Team Canada World Junior Girls Championship

Sweden takes lead heading into final round of World Junior Girls Championship, presented by Sargent Farms

Meja Őrtengren (Jeff Vogan/ Golf Canada)

Canada 1 and Canada 2 sit fifth and seventh respectively in the team competition; Sweden’s Meja Őrtengren continues to lead in the individual stroke play competition

MARKHAM, Ont. – Individual leader Meja Őrtengren followed up yesterday’s sizzling 68 with a third-round 2-under 70 to push Team Sweden atop the leaderboard heading into Saturday’s final round of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship, presented by Sargent Farms.

Sweden (147-138-142—427) began the day two shots back of Spain, but paired Őrtengren’s 70 with teammate Nora Sundberg’s even-par 72 for a third-round team score of 2-under 142 to sit at 5-under through 54 holes, two shots clear of Spain. Teammate Matilda Bjőrkman shot a non-counting 77 for the Swedish team looking to claim their first-even team title at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship, presented by Sargent Farms.

The second-round leaders from Spain (140-143-146—429) counted rounds of even-par 72 from Cayetana Fernández and 2-over 74 by teammate Andrea Revuelta to sit alone in second at 3-under, setting up a Saturday showdown.

Chinese Taipei (144-150-141—435)  sits alone in third at 3-over and Colombia (145-146-147—438) is fourth at 6-over.

The Canada 1 squad of Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C.(72-76-72—220), Michelle Liu of Vancouver (72-77-74—223), and Angela Arora of Surrey, B.C. (68-80-75—223) sits alone at 7-over to round out the top-five.

The Canada 2 squad of Anna Huang from Vancouver (72-77-76—225), Yeji Kwon of Port Coquitlam, B.C. (73-75-75—223) and Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill, Ont. (74-83-82—239) are seventh (+14), five shots back of sixth-place Germany (+11).  

The following are third-round team results at the World Junior Girls Championship, presented by Sargent Farms:

1          Sweden                       -5     (147-138-142—427)

2          Spain                           -3     (140-143-146—429)

3          Chinese Taipei            +3    (144-150-141—435)      

4          Colombia                     +6    (145-146-147—438)

5          Canada 1                    +7    (140-153-146—439)

6          Germany                     +11  (147-150-146—443)

7          Canada 2                    +14  (145-152-151—448)

8          France                         +17  (156-146-148—450)

T9        Belgium                       +21  (144-157-152—453)      

T9        England                       +21  (150-151-152—453)

T9        Mexico                        +21  (146-152-155—453)

12        Denmark                     +26  (150-150-158—458)

13        Ireland                        +31  (150-158-155—463)                  

14        Italy                             +32  (154-156-154—464)

T15      Finland                        +36  (154-161-153—468)      

T15      Switzerland                 +36  (156-158-154—468)

T15      Wales                          +36  (152-159-157—468)

18        Austria                         +37  (156-158-155—469)

Click here for a link to the full team competition leaderboard.

In the individual competition, Meja Őrtengren of Sweden shot 2-under 70 Friday to sit at 7-under for the tournament (71-68-70—209), good for a 3-shot lead. Spain’s Cayetana Fernández (70-70-72—212) sits T2 at 4-under with Ting-Hsuan Huang of Chinese Taipei (70-73-69—212) while María José Marin of Colombia (72-71-71—214) at 2-under and Nora Sundberg (76-70-72—218) at 2-over round out the top-five.

Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C.(72-76-72—220) is the low Canadian at 4-over (T7) with a trio of Canucks –  Yeji Kwon of Port Coquitlam, B.C. (73-75-75—223), Angela Arora of Surrey, B.C. (68-80-75—223), and Michelle Liu of Vancouver (72-77-74—223) – sitting inside the top-10 at 7-over.

The following are Top-10 results in the individual competition at the World Junior Girls Championship, presented by Sargent Farms:

1          Meja Őrtengren, Sweden                               71-68-70—209  (-7)

T2        Cayetana Fernández, Spain                          70-70-72—212  (-4)

T2        Ting-Hsuan Huang, Chinese Taipei               70-73-69—212  (-4)

4          María José Marin, Colombia                          72-71-71—214  (-2)

5          Nora Sundberg, Sweden                                76-70-72—218  (+2)

6          Savanah De Bock, Belgium                           69-76-74—219  (+3)

T7        Andrea Revuelta, Spain                                 70-76-74—220  (+4)

T7        Lauren Kim, Canada 1                                   72-76-72—220  (+4)

9          Larissa Carrillo, Mexico                                  71-75-76—222  (+6)  

T10      Yeji Kwon, Canada 2                                      73-75-75—223  (+7)

T10      Angela Arora, Canada 1                                 68-80-75—223  (+7)

T10      Hsin Chun Liao, Chinese Taipei                     74-77-72—223  (+7)

T10      Marie-Agnes Fischer, Germany                     72-73-78—223  (+7)

T10      Michelle Liu, Canada 1                                  72-77-74—223) (+7)

T10      Sophia Fullbrook, England                             76-74-73—223) (+7)

Click here for a link to the full individual leaderboard.

In total, 54 athletes on 18 teams representing 17 countries—including two teams from host nation Canada—are competing Oct. 12-15 at Angus Glen for the team and individual titles. The event marks the celebrated return of the prestigious global competition after two years of cancellation due to the pandemic.

The final round of the 72-hole competition gets underway Saturday morning at 8:30am with the final groups teeing off at 9:50am. Admission to the competition is free.

This year’s field for the World Junior Girls Championship, presented by Sargent Farms is highlighted by 11 competitors ranked inside the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) top 100. A full list of competitors including their WAGR position is here.

With two victories (2015 & 2019) in the event’s six-year history, Korea has won the most team competition titles followed by USA (2014), Philippines (2016), Spain (2017), and Italy (2018). A history of past winners is available here.

A number of players who have competed in the World Junior Girls Championship have gone on great success on the LPGA Tour, led by Canadian Brooke Henderson, a 12-time LPGA winner and world no. 6 who finished fourth in the individual competition at the inaugural championship hosted in 2014. 

Other notable competitors who went on to become LPGA Tour winners include world no. 2 Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand who won back-to-back World Junior titles in 2018 and 2019 as well as world no. 35 Yuka Saso of 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 and Maja Stark of Sweden.

In addition, 12 players who competed for the 2022 CP Women’s Open at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club are alumni of the World Junior Girls Championship.

Angus Glen Golf Club, which is hosting the World Junior Girls Championship for the third time, is home to two 18-hole championship golf courses in Markham, Ontario. The North and South courses offer variety, beauty, and challenges. Angus Glen has been ranked as one of the top 80 golf courses in the world outside of the United States. It was home to the 2002 and 2007 Canadian Open and an official host of the 2015 Toronto Pan/Parapan American Games. The 2022 World Junior Championship will be contested on the South course.

Additional information regarding the seventh annual World Junior Girls Championship can be found on the competition’s website.