Shauna Liu earns spot on 2025 Team Canada – NextGen
Caledon, Ont. – Clairey Lin, Lindsay McGrath, Nobelle Park and Eileen Park have earned their spots on Team Canada for the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship following a 54-hole qualifying tournament at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course) in Caledon, Ont. They join Shauna Liu and Aphrodite Deng who already qualified based on their results from 2024.
Clairey Lin of Langley, B.C. finished the tournament at 5-under to secure the first of four spots. Lin posted rounds of 71-71-69 – 211, including a 3-under 69 on Monday to claim the top spot in qualifying. Lin will be making her first appearance at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
This season, the 14-year-old has won twice on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), including The AJGA Panama Junior, presented by St. Georges Bank in March and The Spin Junior Championship in August. Lin was also runner-up at the 2024 Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Marine Drive Golf Club in Vancouver, B.C.
Lindsay McGrath of Oakville, Ont. has been a member of Team Canada NextGen for two seasons and will also be making her first appearance at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship. McGrath finished at 4-under following rounds of 70-71-71 – 212 to grab the second spot. The 17-year-old won the Visit Goldsboro NC Junior Championship in Goldsboro, N.C. in April as part of the AJGA.
Nobelle Park also of Oakville, Ont. will be making her first appearance as well after finishing third at 2-under. Park posted rounds of 71-71-72 – 214. The 14-year-old has won three provincial tournaments this season including the 2024 Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship in June at RattleSnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ont., the Ontario Junior Players’ Invitational in March and the Junior Girls Spring Classic in May.
Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta. grabbed the final spot and will be returning to the World Junior Girls Golf Championship after representing Team Canada 2 last year in Brampton, Ont. Park jumped ahead after closing with an eagle on no. 17 and a par of the 18th to finish the tournament at 1-under. Park finished with rounds of 70-72-73 – 215. This season, the 15-year-old has won twice including the AJGA Junior All-Star at College Station in College Station, Texas in March and the NextGen Pacific Championship at the Summerland Golf and Country Club in Summerland, B.C. in May.
The four will join Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont. and Aphrodite Deng of Calgary, Alta. who previously earned exemptions to Team Canada for the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship. Liu earned her exemption following her win at the 2024 Canadian Junior Girls Championship while Deng earned her exemption as being the low eligible Canadian on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) as of August 7, where she was no. 175. Both will be making their first appearances at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
Deng, 14, has won twice as part of the AJGA this season including The Nelly Invitational in Bradenton, Fla. in May and the New Jersey Junior Girls Championship in West Windsor Township, N.J. in June.
In addition to the qualifying tournament, players were competing for a guaranteed spot on the roster for Team Canada – NextGen for 2025.
Liu finished atop the leaderboard at 10-under over three rounds to secure her spot on Team Canada NextGen for 2025. Liu posted rounds of 71-66-69 – 206 to win by five shots over Lin. The 15-year-old has enjoyed a successful 2024 season highlighted by winning the 2024 Canadian Junior Girls Championship, presented by BDO and the CDW Girls Junior All-Star Championship as part of the AJGA earlier this month in Illinois.
Liu was two shots back of fellow Team Canada NextGen member, Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill, Ont. (3-under) following Saturday’s opening round. Liu fired a 6-under 66 on Sunday to take a two-shot lead over Anna Huang of Vancouver, B.C. heading into Monday’s final round.
Selection for the World Junior Girls squads is separate from the 2025 Team Canada – NextGen squad. The remaining places for the 2025 Team Canada – NextGen squad will be decided by Golf Canada’s selection committee by late September. When making final decisions for player selection, the committee will consider player results from the 2024 season along with selection camp results including information gathered during skills testing. The full selection criteria for Team Canada – NextGen can be found here.
The 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship will take place at Credit Valley Golf & Country Club in Mississauga, Ont. from September 30 – October 5. For more information on the tournament, please click here. Team Canada’s rosters will be announced at a later date.
For the final standings of the Team Canada World Junior Girls Championship qualifier and Team Canada – NextGen selection camp, please click here.