77th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship Ready to Tee Off

July 13-18, Old Chatham Golf Club, Durham, N.C. | usgirlsjunior.org | @usga 

COURSE SETUP
Old Chatham Golf Club will be set up at 6,491 yards and will play to a par of 36-36–72.

 

OLD CHATHAM GOLF CLUB HOLE BY HOLE

Note: Yardages subject to change.

ABOUT OLD CHATHAM GOLF CLUB
Situated on 400 acres of woodlands between Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, Old Chatham Golf Club was designed by Rees Jones with assistance from Greg Muirhead and opened for play in 2001. Twenty years later, Jones partnered with Duininck Golf to renovate the course, including converting fairways to zoysia grass, realigning tee areas, improving drainage and redesigning bunkers.


In addition to hosting the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, Old Chatham has also hosted multiple North Carolina amateur and senior championships, the 2025 Bush Cup and served as a U.S. Open Final Qualifying site in 2023.
 

ADMISSION
Admission is free. Tickets are not required for this USGA championship, and spectators are encouraged to attend.

ENTRIES
The 2026 U.S. Girls’ Junior accepted 1,486 entries. The championship is open to female amateur golfers who have not reached their 19th birthday on or before July 18, 2026, and whose Handicap Index® does not exceed 5.4.

CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD

A starting field of 156 players will compete in the U.S. Girls’ Junior. Following 18-hole rounds of stroke play on July 13 and 14, the field will be cut to the top 64 scorers for match play. A playoff, if necessary, will be conducted to get exactly 64 players in the draw. Five 18-hole rounds of match play will determine the finalists who will square off in the 36-hole championship match on Saturday, July 18.
 

QUALIFYING
Qualifying, played over 18 holes, took place at 42 sites across the U.S., Canada and Mexico from May 20 to July 1. Qualifying Results
 

SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Practice rounds will take place July 11-12, and the championship schedule is as follows:

July 13 (Monday): First round, stroke play
July 14 (Tuesday): Second round, stroke play, field reduced to 64 players for match play
July 15 (Wednesday): Round of 64, match play
July 16 (Thursday): Round of 32 and Round of 16, match play
July 17 (Friday): Quarterfinals and semifinals, match play

July 18 (Saturday): 36-hole championship final, match play

WHAT THE CHAMPION RECEIVES

• Exemption from qualifying into the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio
• A gold medal and custody of the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy for one year
• A custom-made USGA champion’s ring
• Exemption from qualifying for all U.S. Girls’ Juniors prior to her 19th birthday
• Exemption from qualifying for the next two U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships

2025 CHAMPION – APHRODITE DENG
Aphrodite Deng became the first Canadian to win the U.S. Girls' Junior with her 2-and-1 victory over Xingtong Chen, of Singapore, at the Atlanta Athletic Club's Riverside Course. The victory capped a great 2025 competitive season for Deng, who also won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and the Mizuho Americas Open alongside LPGA Tour players at Liberty National Golf Club in Bayonne, N.J.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship was established in 1949, one year after the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Philadelphia (Pa.) Country Club, one of the oldest clubs in the nation, hosted the inaugural championship on its Bala Course, which opened in 1891, three years before the founding of the USGA. U.S. Girls’ Junior champions have won the U.S. Women’s Amateur nine times and the U.S. Women’s Open seven times, most recently by 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Minjee Lee. Additionally, 21 champions have gone on to represent the USA on the Curtis Cup Team.

 

Considering the age limitations on a junior golf career, Hollis Stacy’s record of three consecutive U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships (1969-1971) is among the most notable accomplishments in USGA history. In 2016, Eun Jeong Seong joined the elite club of back-to-back U.S. Girls’ Junior champions, the first since 1971, and followed her victory by winning the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur, making her the first player to win the two prestigious championships in the same year and just the third female to win multiple USGA championships in the same year, joining Pearl Sinn and Jennifer Song. Rianne Malixi matched Seong’s feat in 2024.
 

Kay Cornelius, the 1981 winner, is also among the noteworthy champions. Her mother, Kathy Cornelius, won the 1956 U.S. Women’s Open, making them the only mother-daughter tandem to have captured USGA championships. Other notable champions include Amy Alcott (1973), JoAnne Gunderson Carner (1956), Heather Farr (1982), Pat Hurst (1986), Ariya Jutanugarn (2011), I.K. Kim (2005), Nancy Lopez (1972, 1974), Inbee Park (2002), Lexi Thompson (2008), Mickey Wright (1952) and 2022 U.S. Women’s Open champion Minjee Lee (2012), whose brother, Min Woo, won the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2016. They are the only siblings to have captured USGA Junior titles.
 

USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT OLD CHATHAM G.C.

This will be the second USGA championship hosted by Old Chatham G.C. In 2019, Bob Royak defeated Roger Newsom, 1 up, with his match-sealing 5-footer for par on the 18th hole of the championship round.

 

NOTABLE NON-USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS HOSTED BY OLD CHATHAM G.C.

2009 North Carolina Amateur Championship

2014 North Carolina Mid-Amateur Championship

2017 Carolinas Super Senior Four Ball Championship

2018 North Carolina Senior Four Ball Championship

2025 Bush Cup

USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN NORTH CAROLINA

The 2026 U.S. Girls’ Junior will be the 38th USGA championship conducted in North Carolina and the first since Bryson DeChambeau’s triumph at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort and C.C. (Course No. 2). Pinehurst has hosted the most USGA championship in the state (13), including four U.S. Opens (1999, 2005, 2014, 2024) and three U.S. Amateurs (1962, 2008, 2019). Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, in Southern Pines, has hosted the second-most USGA championships (7) in the state, including the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.

North Carolina has hosted three U.S. Girls’ Juniors, most recently in 2010, when Doris Chen defeated Katelyn Dambaugh, 3 and 2, at the Country Club of North Carolina’s Dogwood Course, in the Village of Pinehurst. In the 2006 U.S. Girls’ Junior – the first year that the U.S. Girls’ Junior switched to the 36-hole championship match format – Jenny Shin defeated Vicky Hurst in 37 holes at Carmel Country Club’s South Course in Charlotte. In the 1989 Girls’ Junior, medalist Brandie Burton outlasted Camie Hoshino, 1 up, in the 18-hole final at Pine Needles.
 

Upcoming championships in North Carolina include the 2027 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club (Course No. 2), the 2028 U.S. Senior Amateur at Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, the 2028 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Charlotte Country Club, and both the 2029 U.S. Women’s Open and 2029 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
 

USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN NORTH CAROLINA SINCE 2010

2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur, Charlotte Country Club, Charlotte (Danielle Kang)
2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior, The Country Club of North Carolina (Dogwood Course), Village of Pinehurst (Doris Chen)
2010 U.S. Amateur Public Links, Bryan Park Golf & Conference Center, (Champions Course) Greensboro (Lion Kim)

2013 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, Biltmore Forest Country Club, Asheville (Julia Potter)
2013 U.S. Senior Amateur, Wade Hampton Golf Club, Cashiers (Douglas Hanzel)

2014 U.S. Open, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Course No. 2), Village of Pinehurst (Martin Kaymer)
2014 U.S. Women’s Open, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Course No. 2), Village of Pinehurst (Michelle Wie)

2017 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, Pinehurst & Country Club (Course No. 2), Village of Pinehurst (Shuai Ming Wong and Frankie Capan)

2018 U.S. Mid-Amateur, Charlotte Country Club, Charlotte (Kevin O’Connell)

2019 U.S. Amateur, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Course No. 2), Village of Pinehurst (Andy Ogletree)
2019 U.S. Senior Amateur, Old Chatham Golf Club, Durham (Bob Royak)
2019 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, Southern Pines (Helen Alfredsson)

2021 U.S. Junior Amateur, The Country Club of North Carolina, Pinehurst (Nick Dunlap)

2022 U.S. Women’s Open, Pine Needles L. & G.C., Southern Pines (Minjee Lee)
2022 U.S. Adaptive Open, Pinehurst R. & C.C. (Course No. 6), Village of Pinehurst (Simon Lee and Kim Moore)

2023 U.S. Adaptive Open, Pinehurst R. & C.C. (Course No. 6), Village of Pinehurst (Kipp Popert and Ryanne Jackson)

2024 U.S. Open, Pinehurst R. & C.C., Village of Pinehurst (Bryson DeChambeau)
 

U.S. GIRLS’ JUNIORS IN NORTH CAROLINA

1989: Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, Southern Pines (Brandie Burton)
2006: Carmel Country C.C. (South Course), Charlotte (Jenny Shin)
2010: The Country Club of North Carolina (Dogwood Course), Village of Pinehurst (Doris Chen)

FUTURE U.S. GIRLS’ JUNIOR SITES        
2027: Canterbury Golf Club, Cleveland, Ohio/July 12-17

2029: Eugene (Ore.) Country Club/July 16-21

2030: The Country Club, Brookline, Mass./July 15-20
2031: Trinity Forest Golf Club, Dallas, Texas/July 14-19

2032: Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, Pinehurst, N.C./July 12-17

2034: Sand Valley Resort, Nekoosa, Wis./July 17-22

2035: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore./July 16-21

2037: Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wis./July 13-18

2038: Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, Mich./July 12-17

2045: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore./Dates TBD