NZ amateur Zheng wins in Nova Scotia
- NZ Sports Wire
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Auckland amateur golfer has gone wire-to-wire to win the NextGen Atlantic Championship in Canada.
Zheng, 17, carded a two-under 70 in the final round on Thursday (Friday NZ Time) to secure a five-stroke victory at the Oakfield Golf and Country Club in Enfield, Nova Scotia.
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Zheng, the only international player to tee off at the Atlantic Championship, entered Thursday’s (Friday NZ Time) final round with a two-shot lead over Jenny Kwon of Vancouver, BC.
With rounds of 70 and 74 behind her, the Kiwi found separation from Kwon in the early stages of her final round, stringing together birdies at the first, sixth and eighth holes to double her advantage to four strokes ahead of the more taxing back-nine.
Consecutive bogeys at the ninth and 10th sliced Zheng’s lead in half, though a timely string of par putts on the 11th, 12th and 13th helped to get back on track before a birdie at the par-four 14th got her back to two-under.
A final birdie at the 17th sealed the deal for Zheng, while Kwon played her final four holes at three-over par to fall out of contention.
The wire-to-wire victory marks Zheng’s fifth triumph of 2025, having claimed four other stroke-play events overseas to shoot up to 266th on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).
The victory earned Zheng a place at next month's Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Club de golf Sainte-Marie in Sainte Marie, Quebec from August 12-16.
In other golf news, former PGA Tour member Tim Wilkinson has just missed out on a PGA Tour Australasia card at the final qualifier.
Wilkinson, 46, carded rounds of 72, 70, 72 and 73 to finish at one-under at the 2025-26 Qualifier School USA tournament at Kinderlou Forest, Georgia over the weekend.
That left him in a tie for 13th, seven strokes behind the winner, American Chris Malec, who earned full tour status, and four shots from earning an exemption category for finishing in the top-six and ties.
Wilkinson finished 149th in the FedEx Cup standings during the 2020-21 season but missed the next couple of seasons with knee injuries, undergoing surgery. He played seven tournament last year under a major medical exemption, missing the cut in all seven, before finishing 117th at the PGA Tour Q-School.
On the HotelPlanner Tour, Sam Jones has finished 18th at the German Challenge tournament after a final round two-under 70 on Sunday (Monday NZT).
The 29-year-old from Taranaki fired rounds of 69, 66, 73 and 70 at the Wittelsbacher Golfclub in Neuburg an der Donau, Germany to finish at 10-under, 14 strokes adrift of the champion, South African JC Ritchie.
After a hot start during the South Africa swing earlier in the year, Jones now sits 19th in the Road to Mallorca rankings, still on target to return to the DP World Tour.
At the Korn Ferry Tour's Price Cutter Charity Championship in Springfield, Missouri, Kiwi Harry Hillier finished tied for 47th.
Hillier, 26, put together rounds of 70, 67, 70 and 70 at the Highland Springs Country Club to end at 11-under on Sunday (Monday NZT), 16 strokes behind the winner, American Chandler Blanchet.
With two top-10 results in 2025, the Te Puke pro sits 62nd in the Korn Ferry Tour points list, having made the cut at 11 of 18 tournaments.
