Soomin Oh takes individual lead by two after shooting 68 on Thursday
Mississauga, Ont. – The Republic of Korea maintains the team lead following two rounds at the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship at Credit Valley Golf & Country Club in Mississauga, Ont.
The Republic of Korea (Korea) were led by Soomin Oh who shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to move to 7-under following 36 holes and now leads the individual championship. Seojin Park shot a 2-under 70 to have her score count toward the team total. Park carded four birdies on her first nine, then ran into some trouble with four consecutive bogeys on her second nine before finishing with a birdie and an eagle on her last two holes. Teammate Sumin Hong shot a 1-over 73 on Thursday. The two lowest scores count towards the team’s combined score for the day. Korea combined to shoot 6-under to move to 12-under for the tournament and take a four-shot lead over Team Canada 1 heading into Friday’s third round.
“They played well but the only thing I didn’t like was in the middle of the round the wind picked up and they struggled but still they finished strong, and I tried to encourage them today,” said Korea Coach Naon Min. “Two more days, this is not the end. I will tell them to keep their focus individually and then the results will come.”
Defending champions, Team Canada 1 hold their place alone in second at 8-under. Clairey Lin of Langley, B.C. fired a 3-under 69 to help lead her team on Thursday. Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont. finished with an even par 72 to give Canada a 3-under combined round on the day. Teammate Aphrodite Deng of Calgary, Alta. shot a 3-over 75.
“They battled really hard, Clairey played really well, got off to a really good start and that was promising, the first six or seven holes there wasn’t much wind, so it was kind of gettable, but the Korean team was making a lot of birdies, so I knew we had to keep pace,” said Team Canada 1 Coach Jeff MacDonald.
MacDonald added that moving from the valley to head back up top meant the players faced a tough test with swirling winds on the top five holes, as Canada 1 began their round on the back nine.
“It’s a good start, we’re in a good position, Korea finished strong to get four ahead, but anything can happen, it can switch so quickly. I remember last year going back and forth so just reminding them of that and just keep battling the whole time,” said MacDonald.
Hong Kong, China has moved into third at 4-under, Sweden sits in fourth at 3-under with Mexico and Italy tied for fifth at even par.
Team Canada 2 is currently tied for 10th with Chinese Taipei and the United States at 3-over. Team Canada 2 was led by 14-year-old Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont. on Thursday (1-under 71) 15-year-old Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta. (2-over 74) and 17-year-old Lindsay McGrath of Oakville, Ont. (11-over 83).
The following are the standings following the second round of the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship:
| 1 | Republic of Korea | -12 |
| 2 | Canada 1 | -8 |
| 3 | Hong Kong, China | -4 |
| 4 | Sweden | -3 |
| T5 | Mexico | E |
| T5 | Italy | E |
| 7 | France | +1 |
| T8 | Belgium | +2 |
| T8 | Denmark | +2 |
| T10 | Canada 2 | +3 |
| T10 | Chinese Taipei | +3 |
| T10 | United States | +3 |
| 13 | Czechia | +4 |
| T14 | Germany | +6 |
| T14 | Iceland | +6 |
| 16 | England | +9 |
| 17 | Ireland | +11 |
| 18 | Spain | +12 |
| T19 | Switzerland | +13 |
| T19 | Colombia | +13 |
| 21 | Finland | +18 |
| 22 | Poland | +22 |
| 23 | Peru | +31 |
| 24 | Morocco | +34 |
Click here for the team leaderboard following the second round of the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
In the individual competition, Oh recorded two eagles and four birdies on her way to a 4-under 68 on Thursday. Oh is now at 7-under for the tournament and leads Ebba Lundqvist of Sweden by two. Lundqvist shot a 3-under 69 to move into second.
“Today I managed the par fives very well and hit tee shots very well and hit the greens with good positioning today,” said Oh through her coach.
Alexis Lamadrid of Mexico and Arianna Lau of Hong Kong, China are tied for third at 4-under. Clairey Lin and Seojin Park are tied for fifth at 3-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.
Click here for the individual leaderboard following the second round of the 2024 World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
This year marks 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.
Teams Korea, Canada 1 and Hong Kong, China will play together during Friday’s third round. For round tee times and groupings, please click here.