England’s Charlotte Naughton fires low spherical of 66 to take particular person lead
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – The Republic of Korea soared up the leaderboard to take the workforce lead following the second spherical of the 2025 World Junior Ladies Golf Championship at St. Catharines Golf & Nation Membership in St. Catharines, Ont.
All three members of the defending champions fired underneath par rounds to shoot a collective rating of -9 underneath to place the Republic of Korea (Korea) into the lead at 12-under, 4 photographs forward of opening spherical leaders, France and two-time champions, Spain.
“All three women performed actually good at present, and it looks as if they’re getting used to the course,” stated Republic of Korea Coach Min Naon. “The grass is totally different, in comparison with Korea. I believed the wind was going to select up within the afternoon but it surely was a pleasant day so they might play their very own golf, so it’s good.”
Yeonseo Kim shouldn’t be solely making her debut on the World Junior Ladies Golf Championship, but in addition the primary time she’s representing her nation.
Kim recorded a bogey-free 5-under 67 on Thursday to assist lead Korea, whereas taking part in with an injured finger, that occurred earlier within the week. “Her spherical was unbelievable…she has excellent focus and focus,” added Naon.
Seojin Park, who’s making her third look on the world championship, moved into second within the particular person standings following a 4-under 68 to enhance to 7-under for the match. Yun Search engine optimization Yang additionally shot an under-par spherical with a 3-under 69. The 2 lowest scores rely in the direction of the workforce’s collective rating every day.
Each the workforce and particular person leaderboards modified all through the day, and Spain discovered themselves on prime for a lot of the morning. At days finish, Spain shot a mixed rating of 6-under led by a pair of 3-under 69’s from Adriana Garcia Terol and Nagore Martinez.
“I’m very happy with them. They performed excellent at present and likewise yesterday, they’re an important workforce and get alongside very effectively,” stated Spain’s Coach Adriana Zwanck.
“We additionally should be calm and affected person as a result of that is golf, I don’t prefer to cheer too quickly. I’m going to attempt to make them really feel relaxed and maintain working towards as a result of the opposite groups are actually good and something can occur on the finish of the match,” added Zwanck.
Opening spherical leaders, France shot a workforce complete of 1-under, led by Louise Landgraf’s 2-under 70 and Giselle Zhao’s 1-over 73. Italy jumped into fourth at 6-under following a pair of 2-under 70’s from Gemma Simeoni and Natalia Aparicio on Thursday. Staff Canada 1 and Colombia are tied for fifth at 4-under whereas Staff Canada 2 and England are tied for seventh at 3-under.
“I feel we’ve come a great distance in our junior women’ program by way of depth. I positively really feel that we have now extra depth and extra expertise developing in our pipeline and simply actually trying ahead to seeing what they will do for the remainder of the week,” stated Staff Canada 2 Coach, Jennifer Ha following her workforce’s mixed rating of 5-under for the second spherical.
Ruihan Kendria Wang of Vancouver, B.C. led the best way with a 3-under 69 and Clara Ding of White Rock, B.C. added a 2-under 70 to rely for the workforce. Staff Canada 2 can also be represented by three-time match participant Eileen Park of Purple Deer, Alta.
Ha added that the workforce will attempt to maintain momentum going whereas engaged on a pair issues.
“Considered one of their large objectives was to have the ability to play with one another, the Canada 1 and Canada 2 groups on the final couple days so hopefully that feeds as motivation and will get them to be within the closing few teams the remainder of the week,” she added.
Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill, Ont. (Staff Canada 1) tied Wang for the Canadian low spherical on Thursday. Xing closed her day with back-to-back birdies, carding 5 in complete on her closing 9 holes of the day. Clairey Lin of Langley, B.C. shot a 2-under 70 and Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont. recorded an excellent par 72.
England’s Charlotte Naughton carded the low spherical of the day with a bogey-free 6-under 66 to take the person lead in St. Catharines.
Naughton opened with two birdies on the entrance 9 earlier than one other on No. 12 after which added three straight from 15 by way of 17 and closed with par to maneuver to 8-under for the match and now holds a one-shot lead over Park.
“I performed actually regular, and I’m actually pleased to complete with three birdies in a row then a par. I performed effectively, I simply held all my birdie putts and had excellent lag putts as effectively. Yesterday, I struggled a bit with the tempo however at present I positively acquired it,” stated Naughton following her spherical.
Naughton has loved a profitable season to date. In Could, she turned the primary ever English champion of the German Ladies’ Worldwide Newbie Championship and was runner-up at The R&A Ladies Newbie Championship in Wales final month. The 17-year-old will probably be representing England and Europe subsequent week on the 2025 Junior Ryder Cup at Nassau Nation Membership and Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York and added that the chance means lots to her.
“I feel quite a lot of my tournaments this season went in the direction of qualifying and I feel this can be a nice problem out right here which goes to be much like the Ryder Cup with the tough and the quick greens which we’re to not use to again at dwelling in England.”
Garcia Terol is 5-under and is in third alone. Simeoni, Aparicio, Yang, Kim and Martinez are all tied for fourth at 3-under. Ding, June Weckman (Finland), Maria Errichetto (Colombia) and first spherical chief, Alice Kong (France) are tied for ninth at 2-under.
In complete, a area of 23 groups, 69 gamers in complete are competing for the workforce and particular person championships. The person champion will obtain an exemption into the 2026 CPKC Girls’s Open, happening at Royal Mayfair Golf Membership in Edmonton, Alta., August 17-23, 2026. The highest three gamers and ties may even earn exemptions into the 112th Canadian Girls’s Newbie Championship, introduced by BDO, happening at The Toronto Golf Membership in Mississauga, Ont., July 20-24, 2026.
A number of gamers who’ve competed within the World Junior Ladies Golf Championship have gone on to nice success on the LPGA Tour. Canadian Brooke Henderson, a 14-time LPGA Tour winner and Canada’s winningest skilled golfer, completed fourth within the particular person competitors on the inaugural championship in 2014.
Different notable rivals who went on to change into LPGA Tour winners embody Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand who gained back-to-back World Junior titles in 2018 and 2019 in addition to Yuka Saso of the Philippines who gained the 2016 World Junior title. 2023 CPKC Girls’s Open winner, Megan Khang of america competed within the inaugural match in 2014. Different former World Junior rivals who’ve gone on to win on the LPGA Tour embody Hannah Inexperienced of Australia and Maja Stark and Linn Grant of Sweden. Hye-Jin Choi from the Republic of Korea gained each the 2015 workforce and particular person championship on the World Junior Ladies Golf Championship and has earned a number of prime 5 finishes on the LPGA Tour.
For the each the workforce and particular person leaderboard, following the second spherical of the 2025 World Junior Ladies Golf Championship, please click on right here.
