Clairey on Top: Lin Claims Medalist Honors with Near-Record Score of 131

Clairey Lin, 16, of Canada, improved upon her first-round score with a fiery 7-under-par 65 on Tuesday to earn medalist honors at the 77th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship being contested at Old Chatham Golf Club. 

Following up on her 66 on Monday, Lin’s 36-hole total of 13-under 131 was one shot off the championship low mark and tied four others for the second lowest stroke-play score in championship history. Taylor Karle owns the scoring mark of 130, which she registered in 2005 at BanBury G.C., in Eagle, Idaho.

On Tuesday, Lin was as bright as the sunny skies that replaced the dreary rain that permeated the premises on Day 1. She carded six birdies and an eagle against just one bogey under near-perfect conditions in suburban Raleigh.

She would finish one stroke ahead of 16-year-old Yujie Liu, of the People’s Republic of China, who posted a second-round 64, the second-lowest round this week. 

Lin shot past first-round leader Amelia Harris, 18, of Australia, who after a near-record 63 on Monday, could only muster a 3-over 75 for a two-round total of 6-under 138. Her first round was punctuated by a second-nine 28, a USGA championship female record.

The highlight of Lin’s day was an eagle 3 on the 538-yard, par-5 11th. Her play on the hole was not only a thing of beauty, but one of only five eagles recorded during the stroke-play portion of the competition. 

“Yeah, I hit a good drive and gave myself about 240-ish [yards] left in,” said Lin. “I hit a [fairway metal] and knew that if I hit a good one, I could get it up there. And I did; I hit it on the green, maybe 40 feet to the back right edge of the green and just drained that.”

When asked what being medalist would mean, Lin didn't hesitate. 

“It means so much,” said Lin, who now resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Palos Verdes. “I love everything about this tournament. I think the USGA does an amazing job with every tournament that they run, and this one is just no different. I love coming here every year and to play as well as I did these first two days, it's a huge honor. It's been great.”

While Lin earned a medal for her performance, she’ll want a gold one wrapped around her neck come Saturday afternoon. But she’ll need to navigate six rounds of match play, starting with the Round of 64 on Wednesday.

The draw won’t be officially finalized until Wednesday morning upon the completion of the 6-for-2 playoff. The cut came at 3-over 147, matching the lowest since the championship went to 36-hole qualifying.

Luckily – or rather, skillfully – she is well prepared to defend the top seed, having advanced to the final match of last month’s AJGA RLX Junior Classic at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course, where she eventually lost to fellow U.S. Girls’ Junior competitor Eliana Saga, who also advanced to match play. The RLX Junior Classic is the only match-play event on the AJGA circuit.

Moreover, she frequently surrounds herself with some of the best junior players her home country has to offer, including last year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, Aphrodite Deng, who is a teammate on the Canadian NextGen Team, the country’s equivalent of the U.S. National Development Program’s National Junior Team. Deng chose not to defend this year to compete in last week’s Amundi Evian Championship, one of the five majors in women’s professional golf. 

“I did speak with her [Aphrodite] a little bit. She's an amazing player. I'm lucky to be on the same team as her, and the opportunities that I get to practice with her and see her play are super inspiring.”

While Lin claimed medalist honors, no player had a better Round 2 than Liu, who earned the No. 2 seed by posting 12-under 132. 

Liu, who resides in Encinitas, Calif., was flawless in posting a bogey-free round with eight birdies, four on the front nine and four on the back. Her 30-foot birdie attempt on the ninth hole, her last the round, slid just an inch past the hole, preserving Lin's one-shot edge for medalist. 

Through 36 holes, the No. 20 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®, which ranks second in the field to Japan’s Anna Iwanaga (No. 16), recorded just one bogey, a 5 on the par-4 third hole in Round 1.

Although she is barely older than the field average of 16.37, Liu is one of the championship's most accomplished players, winning twice on the China LPGA Tour (2026 Beijing Women’s Open and 2025 Guandong Women’s Open) while also recording a top-20 finish in this year’s Augusta National Women's Amateur and reaching the Round of 64 in last year's U.S. Girls' Junior.

“I feel like my favorite club in my bag is driver and putter,” said Liu. “Also, this golf course just gives you so many opportunities. I've been saving a lot of up-and-downs in the last two days. So, I feel like that's the part that I did really well.”  

Iwanaga earned the No. 3 seed for match play, posting 8-under-par 136. 

Following an inspired first-round of 66, the Osaka native posted just two birdies, but also made 16 pars.  
 
“Today, the shots were generally good,” said Iwanaga. “I was getting chances. I think it was good that I didn’t get myself into too many dangerous situations.” 

Outside of the top three, one of the day’s biggest risers was none other than Southern California’s Jude Lee. 

The 18-year-old from Walnut, a Los Angeles suburb in the San Gabriel Valley, followed an opening-round 70 with a 67 to earn the No. 4 seed. 

The second-year member of the U.S. National Junior Team caught fire during the back half of her round, securing birdies on Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 7 after a 1-under 35 on the inward nine (she started on No. 10).  

“I just had a lot of fun out there today,” said Lee, an incoming Stanford University freshman. “I was really good at snapping back into the present moment. My [local] caddie (Patrick Eber) and I were just talking about the most random stuff the entire time. So, it just felt like a normal round back home.” 

First-round leader Harris and Anna Bell shared fifth at 6-under 138.

While they finished stroke play with the same score, they took very different paths to get there. Bell, who earned her spot in the championship by winning the Missouri Junior Match Play Championship, carded a bogey-free 67 on Tuesday. Harris, of Australia and an incoming freshman at the University of South Carolina, couldn’t quite match her dynamic performance from Monday.

The best stroke-play finish among the four North Carolinians in the field came from 16-year-old Ella June Hannant. The small-town standout (Pikeville) will enter match play full of confidence after posting 141.

Victoria Davis, of nearby Cary, and Riley Grimm, of Pinehurst, missed the cut. Raleigh's Jenna Kim, who recently became the first girls' golfer in Carolinas Golf Association history to win four CGA championships, avoided Wednesday morning's playoff by one stroke with a birdie on her second-to-last hole of the afternoon to finish at 146. 

What’s Next 

A 6-for-2 playoff will begin at 7:30 a.m. ET on No. 16 and will proceed to Nos. 17, 18 and 10, if necessary. The Round-of-64 matches will commence on Wednesday morning at 8:30 ET. Match play continues through Saturday’s 36-hole final. Admission is free, and spectators are encouraged to attend. 

Notables

• The cut of 3-over-par 147 ties the lowest in championship history. The other previous low cuts came in 2024 at El Caballero C.C., in Tarzana, Calif., and at Tulsa (Okla.) Country Club in 2015.  

• Nine of the 30 USNDP State Junior Team players made the cut, with one more player in Wednesday’s playoff. Three USNDP Grant Athletes made the cut, with 13-year-old Iris Lee competing in Wednesday’s playoff. 

• Eight of the 10 U.S. National Junior Team players in the field made the cut. Only Nikki Oh and Angela Zhang missed. 

• Twenty-two international players advanced with two more, Hong Kong’s Sabrina Wong and Chinese Taipei’s Annika Chen in the 6-for-2 playoff.  

• Iris Lee, 13, headlines the six players in tomorrow’s playoff. Lee won the 2026 Women’s Western Junior Championship and advanced to the quarterfinals alongside partner Hannah Hall at this year’s U.S. Women’s Four-Ball Championship at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C.  

• Former Curtis Cuppers Cydney Clanton (2010) and Erynne (Lee) Yoo (2014) served as caddies for Ava Zhang and Kacey Ly, respectively. Yoo is the assistant coach of women’s golf at UCLA where Ly was named the Big 10 Freshman of the Year for the 2025-26 season. Clanton owns one LPGA Tour victory.

• Warren Schutte, the 1992 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, is on the bag for Aubrey Hilgers.

• Savera Sandhu, who made the cut, has twin brother Samar on her bag this week. Samar, who is two minutes older than Savera, qualified for next week’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley C.C. The twins’ older brother, Sihan Sandhu, won the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational to earn an exemption into the PGA Tour’s 3M Open being contested July 23-26 at TPC Twin Cities, in Blaine, Minn. 

• Besides the two USNJT members, other notable players who failed to qualify included 2026 U.S. Women’s Open qualifier Anita Lumpongpoung, 2025 U.S. Girls’ Junior semifinalists Rayee Feng, the youngest competitor in the field Bella Simoes (12), 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion Asia Young and Kelly O’Keffe, the niece of three-time USGA champion Jim McGill. 

Quotables 

“It was a rough start to the week. I started the week with the fever, and now we're getting progressively better. But it was nice to see everyone again and nice to see the USGA people, as always, so I'm glad that I'm doing better health-wise. I’m just here to give it my all for my last Girls' Junior.” - Jude Lee on the start of her Girls’ Junior week

“I’d like to reset ... Take it from step one and not think that because I played so well these 2 days, that it gives me [an advantage] going into the rest of the week. So, same game plan ... pick a target, hit good putts and take it from there.” - Clairey Lin on her preparation as the No. 1 seed heading into match play 

“Yeah, I feel like USGA events are my favorite events of the year, so I'm super excited for this week ... I feel like the USGA treats players so well. Like, they make us feel like princesses. [The USGA] gave us so much stuff and snacks, so I really enjoyed playing these events. “ - Yujie Liu on her experience playing in USGA championships