Over the weekend, Aphrodite Deng joined a historic list of winners of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. The 15-year-old added to her already phenomenal resumé with one of the biggest amateur wins a golfer can achieve. Many prominent LPGA Tour stars have won this award. Let’s take a look at the history of the U.S. Girls’ Junior:
2021: Rose Zhang
Rose Zhang followed up her win at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur with a U.S. Girls’ Junior win over Bailey Davis, who now plays her golf at Tennessee. Since this title, Zhang of course has been one of the biggest names in golf with two individual NCAA Division I National Championships, a win at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, two LPGA Tour wins, a spot on the United States Olympic team in Paris and two Solheim Cup appearances.
2018: Yealimi Noh
Yealimi Noh won the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior on home turf at Poppy Hills Golf Course, not far from her hometown of San Francisco. She defeated fellow LPGA Tour winner Alexa Pano in a dominant 4&3 win. Noh shortly after made a Solheim Cup appearance in 2021 and is having a bit of a breakout season on the LPGA Tour in 2025. Noh won her first event early this season in Bradenton and has three top-10 finishes since then. She has been in contention in many of the majors this season and has risen to No. 21 in the Rolex Rankings.
2012: Minjee Lee
Minjee Lee won a star-studded finals in 2012 over Alison Lee at Lake Merced in the Bay Area. Since her win, Lee has established herself as arguably the greatest player of her generation, tallying 11 LPGA Tour victories including three majors. She has also made three appearances in the Olympics and is the defining Australian star of the 2010’s-2020’s. Lee currently is ranked No. 5 in the Rolex Rankings and No. 2 in the CME Standings and won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2025.
2011: Ariya Jutanugarn
Before she was a two-time major champion and two-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year, Jutanugarn defeated Dottie Ardina 2&1 at Olympia Fields, near Chicago. Since that win, Jutanugarn became an icon in Thailand, helping to lead the current wave of stars from the country. In the second half of the 2010’s, Jutanugarn was arguably the best player in the world over that stretch and has built up a total of 13 LPGA Tour victories.
2008: Lexi Thompson
At only 13-years-old, Lexi Thompson won the most prestigious junior event in the United States at Hartford Country Club. Since that time, she became one of the most famous women’s players of the 21st century. Thompson was a game changer in the sport, bringing a level of power that hadn’t been seen before. Thompson is an 11-time winner on the LPGA Tour with her lone major coming at the 2014 Chevron Championship. She’s also been on seven Solheim Cup teams and represented the United States at the Olympics in 2016 and 2021.
2002: Inbee Park
Arguably the greatest women’s player of the 21st century won the 2002 U.S. Girls’ Junior in New Jersey, and finished runner-up in the event two additional times. In her relatively short, Hall-of-Fame career, Park won 21 times on the LPGA Tour, seven of which were in major championships. 16 of those wins and six of those majors were between 2012 and 2015. You think Scottie Scheffler’s last few years have been dominant? Inbee Park was on a different level.
1987: Michelle McGann
In 1987, Michelle McGann won in one of the most lopsided final matches of all time, taking a 7&5 victory over Lynne Mikulas. After turning professional, McGann had a phenomenal three-year run between 1995 and 1997, winning seven LPGA Tour events in that short stretch. In that stretch, McGann also made her lone appearance on the United States Solheim Cup team in 1996, an event won by the Americans.
1986: Pat Hurst
Speaking of the Solheim Cup, the 2021 captain for the United States won the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 1986. After her junior career and a national championship at San José State, Hurst went on to build up a solid professional career. Hurst won six times on the LPGA Tour including a major championship at Mission Hills. Hurst played on five Solheim Cup teams for the United States, winning four.
1972 & 1974: Nancy Lopez
Nancy Lopez is one of the few players to win multiple U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships before her legendary career on the LPGA Tour. An icon in every sense of the word, Lopez wasn’t just a star in women’s golf, but in the golf world in general, winning a startling 48 times on the LPGA Tour, three of which were major championships. Lopez is still one of the most recognizable figures in the sport.
1973: Amy Alcott
Amy Alcott is maybe one of the most underrated figures in the history of the LPGA Tour. Alcott won 29 times, including five majors, over her LPGA career. Despite her legendary LPGA Tour career, Alcott is perhaps most known for starting the most famous tradition in women’s golf, jumping into Poppie’s Pond after a win at Mission Hills, a tradition that has endured through all the changes in women’s golf including a venue change for the first major of the year.
1969-1971: Hollis Stacy
Hollis Stacy is the only player to win the event three times, which set the stage for a phenomenal LPGA Tour run. Stacy won 18 times on the LPGA Tour, which included four major titles, three of which were U.S. Women’s Opens. Stacy was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.
1956: JoAnne Carner
JoAnne Carner was a 43-time winner on the LPGA Tour with two major championship titles. Through all of her incredible success though, Carner’s most notable moment may have come well after her retirement from the LPGA Tour. In the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, Carner shot her age (82) in the first round and improved on that by three strokes in the second round. She is one of just five golfers ever to shoot their age or better twice in a single USGA event.
1952: Mickey Wright
Arguably the greatest player in the history of the LPGA Tour was the fourth winner in this event’s history. After turning professional, Wright won 82 LPGA Tour events, 13 of which were major championships. Wright was the leading money earner four years in a row and had the lowest scoring average on Tour five years in a row. Incredibly, Wright accomplished all that while retiring from full-time play at 34-years-old.
