JERSEY CITY – In one of the more unique tournaments on the LPGA Tour, 24 junior golfers from the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) will be teeing off alongside LPGA Tour professionals during this weekend’s Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City.
One of those juniors, Aphrodite Deng, hails from Short Hills. Like her AJGA counterparts, she is excited to be competing alongside and learning from the pros this weekend. She calls this weekend’s tournament “really exciting” and “a great opportunity.” She added that everyone competing this weekend is really good and that “it’s cool to see how they play.”
This is Deng’s second appearance at the Mizuho Americas Open. Last year, she finished tied for 13th. This year, Deng says that a successful weekend for her will include playing to her standards while enjoying the abundance of views that Liberty National offers.
For Deng specifically, playing so close to home comes with bonuses. “Yeah, it’s really cool playing (near) my hometown, and a lot of friends and family are going to come out and watch me,” she said of playing in her home state.
While the focus this weekend will be on golf, it has not all been work for the juniors. Deng said that her favorite event this week so far has been the pro-am dinner, where she met a lot of people and talked to them. Additionally, there was a scavenger hunt in downtown New York City that the junior golfers could participate in.
Finally, as far as her personal accolades go, Deng is currently ranked seventh on the AJGA circuit. She is a three-time winner as a junior, most recently having won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in March and The Nelly Invitational last year. Deng is also a two-time Rolex Junior All-American (2023 and 2024) and was a member of the 2023 Junior All-Star Team. Deng is one of three junior golfers from the Garden State to participate in the junior tournament at the Mizuho Americas Open after Basking Ridge’s Katie Li finished fourth in 2023, and Pennington’s Megan Meng finished 22nd last year.
The third edition of the Mizuho Americas Open begins tomorrow morning with Deng’s group, specifically, teeing off at 9:05 a.m. Tickets for the tournament can be purchased by visiting mizuhoamericasopen.com/tickets, or fans who cannot make it out to Liberty National can catch some of the action on the Golf Channel.
