15-year-old Calgarian Aphrodite Deng becomes first Canadian winner in US Girls’ Junior history
Posted Jul 20, 2025 11:05 am.
Last Updated Jul 21, 2025 7:08 am.
Fifteen-year-old Calgarian Aphrodite Deng became the first Canadian golfer to win the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in history on Saturday.
She did so by beating Xingtong Chen of Singapore 2 and 1 in the 36-hole final at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Deng won her third junior major title of the year, following the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in April and the Mizuho Americas Open in May.
The young Calgarian earned spots in the U.S. Women’s Open next year at Riviera and the U.S. Women’s Amateur for 2025 and the next year.
“It really means a lot. I just can’t believe that I won,” Deng told reporters.
“I didn’t really think about the end result because I knew there were a lot of good players here. I just tried to win each match.”
The 76th championship also saw a first for 16-year-old Chen, who was the first player from Singapore to reach the U.S. championship match.
Deng had a 4-up lead over Chen after 18 holes. Chen cut the deficit to two twice on the second 18, the last with a par win on the 34th. Deng ended it on the 35th by matching Chen’s par.
“I think I stayed in the moment throughout the whole match,” Deng said. “I did get a little tired at the end. I learned that I’m pretty consistent and I’m pretty good, and I think that I stay pretty calm in front of a crowd and cameras.”
The junior championship began on Monday with 36 holes of stroke play over the first two days before it moved to match play on Wednesday through to Saturday’s final.
With files from The Associated Press
