USGA Championships · 77th U.S. Girls’ Junior

The medalist closed out Amelie Zalsman 5 and 4 in Saturday’s 36-hole final — becoming the first Girls’ Junior medalist to win since Rose Zhang in 2021 and the second Canadian in as many years to lift the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy.

Saturday, July 18 — Champion: Clairey Lin

DURHAM, N.C. — Clairey Lin arrived at Old Chatham as the medalist and left it as the champion, closing out Amelie Zalsman 5 and 4 in Saturday’s 36-hole final to win the 77th U.S. Girls’ Junior — and to give Canada the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy for a second year running.

The 16-year-old from British Columbia, who now lives in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., became the first medalist to win the championship since Rose Zhang in 2021, capping a week in which she led the field through stroke play and never trailed for long in any match. She also turned Old Chatham’s par-5 first into a personal launch pad, birdieing the opening hole in every match but her semifinal, where she made an eagle instead. “I’ve dreamed of it my entire life,” Lin said. “To be able to do that today is amazing.”

The final followed the week’s script. Lin birdied the par-5 1st to go 1 up; Zalsman answered at the 2nd, and the two traded through the morning until Zalsman briefly claimed her only lead of the day by winning the par-5 6th. It did not last. Lin reeled off four consecutive winning birdies from the 7th to take a 3-up lead into the lunch break.

A 92-minute weather delay interrupted the restart, but not Lin. She birdied the 24th and 25th to push to 4 up, and though Zalsman — ranked No. 34 in the world — kept trading blows, the medalist would not be caught. Lin birdied the par-4 13th, the 31st hole of the match, to go 4 up with five to play, then delivered the closer at the par-5 14th: her 12th birdie of the 32-hole match. When Zalsman missed a three-foot putt to extend it, the title belonged to Canada.

It is the first time back-to-back Canadians have won a USGA championship. A year ago, Lin’s NextGen teammate Aphrodite Deng won this trophy at Atlanta Athletic Club and chose not to defend, opting for the Amundi Evian Championship; Lin picked up exactly where she left off. The win sends the champion to her first major — the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open at Inverness — along with exemptions into the U.S. Women’s Amateur and a likely invitation to the 2027 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Zalsman, the No. 7 seed and the last U.S. National Junior Team member standing, took silver and her best U.S. Girls’ Junior finish, an improvement on her Round-of-32 showing in 2024. “I’ve played so much golf the past two weeks, and I’m just really proud of myself for making it this far,” she said. “This week definitely taught me some really valuable lessons” about match play — ones she carries into next month’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course.

Friday, July 17 — Lin and Zalsman Reach the Final

Medalist Clairey Lin took the harder road to the final, trailing for the first time all week before edging Cinderella No. 44 seed Athena Singh 1 up — a birdie at the 10th squared it, three straight from the 11th seized it, and a two-putt at the last sealed it. Amelie Zalsman was the more emphatic semifinalist, following a 3-and-2 quarterfinal win over Kacey Ly by overwhelming 15-year-old Anna Bell 6 and 4 with four straight birdies from the 10th. Singh and Bell took bronze and exemptions into next year’s championship.

Thursday, July 16 — Round of 16: Hannant’s 22-Hole Stunner

The moment of the championship came Thursday afternoon, twenty minutes down the road from Pikeville. No. 19 seed Ella June Hannant took world No. 16 and No. 3 seed Anna Iwanaga to a 22nd hole in the Round of 16 and won it there — the longest match of the week — before falling to Anna Bell in the quarterfinals. Amelie Zalsman edged last year’s runner-up Xingtong Chen 1 up, and medalist Clairey Lin handled Celina Yeo 4 and 2, rounding out an Elite Eight that had lost nearly all of its top seeds.

Thursday, July 16 — Round of 32: The Seeds Keep Falling

The Round of 32 took a hammer to the bracket. No. 4 Jude Lee lost 3 and 2 to Macie Rasmussen, and No. 5 Amelia Harris, the first-round leader, fell to Canada’s Shauna Liu on the 19th hole. Juliet Oh’s giant-killing run ended against Lily Peng, 5 and 4. Medalist Clairey Lin, No. 3 Anna Iwanaga and last year’s runner-up Xingtong Chen all held firm, while Amelie Zalsman became the last U.S. National Junior Team member standing.

Wednesday, July 15 — Round of 64: The Bracket Bites Back

Match play opened with chaos. Playoff survivor Juliet Oh birdied the 18th to knock out No. 2 seed Yujie Liu, 1 up, and four U.S. National Junior Team members went home. Medalist Clairey Lin advanced with an eagle at the drivable 16th; the day’s epic, Madeleine Conser over Bella Dovhey in 24 holes, was the longest U.S. Girls’ Junior match since 2007.

Tuesday, July 14 — Lin Medals, the Field Cuts to 64

For one round, the U.S. Girls’ Junior belonged to Amelia Harris and her nine-under 63. For the two that matter as a set, it belonged to Clairey Lin. The 16-year-old Canadian answered Monday’s 66 with a seven-under 65, and her 36-hole total of 13-under 131 was good for medalist honors, the No. 1 seed, and a place one stroke shy of the championship record. The cut fell at three-over 147, tying the lowest in championship history.

Monday, July 13 — Harris Separates

The 77th U.S. Girls’ Junior opened Monday with a number that did not belong to the rest of the field. Amelia Harris, the 18-year-old Australian, signed for a nine-under 63 — three clear of the nearest chase — with a second nine of 28 that set a USGA championship female record. Xingtong Chen, Anna Iwanaga and Clairey Lin opened at six-under 66.

Championship Preview — The Field, the Favorites, the Course

For the first time in a year, nobody owned the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy heading into the week. Aphrodite Deng, the first Canadian to win the U.S. Girls’ Junior, did not return to defend, and so the 77th playing opened Monday at Old Chatham with a rare certainty attached to it: whoever survived six days through the North Carolina pines would be a first-time USGA Girls’ Junior champion. The championship that produced Mickey Wright, Nancy Lopez, Inbee Park, Lexi Thompson and Minjee Lee held the line — 156 players, 17 countries, average age 16.38.

Old Chatham Golf Club, founded in 1999 and built on 400 acres of pine woodland near Jordan Lake, hosted its second USGA championship this week, six years after Bob Royak won the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur here. A Rees Jones renovation had since converted the fairways to zoysiagrass and the greens to Mach 1 hybrid bermudagrass and added a water feature at the par-4 16th. It was the 39th USGA championship contested in North Carolina.