Ever since Aphrodite Deng showed up for the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Girls’ Championship at the Moorestown Field Club in the summer of 2023 and went 14-under par for two rounds at age 13, it’s been fascinating to watch the progression of one of the rising stars on the junior girls scene.
Deng is listed as being from Canada, but she’s made Short Hills, N.J. her home base in the States. She’s a Class of 2028 kid, which makes her the equivalent of a high school freshman.
Saturday, Deng donned the gold jacket that goes to the winner of the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, S.C. The course is just a few miles across the Georgia border from the Augusta National Golf Club and the people at Sage Valley have turned the Junior Invitational into The Masters of junior golf: Small elite field and even a jacket to the winner.
As she has been wont to do, Deng took control of the tournament with a sizzling 6-under 66 in Friday’s third round to take a commanding four-shot lead going into the final round.
It was similar to the script she followed in a five-shot victory in the Rolex Tournament of Champions in 2023 at TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course, dominating a field that was chasing one of the most coveted prizes on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit.
Deng has been hovering around the 100 spot in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), pretty good company for a 14-year-old, and arrived at Sage Valley at No. 102. Her performance in the Junior Invitational will get her back in the top 100.
Deng opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par in Thursday’s second round with a 72 that left her three shots behind Thailand’s Pimpisa Rubrong, who had added a 3-under 69 in the second round to her opening-round 70.
Then came Friday’s third round. Deng had seven birdies on her scorecard against one bogey. She went 4-under over her last 11 holes on her way to that 66. Suddenly, everybody, including South Korea’s Soomin Oh, No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR, defending champion Asterisk Talley, No. 14 in the Women’s WAGR and Gianna Clemente, No. 21 in the Women’s WAGR, was chasing the kid from Short Hills, via Canada.
Deng played carefully with her big lead in Saturday’s final round as she made bogeys at the second, seventh and 11th holes. But she made a birdie at the 15th hole and then finished with a flourish, a birdie at the last, for a final round 1-over 73 and a 7-under 281 total that demolished the elite field by six shots.
Deng was relatively quiet in 2024 on the heels of her dominating performance in the Rolex Tournament of Champions, but that gold jacket she was wearing Saturday at Sage Valley would seem to indicate that big things are coming in 2025.
There was nothing surprising about the wearer of the gold jacket in the boys division of the Junior Invitational as Miles Russell, the phenom from Jacksonville Beach, Fla. played solid, patient golf for three rounds and pounced in Saturday’s final round, his third straight 2-under 70 giving him a 9-under 279 total and a two-shot victory.
At 16, the kid who finished in a tie for 20th place in the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic last April, is No. 33 in the WAGR. More on the boys later.
The real magnitude of Deng’s victory is measured by the quality of players she left in her wake.
Yujie Liu of China, like Deng a Class of ’28 entry, was the only other player to finish under par for 72 holes at Sage Valley as she earned runnerup honors with a 1-under 287 total, six shots behind the winner.
Liu opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 1-over 73 in Thursday’s second round before making her move with a 3-under 69 in the third round. Liu closed with a 2-over 74 in a final round in which Sage Valley seemed to have played a little tougher than it had in the first three days.
Soomin Oh and Rubrong finished a shot behind Liu in a tie for third place, each landing on even-par 288.
You don’t get to No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR by playing bad golf. Soomin Oh opened with a 1-under 71, struggled a little in Thursday’s second round with a 2-over 74 and posted a solid 2-under 70 in the third round before closing with a 1-over 73.
Rubrong was the best player in the field for the first two days as she added a 3-under 69 in Thursday’s second round to her opening-round 70. She was still one of Deng’s closest pursuers following a 1-over 73 in the third round before Rubrong struggled a little in the final round with a 4-over 76.
At No. 64 in the Women’s WAGR, Scarlett Schremmer of Birmingham, Ala. is no slouch either and she was right there with Rubrong, tied for second place going into the final round as she added a 1-under 70 in Thursday’s second round to her opening round 1-over 73 before adding a solid 3-under 69 in the third round.
Schremmer, who will join the program at Southeast Conference power Texas A&M this summer, struggled in the final round with a 79 that left her alone in fifth place, three shots behind Oh and Rubrong at 3-over 291.
Anna Fang, a Class of ’27 competitor from San Diego, Calif., finished two shots behind Schremmer in sixth place with a 5-over 293 total. After opening with a 2-over 74, Fang put together back-to-back 1-under 71s in the middle two rounds before struggling a little in the final round with a 5-over 77.
A couple of heavyweights in Clemente and Talley ended up in a tie for seventh place, each finishing three shots behind Fang at 8-over 296.
Clemente resides in Estero, Fla., but it is a native of Warren, Ohio. Her glittering amateur resume includes a runnerup finish in the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. as a 14-year-old.
Clemente opened with a 4-over 76, added a 1-over 73 in Thursday’s second round and matched par in the third round with a 72 before closing with a 3-over 75.
Talley is coming off a monster 2024. After winning at Sage Valley, Talley got a share of low-amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club before losing to Rianne Malixi in the final at both the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. and the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Talley even snuck in some international experience by playing for the United States in a hard-fought 10.5-9.5 loss to Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup Match at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England. The kid stunned the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, Lottie Woad, in a Sunday singles match.
Talley opened defense of her title at Sage Valley with 6-over 77, added a 1-under 71 in Thursday’s second and a 1-over 73 in the third round before closing with a 3-over 75.
The Junior Invitational only added a girls division a few years ago and it has proven to be a perfect tuneup for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship. Clemente finished in a tie for fifth place in the Augusta National Women’s Am a year ago and Talley, fresh off her victory at Sage Valley, finished in a tie for eighth.
Avery McCrery, the pride of Wilmington, Del. who will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke at the end of this summer, headed a trio of three players tied for ninth place at 11-over 299, three shots behind Clemente and Talley.
McCrery, winner of the Girls Junior PGA Championship last summer at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., opened with a 4-over 76 at Sage Valley, added a 2-over 74 in the second round and a 1-over 73 in Friday’s third round before closing with a bookend 76.
McCrery finished in a tie for fifth place along with Deng in the Rolex Tournament of Champions in the days before Thanksgiving at TPC San Antonio. Like Deng, one of the early indications of a bright future to come for McCrery was a victory in the WGAP Junior Girls’ Championship in 2020 at Sandy Run Country Club.
Joining McCrery at 11-over were a couple of players who will join the powerful program at Stanford – the Cardinal are in the ACC now, too – at the end of the summer of 2026, Jude Lee of Walnut, Calif. and Nikki Oh of Torrance, Calf.
Lee posted 3-over 75s in the first, third and final rounds around a 2-over 74 in Thursday’s second round. Nikki Oh bounced back from an opening round of 6-over 78 with a 2-under 70 in Thursday’s second round. She added a 1-over 73 in Friday’s third round before struggling again in the final round with a bookend 78.
On the boys side, it looked for a long time like this Junior Invitational was going to belong to Joshua Bai, a native of New Zealand who was the runnerup a year ago.
Bai, who will join the program at SEC power Florida this summer, opened with a sparkling 5-under 67, added a 1-under 71 in the second round and recorded another 5-under 67 in Friday’s third round to take a two-shot lead into the final round.
But Russell, the biggest name in junior golf at the moment, was never far behind. After opening with a 3-under 69, Russell registered back-to-back 2-under 70s in the second and third rounds and trailed Bai by four shots going into the final round.
When Bai, the runnerup in the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., faltered in the final round with a 5-over 77, Russell was there to pick up the pieces.
Russell signed for his third straight 2-under 70 to finish at 9-under, two shots better than Jackson Byrd of St. Simons Island, Ga., who closed with a 2-over 74 to jump over Bai and take second place with a 7-under 281 total.
Russell was a runaway winner at the AJGA’s Rolex Tournament of Champions last fall at TPC San Antonio, capturing that prestigious title by six shots.
Byrd, who will join the program at ACC power Clemson this summer, was two shots behind Bai going into the final round after opening with a 1-under 71, adding a 3-under 69 in the second round and posting a sparkling 5-under 67 in Friday’s third round. Byrd is the son of PGA Tour veteran Jonathan Byrd, who played his college golf at Clemson.
Bai ended up a shot behind Byrd in third place with a 6-under 282 total.
Robby Turnbull finished a shot behind his fellow Kiwi Bai in fourth place with a 5-under 283 total. After opening with a 1-over 73, Turnbull was in red figures at Sage Valley the rest of the way with a 1-under 71 in the second round, a 3-under 69 in Friday’s third round and a final round of 2-under 70.
Carson Bertagnole of Pinehurst, N.C. finished two shots behind Turnbull in fifth place with a 3-under 285 total. Bertagnole, who will join the program at ACC power North Carolina this summer, was steady throughout, opening with a 1-under 71, adding a 1-over 73 in the second round and a 2-under 70 in Friday’s third round before closing with a bookend 71.
A couple of future SEC rivals, Tennessee recruit Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. and Vanderbilt recruit Luke Colton of Frisco, Texas, finished a shot behind Bertagnole in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 2-under 286. Watts and Colton will head for their respective college destinations in the summer of 2026.
Watts carded 2-under 70s in the first, third and final rounds, struggling a little in Thursday’s second round with a 4-over 76. Colton shared the lead with Bai at the halfway point of the Junior Invitational after he recorded back-to-back 3-under 69s in the first two rounds. He backed off a little with a pair of 2-over 74s in the final two rounds.
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