job expenses. Here are some factors to consider.
Barbara Baratta, 72, retired as a pediatric nurse in 2018. But she got restless after a few years and signed up with the pet care app Rover, which connected her to jobs walking dogs and using her nursing skills to administer medications to cats.
The work keeps her active. “I get my steps in and do hill climbing,” she said.
In a leafy New Jersey suburb, Baratta set out to coax Barley, a mix of pit bull, beagle and shepherd, into the afternoon air with a wind chill pushing the temperature down into the 20s.
“Barley, if you turn this way, the wind will be blowing behind you,” she said gently, leading the dog down a wide street.
Baratta likes the physical nature of dog walking. She ran two half-marathons in the past year but notices that "being older and not having knees that are totally great” makes steep or uneven terrain a challenge even for her. She advises people in her age group to be careful about which pets they agree to walk.
“Some dogs are big and strong, which can be an issue, a lesson I learned very early on,” Baratta said. “An 80-pound dog, ... they’re going to pull, they’re going to run away.”
Driving can be hard on the back and legs, and the challenge of finding restrooms to use on the go becomes difficult to deal with as you age, Goldberg cautioned.
Days can feel long and lonely after one retires. Working part-time can provide social interaction.
Baruch Schwartz, 78, was a wedding photographer for decades until the work became too physically demanding to do full-time. He started driving for Uber and Lyft and derives satisfaction from feeling needed. “I feel like I’m on a mission,” he said after taking a passenger home from a kidney dialysis appointment.
Driving for Uber gives Goldberg a chance to meet a variety of people. One night he spoke with a Scottish historian about the movie “Braveheart.” Another night a passenger asked him how to know whether it was the right time to propose to his girlfriend.
“I'm amazed at what people will tell me about their relationships,” Goldberg said.
One of the draws of working for gig platforms is the ability to set your own hours. Baratta's schedule allowed her to babysit her grandchildren.
Goldberg appreciated the flexibility of setting his own hours when there was a recent death in his family. But between that unplanned trip and a root canal, and no vacation or sick days offered by his job, he went several days without income.
“When that happens, even though you have the flexibility, which you like, and you don’t have to call anybody and say ‘I’m not driving today,’ you still don’t make the money that day. And you’re still paying insurance,” Goldberg said.
Before investing time into gig work, research what percentage the company takes from workers' earnings.
“The house always wins, so the amount of money you are going to get as a driver or delivery worker is very much controlled by the platform,” said Alexandrea Ravenelle, a sociologist and gig economy researcher at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “There are no workplace protections, so if you get injured on the job, if you have any types of problems, if you have a car accident, for instance, you are entirely out of luck.”
Uber maintains commercial auto insurance coverage on behalf of its drivers, although New York City requires drivers to hold that insurance themselves, said Uber spokesman Ryan Thornton.
Goldberg hit three nasty potholes in three weeks, paying $144 each time to replace the tires. He lost money those weeks, despite working, he said.
“I’d say most drivers are not happy with the money that they’re making, unless they’re working more hours than I’m willing to do,” Goldberg said.
LisaKay “LK” Foyle, 64, of Orange, Texas, found a way to maximize her earnings on Poplin, an app which connects her with clients who need help with laundry. She has seniority among workers on the app so chooses to accept express orders, which pay the highest rate, and declines lower-paying jobs.
Foyle marvels at the state of some families’ dirty laundry: “all the socks are inside-out, all the underwear is in the pants, and you’ve got to check every single pocket, or you’re washing marbles or frogs or the snacks they had that day.”
Baratta's dog-walking income supplements several small pensions and Social Security benefits. She charges $20 for a half-hour walk, not including her driving time to and from the location. Rover keeps about 20%, she said. The $1,000 to $2,000 she makes per month helps pay the bills, she said.
“The dogs and cats are delights,” Baratta said. “I’m not becoming rich doing this, ... but I’ve met a lot of great families doing it."
Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well
Retiree Barbara Baratta walks a dog, Duncan, in Short Hills, N.J. on March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Cathy Bussewitz)
Retiree Stu Goldberg prepares to pick up passengers for Uber near Plainview, N.Y., on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Emily Wang Fujiyama)
(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)
