HISTORY
The 2025 World Junior Girls Golf Championship will mark the tenth playing of this championship – Golf Canada is committed to conducting this international competition on an annual basis.
The inaugural tournament in 2014 was held at Markham, Ont.’s Angus Glen Golf Club and saw Team USA claim team honours while Beverly Hills, Calif., native Mika Liu finish atop the leaderboard. Team Sweden took home silver, while Canada One comprised of Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., Naomi Ko of Victoria, B.C., and Grace St-Germain of Ottawa captured bronze. The 2014 Championship was the final amateur event in which Brooke Henderson competed before turning professional.
The 2015 Championship was conducted at the Marshes Golf Club in Ottawa, where Team Korea captured the team competition and Hye-jin Choi of South Korea was crowned the individual champion.
The 2016 Championship was held at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club and first-time entrants in the tournament, Team Philippines, captured the team win with Yuka Saso of the Philippines claiming individual medalist honors. Céleste Dao of Notre-Dame-de-L’Île-Perrot, Que. and Richmond Hill, Ont. native Monet Chun finished with shares of 16th as the top Canadians.
In 2017, the Championship returned to the Marshes Golf Club in Ottawa, where Team Spain rallied in a complete comeback in the first ever World Junior Girl’s playoff to take home the gold over the Korean squad. Céleste Dao finished as the low Canadian with a share of 24th place at 6 over for the tournament.
In 2018, 19 teams from 18 different countries were invited to participate in the sixth presentation of the Championship in Ottawa. In the team competition, Team Italy captured gold after a sudden-death playoff on the 18th hole against the USA, their first ever medal at the Championship. Joining them on the podium was the USA with silver and Thailand with bronze. The Thai team’s 15 year-old Atthaya Thitikul set a course record at Camelot Golf and Country Club with a blistering round of 60 (-12) on her way to set the World Junior Girls Championship 72-hole tournament record of 20 under par.
In 2019, the Championship returned to the site of the inaugural championship, Angus Glen Golf Club. In the team competition, the Republic of Korea claimed the gold medal, their second World Junior Girls title after winning in 2015 at The Marshes GC in Ottawa. In the individual contest, Atthaya Thitikul claimed her second consecutive World Junior Girls Championship title by two strokes over Ye Won Lee of the Republic of Korea.
The tournament was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the Championship was held once again at Angus Glen Golf Club. In the team competition, Team Spain, the early favourites with all three players ranked inside the top-100 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), rose victorious. In the individual competition, Spaniard Cayetana Fernández, who was tied for second through 54 holes, shot a 2-under 70 in difficult conditions to finish at 6-under for the tournament.
The 2023 Championship was conducted at Brampton Golf Club in Brampton, where Team Canada 1 had their best team podium finish ever – first place. Denisa Vodickova of Czechia won individual title, the Czechia’s first-ever individual medal in the eight-year history of the championship. Canadian Anna Huang capped off a tournament to remember, earning runner-up honours in the individual competition. The runner-up finish for Huang was the best by a Canadian in the individual competition since Brooke Henderson’s fourth-place finish in 2014.
The Republic of Korea 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. In the individual competition, Soomin Oh took the lead on round one 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.