Feng Looking to Ace More Tests at U.S. Girls’ Junior, Women’s Am

Not long after the biggest accomplishment in her fledgling golf career, Rayee Feng faced the harsh reality of being a high school junior. While her family – and specifically her father (Yu) – couldn’t stop gushing and celebrating, the 16-year-old (she turned 17 on June 11) from Short Hills, N.J., had to put the clubs aside and focus on final exams.

When you attend a prestigious institution like The Pingry School, in Bernards Township, N.J., the academic curriculum is as stringent as a USGA championship. Four finals and a written English paper awaited Feng, who managed to push excitement of qualifying for the 80th U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills and concentrate on academics.

Even her physics teacher, Bill Bourne, an avid golfer himself, told Feng not to fret the finals because “you are going to the U.S. [Women’s] Open!”

Nevertheless, the straight-A student aced her Chinese II, U.S. History, Precalculus Honors and Physics Honors exams as well as her paper for Contemporary American Poetry.

Feng then went out and passed the biggest golf exam of her life by making the 36-hole cut at Erin Hills. A final-round 80 ended her chances of being low amateur, but the experience of being around the game’s premier players was priceless. She even got paired with newly minted LPGA Tour Hall of Famer Lydia Ko, a longtime idol of both Rayee and her parents, in the final round.

By qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open – and making the cut – Feng earned exemptions into this week’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at Atlanta Athletic Club and next month’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes. She has previous experience in both championships but failed to qualify for match play in each instance: 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior at The Club at Olde Stone as a 14-year-old and last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills C.C.

Feng is a vastly different player nowadays, having gained newfound confidence after shooting 3-under 141 and sharing medalist honors at the U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at Hackensack Golf Club. Building on that momentum, she fired 2-under 142 through the first two rounds of the championship proper.. Just playing practice rounds with the likes of 2023 U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz, Charley Hull, Leona Maguire and Ayaka Furue, and chatting with two-time USGA champion Rose Zhang, opened Feng’s eyes to how the top professionals navigate major championships, both on and off the course.

Even shooting 80 alongside Ko on that final Sunday was a valuable lesson that can’t be taught in a classroom. After all, Ko was earning low amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open and winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur (2012) at about the same age as Feng.

“It was surreal,” said Feng of the pairing with Ko. “I didn’t sleep well the whole tournament. One of the days I was dehydrated because I didn’t drink enough water. Leading up to the final day [and the pairing with Ko], oh my goodness, that’s crazy. [One of my coaches], Bob [Lohr], always compares my swing to her. My mom (Dongling Wang) loves her swing. She always says look at what she’s doing.”

Feng is doing quite all right. In the past six months, she’s gained about 15-20 yards with her driver. Her 8-iron shots have gone from 140 yards last fall to 155 yards. Some of that is the work she’s put in with Lohr at the Florida-based Leadbetter Academy and part of it is thanks to her New Jersey-based instructor, Matt Wilson, Director of Instruction at Baltusrol Golf Club. Feng, who admittedly is not a gym rat although she recently started to run more, also spends a lot of time practicing at Fiddler’s Elbow, a short drive from Pingry and not far from Chubb Insurance’s headquarters, where her father is a software engineer.

Rayee and her 15-year-old brother Rayhao, an up-and-coming junior golfer who caddied for his sister at Erin Hills, are dropped off after school to practice and play.

In the past two years, Rayee has amassed four American Junior Golf Association titles, and claimed the 2024 New Jersey State Women's Open. She was also among 10 girls recently selected to the East Team for the Wyndham Cup, an annual Ryder Cup-style event that is being contested a week prior to this year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at Forest Highlands (Canyon Course), in Flagstaff, Ariz. That co-ed event – 10 boys are also on each team – will give Feng some much-needed match-play reps going into the Girls’ Junior.

“I’m a completely different player now,” said Feng when asked to compare her current self to the one who first played in the Girls’ Junior three years ago. “Confidence is a huge part. I’m hitting it much further. I know myself a lot better. I know my strengths and weaknesses and what to focus on.”

Of course, making the weekend at the U.S. Women’s Open will raise expectations for Feng as she approaches these next two USGA championships. Feng had signed up for U.S. Women’s Open qualifying the past two years, but never seriously thought about actually making the field. It was to gain experience playing with and against pros and elite amateurs.

With no scoreboards on the property, Feng wasn’t quite sure where she stood and preferred it that way.

“I feel like I play better when I don’t know the outcome,” she said. “Just keeping my head down and playing my game. I just knew I was putting really well. I only had one three-putt.”

When she exited the scoring area, a friend and fellow competitor greeted her with the news. Her dad/caddie said, “You did it!” Feng tied LPGA Tour veteran Jeongeun Lee5 for medalist honors, and they garnered the two available spots.

“My dad was so happy,” she said. “He still doesn’t stop talking about it.”

Feng played alongside pros Sophie Hausmann, of Germany, and Southern California native Kailie Vongsaga, who made Feng feel comfortable. Vongsaga, especially, chatted with Feng, making it feel like an AJGA invitational. By the weekend, she was one of four amateurs out of 24 to make the cut, and the youngest by three years.

A year ago at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club, fellow teen Asterisk Talley shared low-amateur honors. Talley missed the cut in 2025, along with fellow 16-year-old Jude Lee.

Without any delusions of grandeur, Feng tried to enjoy every moment, from being driven around in a Lexus courtesy car to spending time in the merchandise shop with the $200 gift card she received. She even signed a few autographs for young fans.

Her high school coach, Sean McAnally, and Pingry’s Dean of Students, Alan Antwerp, made the trip to Wisconsin.

“[Sean] was talking to a few of the younger girls in attendance,” said Feng. “I asked him why they were watching her and he said because she is in high school. That was really cool to hear.”

For any golfer – especially one who still has a year of high school left – coming down from the high of playing in a U.S. Women’s Open can be a challenging transition. Feng is trying to stay as grounded as possible. She competed in the AJGA’s lone match-pay event, the Ralph Lauren RLX Junior Classic at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course but failed to make it out of pool play. She also caddied for her brother in a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier (he did not advance).

Once the Wyndham Club concludes in Arizona, she’ll travel to Georgia for the U.S. Girls’ Junior and then two weeks later will make the trek to southwest Oregon for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

She’s looking forward to spending time in the Pacific Northwest and hopes to visit some national parks and indulge in Mt. Rainier cherries. Of course, there’s some serious golf as well.

“I don’t want to reach too high,” said Feng when asked about her goals. “Of course, I want to make the cut. I don’t have a lot of experience with match play. That’s why I played Bethpage.”

Two vital tests for Feng.

But ones she hopes to ace.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.