Soomin Oh maintains individual lead following a second consecutive 68 on Friday
Mississauga, Ont. – The defending champions have taken the lead after 54 holes, as Team Canada 1 has pulled ahead of the Republic of Korea at the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship at Credit Valley Golf & Country Club in Mississauga, Ont. Moving day lived up to its name as Team Canada 1 started the day four shots behind the Republic of Korea (Korea), but now leads by two with 18 holes remaining. Canada shot a collective 11-under to move to 19-under overall, with Korea shooting 5-under today to now sit at 17-under.
Canada was led by Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont. who fired a 7-under 65 and Aphrodite Deng of Calgary, Alta. who shot a 4-under 68 to put Canada ahead by two. Team Canada 1 Coach Jeff MacDonald complimented his team’s strong start and just how much all three players have played well together. “This whole week has been such a team effort, Clairey was so good yesterday to get us in this position today, so it’s great, every day it’s been a different combination of players counting. In an event like this if you can just get all three players going then that’s huge and I know tomorrow I got three players ready to go and they’re going to play great,” said MacDonald.
Liu recorded three birdies and two eagles to sit at 7-under on the day through nine. She said that she was able to hit fairways and greens where she wanted to and made some putts. Liu’s first eagle came on the 6th hole. “I hit the drive close to the water. I had a little bit shorter than 190 in and had a hybrid in my hand and it’s a club I’m more confident in, so I was able to take a whack at the ball and it ended up pretty ok,” Liu said with a laugh. Pretty ok indeed as she sank an eight-foot putt for eagle. On the ninth hole, Liu drained a 35-footer for her second eagle. Liu complemented her teammates for their togetherness over the first three days. “I think we’re doing really well. We’re all working really well together. For example, on the first day, I didn’t play well but my teammates did, and they had my back, yesterday Aphrodite didn’t but we had her back and today Clairey didn’t but we had her back, so I feel that we’re working really well as a team and helping each other,” said Liu.
MacDonald added, “We start at zero tomorrow the most important part of this event is the team event and even if you have a tough day, you regroup and rebound and contribute tomorrow and any one of them can do it so they’re feeding off each other, they’re supporting each other and that’s the beauty of the event really.” Another team that charged up the leaderboard on Friday was the United States who shot a collective 10-under to sit at 7-under for the tournament and moved up into third. Scarlett Schremmer from Birmingham, Ala. shot a 6-under 66 and Nikki Oh of Torrance, Calif. added a 4-under 68 to help the Americans gain ground on moving day. Coach Chris Zambri was happy his team was able to grab birdies on some non-par 5’s on the front. “It was also good that we got through the first three or four holes without any bogeys from them because those are also tough holes to start with, so it was a great start to the round. They both played well on the back, Nikki ran into some trouble on 16 and 17 but both birded 18 which was awesome, so it was a good day and nice to feel like we’re in the mix a little bit,” he said.
Mexico sits alone in fourth at even par with Hong Kong, China in fifth at 1-over. Team Canada 2 is currently tied for 13th with Belgium at 8-over. Team Canada 2 is represented by 14-year-old Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont. (1-over 73) and 15-year-old Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta. (4-over 76) and 17-year-old Lindsay McGrath of Oakville, Ont. (6-over 78).
The following are the standings following the second round of the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship:
- Canada 1-19
- Republic of Korea-17
- United States-7
- Mexico E
- Hong Kong, China+1
- France+3
- Denmark+3
- Chinese Taipei+3
- Sweden+3
- Czechia+5
- Italy+6
- Germany+7
- Canada 2+8
- Belgium+8
- Colombia+12
- Switzerland+12
- Ireland+13
- Spain+14
- Iceland+14
- England+15
- Finland+22
- Poland+28
- Peru+38
- Morocco+49
Click here for the team leaderboard following the third round of the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
In the individual competition, Soomin Oh of Korea maintains her lead following a second consecutive round of 4-under 68 to move to 11-under for the tournament and holds a five-shot lead over Aphrodite Deng. Oh recorded four birdies in a bogey free round on Friday. Five are tied for third with Alexis Lamadrid of Mexico, Arianna Lau of Hong Kong, China, Shauna Liu, Seojin Park of Korea and Scarlett Schremmer all at 4-under.
The individual champion will receive an exemption into the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open being held at Mississaugua Golf & Country Club in Mississauga from August 19 – 24, 2025. Players, coaches and staff wore black ribbons on Friday in honour of the President of the Italian Golf Federation, Franco Chimenti who passed away on Thursday at the age of 85. Chimenti led the Italian Golf Federation for 22 years. Teams Canada 1, Korea and the United States will play together during the final round. For final round tee times and groupings, please click here. Click here for the individual leaderboard following the third round of the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
