CHILLIWACK, B.C. - Three British Columbia juniors are headed to USGA national championships this summer after a dramatic day at Chilliwack Golf Club on Monday, June 8th.
Ewan Baldwin of Langford and Alex Zhang of Richmond qualified for the 78th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from July 20-25, while Jenny Meiqi Guo of West Vancouver secured her spot to the 77th U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, North Carolina from July 13-18.
Chilliwack Golf Club, a long-time host of provincial championships, provided a fitting stage to the extended competition — the alternate playoff stretched to seven holes before the day was done.
No easy spots in the boy's field
Baldwin posted a five-under-par 67 to share co-medallist honours with Harrison Kiziak of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta in the boy's qualifier. The Vancouver Island squad member and Royal Colwood junior won the 2025 CJGA Junior Singles Series and has been working this off-season with a new coach, Christof Appel. His approach at Chilliwack reflected that work: patient through the front nine, opportunistic on the par fives, and composed enough to keep bogeys off the card when the round was on the line.
"My mindset going into the round was to be patient and attack the par fives but mainly stay away from bogeys," Baldwin said. "My mindset was pretty steady all day. I didn't think about the score much. I just tried not to lose focus and stick to my process."
On working with Appel for the first time this winter, he was straightforward about the impact: "He has been great to learn from, and I look forward to learning and improving with him in the future."
It will be Baldwin's first appearance at the U.S. Junior, and he's not hiding his excitement. "I'm super excited. I'm really looking forward to the whole experience."
Zhang secured the third qualifying spot by birdieing the first hole of a playoff against Maxim McKenzie of Chilliwack and Tucker Doiron of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia. The Marine Drive member and incoming Harvard freshman is the 2023 Canadian Junior and Juvenile Boys champion — one of only 11 players in the history of that championship to win both titles. McKenzie and Doiron continued on after Zhang’s exit, with Doiron claiming the first alternate position on the seventh playoff hole.
Guo birdies last four to claim co-medallist spot
West Vancouver's Guo fired a three-under 70 to earn one of two qualifying spots in the girls draw, sharing co-medallist honours with Angela Zhang of Bellevue, Washington. She did it the hard way, closing with four consecutive birdies after a jittery back nine start.
The run began on the 15th hole. "I hit it off the back of the hill and it rolled back to like three feet," Guo said. "That was the start of me birdieing my last four holes."
The momentum built from there, but not without nerves. Her coach, who was also caddying, informed her on the 16th tee that she was leading. Rather than play it safe, she was talked into a club change at the last second: down from a nine-iron to an eight, which she hit to a foot. "That got my adrenaline pumping," she said.
The caddie-coach partnership was a thread throughout her round. After a frustrating front nine on the greens, the two made an adjustment: Guo would read her short putts herself, leaving the longer reads to her coach. "That worked better," she said simply.
Guo, who won the 2024 BC Juvenile Girls Championship by 11 shots at age 12 and finished runner-up at the 2025 Augusta National Drive, Chip and Putt, had the poise to close it out. After securing her spot, she acknowledged the people behind her, "I would like to thank my parents and my brother and my golf coach for always sticking with me and supporting me. I'd also like to thank BC Golf and all their support."
The bigger picture
Baldwin and Guo are both selected members of BC Golf's Team BC Regional Development Squads — Baldwin with the Vancouver Island Squad under coach Michelle McCann, Guo with the North Shore Squad under Colin Lavers. The pathway from provincial squad to national championship is exactly the progression that structure is designed to produce. Together with Zhang, they represent a provincial junior contingent that arrived at Chilliwack with serious credentials and left with spots at two of golf’s most prestigious junior stages.
The 78th U.S. Junior Amateur will draw 264 competitors to Saucon Valley, a storied club in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley returning to the event for the first time since 1983. The championship's alumni list includes Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and Johnny Miller. Defending champion Hamilton Coleman will attempt to become just the second player in the event's history to win back-to-back titles.
Guo, meanwhile, heads to Old Chatham Golf Club for the 77th U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, a field that last year produced Aphrodite Deng of Calgary as the first Canadian to win the title in the tournament's history.
Full results from the Qualifier are available here.