Soomin Oh shoots four consecutive rounds in the 60’s to win individual competition and an exemption into the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open
Mississauga, Ont. – The Republic of Korea have won the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship for the third time in tournament history, beating Team Canada 1 on a tiebreaker at the Credit Valley Golf & Country Club in Mississauga, Ont. on Saturday.
The Republic of Korea (Korea) entered the day two shots back of Team Canada and at one point trailed the defending champions by six shots during the final round. Coming down the stretch Canada had a one-shot lead with three to play. As the final group teed off on no.18 Canada and Korea were tied at 19-under. Aphrodite Deng of Calgary, Alta. hit her second shot just behind the pin leaving a lengthy look at birdie while Soomin Oh from Korea hit her second shot closer than Deng but still faced a difficult putt. Both players went on to record pars keeping the score tied at 19-under. As per tournament tie breaking rules, the decider is the third non-counting score on the day. Sumin Hong’s score of 74 just beat Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont. by two.
“I am very very proud of my girls. We had a tough day yesterday and today, but I told them to hang tight and with four holes left I said we start right now, and they did, and they made it, and I am very proud of them,” said Korea Coach Naon Min.
This marked the second consecutive year that Korea and Canada battled right to the very end, with Canada winning by one last year in Brampton, Ont.
“Two of my girls were here last year and last year was the opposite ending so they had that experience and that gave them a stronger mindset so that helped,” added Min.
Korea was led again by Oh, who shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday and Seojin Park who shot a 1-over 73. Canada’s scores on Saturday came from Deng and Clairey Lin of Langley, B.C. who both shot even par rounds of 72.
Oh said that the experience from last year helped their team this year and their mindset for the tournament. “Our team are all friends, and we cheer for each other and that makes me more comfortable, and the result was good.”
The win gives Korea’s it’s third team title, which is the most in the nine-year history of the world championship.
Team Canada 1 Coach Jeff MacDonald was proud of how his team competed all week and when one play struggled, they bounced back the next day throughout the week. “They were amazing all week, they played great today, they battled. Team Korea is a real strong team, and we knew that going in and our girls fought really hard and I’m just so happy for them and so proud for them, tough way to finish at the end but still a huge battle,” said MacDonald.
Team Canada 1 earned a podium finish for the second consecutive year and was a completely new team this year. MacDonald said it’s an exciting time in Canada with a lot of strong talent coming through the program.
“It just goes to show you the depth that we have within the program, two of these girls are 14 and one is 15 years old so I think we got a really bright future ahead. There are lots of girls on our NextGen program that are going to step up and do the same thing,” he said.
The United States shot a combined 2-under on Saturday to improve their total score to 9-under and took bronze medalist honours. Team Canada 2 finished tied for 12th with Italy at 13-over. Team Canada 2 was represented by 14-year-old Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont., 15-year-old Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta. and 17-year-old Lindsay McGrath of Oakville, Ont.
The following are the final standings following the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship:
- Republic of Korea-19*
- Canada 1-19
- United States-9
- France+2
- Denmark+2
- Hong Kong, China+3
Click here for the final team leaderboard following the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
Soomin Oh – 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship Individual Champion
In the individual competition, Soomin Oh took the lead on Thursday and didn’t look back finishing with four consecutive rounds in the 60’s (69-68-68-69-274) to finish the tournament at -14 under. “I actually started the tournament bogey, bogey on my first two holes but I hung on tight, and I finished strong, so I am very happy,” said Oh through her coach.
Oh finished eight shots ahead of Aphrodite Deng to earn an exemption into the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open at Mississaugua Golf & Country Club in Mississauga, Ont. August 19 – 24, 2025. It will be the second appearance on the LPGA Tour in her young career having played the 2023 BMW Ladies Championship which is co-sanctioned by the LPGA of Korea Tour and the LPGA Tour.
Coach Min was very proud of Oh’s performance throughout the week, “Beautiful play. This year she’s been playing good and ranks number one in Korea. The first time I saw her was a year ago, but she’s been growing up and I’m expecting more for her future now,” said Min.
When asked if Oh could become one of the next great Korean women’s golfers, she did not hesitate. “Yes, I am 100 per cent sure,” she said.
Deng finished second at 6-under following rounds of 67-75-68-72-282. Arianna Lau of Hong Kong, China finished third at 4-under with rounds of 70-70-72-72-284.
Click here for the final individual leaderboard following the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
This year marked the largest field in tournament history, with a total of 72 athletes comprising 24 teams and representing 23 countries competing for the team and individual titles. Several players who have competed in the World Junior Girls Golf Championship have gone on to great success on the LPGA Tour.
Canadian Brooke Henderson, a 13-time LPGA Tour winner and Canada’s winningest professional golfer, finished fourth in the individual competition at the inaugural championship in 2014. Other notable competitors who went on to become LPGA Tour winners include Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand who won back-to-back World Junior titles in 2018 and 2019 as well as Yuka Saso of the Philippines who won the 2016 World Junior title. 2023 CPKC Women’s Open winner, Megan Khang of the United States competed in the inaugural tournament in 2014. Other former World Junior competitors who have gone on to win on the LPGA Tour include Hannah Green of Australia and Maja Stark and Linn Grant of Sweden. Hye-Jin Choi from the Republic of Korea won both the 2015 team and individual championship at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship and has earned several top five finishes on the LPGA Tour.
The 2025 World Junior Girls Golf Championship will be played at St. Catharines Golf and Country Club, in St. Catharines, Ont., September 15 – 20. The 2026 tournament will be held at The Royal Ottawa Golf Club in Gatineau, Que., September 28 – October 3, 2026.
