Italy’s Alice Negroni sets new women’s competitive course record at Brampton Golf Club with
7-under 64 on Thursday to co-lead individual competition
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The United States followed up with another solid round to take a three-shot advantage into Friday’s third round at the 2026 World Junior Girls Golf Championship, presented by BFL CANADA at Brampton Golf Club in Brampton, Ont.
The United States (U.S.) shot a collective round of 6-under to move to 13-under for the championship and sit three ahead of Team Canada I.
“It was really fun to be out there walking with them and watching, they all played really solid smart golf, so I am super proud of the way they carried themselves out there today,” said U.S. coach Tiffany Joh.
Leading the way for the U.S. was Mia Clausen of Carlsbad, Calif. who shot a 4-under 67 to follow up her 68 on Wednesday. Amelie Zalsman of St. Petersburg, Fla. added a 2-under 69 while Anna Fang of San Diego, Calif. shot a 1-under 70 ensuring all three players scores have counted over the first two days.
“It’s good vibes for the whole crew to feel like you’re contributing and you have a part in the success thus far in the event so I’m really happy for them and all of them are hitting it really well and rolling it really well so I’m not going to lie it does give you a little bit of warm fuzzy feelings as a coach to watch them all playing solid golf,” added Joh.
Overnight rain brought about overcast skies and windier conditions on Thursday and Joh noted that the wind really picked up towards the end of her team’s round, but it helped that it was consistent rather than random bursts.
Team Canada I finished with combined round of 3-under to move to 10-under for the tournament. Clairey Lin of Langley, B.C. shot a 2-under 69 and Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont. added a 1-under 70 to count towards the team score on Thursday. Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont. shot an even par 71.
The defending champions, Republic of Korea shot a combined 4-under to sit tied for third with Spain at 4-under for the championship. England is fifth at 3-under.
After playing the opening rounds in the earlier groupings the U.S. will move into the final three groupings and will be paired with Team Canada I. Joh joked that they will enjoy a little extra sleep on Friday morning.
“We’re really excited to be a little bit later and get to hopefully play with Canada, we love playing with them, we’re very close with that team so we’re really excited going into tomorrow.”
One day after Clairey Lin (Team Canada I) tied the women’s competitive course record at Brampton, Alice Negroni of Treviso, Italy went out and set a new one.
Negroni fired a 7-under 64, powered by eight birdies including five consecutive on holes 13 through 17 to set the new record.
“Honestly, I am really shocked, as soon as I finished, I was like oh my god, I can’t believe I just made seven under. Honestly, the best round I’ve had since I started golf,” said Negroni.
Negroni added that while the long game is her strong point, her putting was the best of her game today. After a bogey at No. 12 followed by five straight birdies, Negroni opened her second nine with back-to-back birdies and finished on No. 9 with another for her new personal best score.
“I had my coach following me today and he just tried to relax me all the second nine, I thank my coach and whole team that came here, honestly without them I couldn’t be where I am right now,” she added.
Negroni is now tied for the individual lead with Clausen and Lin at 7-under. Fang sits fourth at 5-under and Lauren Crump of England is fifth at 4-under.
Joh praised Clausen’s performance over the opening rounds and sitting as individual co-leader.
“She’s made it look really easy, she’s an insane driver of the ball so that helps a lot. Some of these pin positions can be pretty diabolical but it’s such a big advantage when you have a short club coming in and she took her time with her decision making and made sure she was pulling the right clubs so she did a great job carrying herself out there.”
In total, 24 teams are battling for the team championship while also competing for individual honours, with the individual champion earning an exemption into the 2027 CPKC Women’s Open, taking place at The Royal Ottawa Golf Club in Gatineau, Que., August 18-22.
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 14-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 Jeeno 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. Other former World Junior competitors who have gone on to win on the LPGA Tour include Hannah Green of Australia, Maja Stark and Linn Grant of Sweden and 2023 CPKC Women’s Open winner, Megan Khang of the United States.
Admission to 2026 World Junior Girls Golf Championship, presented by BFL CANADA is free for all spectators. To follow the leaderboard following the second round, please click here.
