Before the weekend, Aaliyah Kikumoto was a dancer and cheerleader at Texas Tech University with a few thousand followers on social media.
Fast forward a few days and she is now an internet sensation, with a TikTok video of her at the 2023 Masters golf tournament going viral and her following skyrocketing.
Kikumoto was at the 16th tee at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, when the camera concentrated on her face as she stood behind eventual winner, Spain's Jon Rahm and U.S. golfer Brooks Koepka.
Kikumoto, who was at the tournament with her father Charles, was then hailed on TikTok after a short clip of her concentrating on the golf before laughing and smiling was posted by the Double Bogeys account and captioned: "Somehow I feel in love with someone I only saw for 15 seconds."
@double.bogey this made the masters 10 times better #masters #golf #golfgirls #golftiktok #masters2023 #augusta
♬ original sound - lucia <3
With the clip being viewed more than 3 million times, Kikumoto has seen a spike in the number of followers on her Instagram account, the figure jumping five-fold in just 24 hours.
Before the TikTok clip went viral, she had just under 5,000 followers but now has an additional 19,000, for a total of more than 23,000.
After some initial mystery as to who the woman in the clip was, Kikumoto revealed herself in the comments section of the TikTok video, telling everyone: "Thts me."
Charles, father of the unsuspecting social media star, wrote on Twitter: "[E]njoying easter at the masters with my TTU pom squad hat on. Our daughter Aaliyah has the green masters hat on and goes to Tech. Wreck em!"
Kikumoto's mother, A.J., has been joyous in her sharing that her daughter had become an unwitting star of this year's Masters.
Under screengrabs of her TV appearance, she wrote on Twitter: "YAY!!! Repping Texas Tech!!! Go TTU Poms!!!! So proud of my hubby @CharlesKikumoto and TTU Poms daughter Aaliyah!!!!"
Aaliyah joined in the comments and posted a pic of her with the green Masters hat that she was wearing in the viral clip, writing: "thank you Ho. 16 🤩💚#themastersgirl #themasters."
For Rahm it was his first Masters win, carding a three-under 69 to finish on 12 under to win by four shots over Koepka, who had led by two going into the final round.
Koepka ended joint second with veteran Phil Mickelson, who shot a seven-under 65 to finish eight under.
Rahm is the fourth Spaniard to win the Masters and his victory came on what would have been the 66th birthday of legendary Spanish star and two-time champion Seve Ballesteros.
He won in 1980 and 1983 and this was on Rahm's mind when speaking after securing the title.
Rahm said: "I wasn't sure how [the emotion] was going to come to me until I hit the third shot on the 18th.
"History of the game is a big reason why I play and Seve is a big part of that history.
"For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his second Masters win and on his birthday was incredibly meaningful."
Do you have a tip on a sports story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about golf? Let us know via entertainment@newsweek.com.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
