[Haikou, China – 2nd April 2019] Lyu Tian of China fired a final-round 67 to seal an emphatic seven-shot win in the inaugural Mission Hills Junior Open on the Vintage Course in Haikou on Hainan Island.  The 16-year-old from Jilin Province receives a free exemption into the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf Championship in Las Vegas this July.

Lyu’s tournament-low round of 67 followed scores of 73 and 68 to finish on eight under par, seven ahead of overall boys’ champion, Liu En-Hua.  13-year-old Liu also earns a free exemption into the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf Championship in the United States, a tournament ranked by The R&A, the NJGS, Golfweek and the AJGA.

Four more leading players were also celebrating invitations to the showpiece IJGA event in America: two boys, Liu Jia-Ming and Zhou Yi from China and two girls, Zhuoyi Hu of New Zealand and China’s Chen Jia-Rui. 

With more than 60 players aged eight to 18 competing for R&A and China Golf Association ranking points at the record-breaking Mission Hills Haikou resort, the inaugural Mission Hills Junior Open marked another addition to the Group’s award-winning junior golf programme, sponsored by EFG Bank.

The Mission Hills Junior Golf Programme provides access to the sport for tens of thousands of juniors each year, from beginners to elite amateurs, through junior tournaments, coaching, camps and clinics, school classes, free access for juniors to three of its courses and free entry into the Dr. David Chu Golf Museum at Mission Hills, the first in China.

Founded in 1992, the Mission Hills Group has invested more than six million US dollars into its Junior Golf Programme; and more than 100,000 competitive rounds have been played through the junior programme at Mission Hills.  It was voted Best Youth Development Programme in Asia in 2018 and EFG Bank was recently unveiled as an Official Partner.

Leading final scores:  Boys’ 13-18: 215 – Liu En-Hua (CHN) 70 71 74; 216 – Liu Jia-Ming (CHN) 70 74 72; 221 – Zhou Yi (CHN) 75 76 70.  Girls’ 13-18: 208 – Lyu Tian (CHN) 73 68 67; 223 – Zhuoyi Hu (NZL) 74 74 75; 234 – Chen Jia-Rui (CHN) 81 78 75.  Boys’ 10-12: 228 – Li Jia-Wei (CHN) 80 76 72; 232 – Li Yi-Ran (CHN) 81 76 75; 244 – Wang Zi-Ang (CHN) 84 78 82.  Girls’ 10-12: 215 – Zhang Jun-Yuan (CHN) 71 72 72; 233 – Li Jia-Ying (CHN) 80 73 80; 254 – Zhang Shi-Han (CHN) 87 80 87.  Mixed 8-9: 245 – Xia Chu-Mu (CHN) 82 83 80, Zhung Yui-Yu (CHN) 83 81 81; 279 – Anthony Qian (USA) 95 96 88.