Republic of Korea wins World Junior Girls in tiebreaker over Canada

Republic of Korea wins World Junior Girls in tiebreaker over Canada

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. 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 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.

Oh is currently ranked No. 24 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com Women’s Rankings. She won the 2023 Song Amateur Cup, the 2024 Dolmen Cup Amateur, and the 2024 Queen Sirikit Cup.

“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 its third team title, 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. 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 really strong team, and we knew that going in 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. It 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.

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