Canadian Aphrodite Deng reinforced her standing as one of the two best juniors in the world on Saturday, winning the 76th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, defeating Xingtong Chen of Singapore, 2 and 1, in the 36-hole final on the Riverside Course at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga.
Deng opened a 4-up lead in the first 18 holes, still held a 4-up lead with five holes to play on the second 18, and finally closed out her stubborn opponent on the 35th hole of the match.
“It really means a lot. I just can’t believe that I won,” Deng said. “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 victory was the third this season for Deng, now a Florida resident (her father was transferred and the family moved south from Canada) who won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in April and the Mizuho Americas Open in May. She is ranked No. 2 in the American Junior Golf Association and 36th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The player ranked ahead of her in the AJGA is Asterisk Talley, 15th in the WAGR, who was eliminated in the round of 32 in the Girls’ Junior.
Deng now has earned exemptions into the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, in Bandon, Ore., the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course, in Ooltewah, Tenn., the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and likely the Augusta National Women’s Amateur next April.
She birdied the first hole in the morning 18 to take a lead she relinquished on the second hole by making a bogey. Chen birdied the fourth hole to go 1-up, a lead she surrendered on the sixth hole when Deng made a birdie two. Deng won the seventh hole with a par to take a lead that she never relinquished.
Chen had not been to the U.S. before coming here for the Girls’ Junior, but on Friday expressed her gratitude for the opportunity.
“It’s unbelievable for me,” she said. “I didn’t even dare to imagine it when I came here to play U.S. Girls’. I’m just so grateful for this opportunity, to be able to come to the U.S. It’s so far away from Singapore. It’s my first time here, so I’m really grateful for this opportunity to play my best.”
Chen made it suspenseful, though a four-hole deficit late in the proceedings proved too significant an obstacle.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
