Windy Shao

windysjf@hotmail.com

YUEN CHI-YEUNG from Hong Kong stood out from over 100 teenage players to win the overall championship of the 16th Mission Hills Jack Nicklaus Junior Championships in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, on Wednesday.

Huang Minghe, from the 10-12 age group, won the girls’ overall championship.

In addition, Liao Kexin won the girls’ title in the 13-18 age group, Liu Xuancheng won the boy’s championship in the 10-12 age group and Cao Shengxun won the boy’s title in the 8-9 age group.

The champions, as well as the top three players in each group, will be invited to participate in the final of the Mission Hills Junior Series, which has been officially upgraded to an L4 level event hosted by the China Golf Association, in November this year.

The championship, organized under the patronage of Jack Nicklaus, one of the greatest golf legends, is to promote junior golf in general and in China in particular.

From 2010, result of the championship is included into World Amateur Golf Ranking. From 2014, this event is included into China Golf Association Junior Ranking.

In line with Nicklaus’ love and passion for junior golf development, Mission Hills aims to create opportunities for all juniors to develop and compete against each other under tournament conditions.

More and more young golf players are becoming known in China and the world after participating in Mission Hills’ golf tournaments.

Yin Ruoning, a new generation national golf team player, has just won her first LPGA championship in April and is a frequent Mission Hills tournament visitor.

Yin became the second Chinese winner in the LPGA Tour, after Feng Shanshan, who recently withdrew from the Tour.

In 2019, golf legend Annika Sorenstam was deeply impressed by Yin’s performance during a Mission Hills tournament and said about Yin’s skills：“It’s hard to imagine that she’s just 16 years old, and I can’t achieve such a good result at the same age.”