Hong Kong Junior Classic at Clearwater Bay

The Junior Order of Merit, the official ranking system of the JGTA has been updated after last week’s Hong Kong Junior Classic at Clearwater Bay. The event held utmost importance for many players rankings because it was the third event of the JGTA’s 2018-2019 season and competing in three events gives players a natural average of points earned from competing.

For the first time this season, Justin Sun (2022) was bumped from the top spot in the Boy’s Junior Order of Merit rankings. With Pongsapak Laopakdee’s win at the Hong Kong Junior Classic at Clearwater Bay, he has taken over the top ranking in just his second event of the JGTA season. In his first event, the Bogor Junior Championship Hosted by Sentul Highlands Golf Club, he finished in 2nd place. Sun now sits in 2nd place in the rankings and is trailed by Bogor Junior Championship winner Kentaro Nanayama (2021) and Gabriel Hansel Hari (2021) of Jakarta, Indonesia. Markus Lam (2023) of Hong Kong has moved to 5th in the rankings with his 10th place finish in the Hong Kong Junior Classic at Clearwater Bay.

Despite a T21 finish at the Hong Kong Junior Classic at Clearwater Bay, Amy Gao (2021) of Shanghai, China remains atop the Girl’s Rankings. Bogor Junior Championship hosted by Sentul Highlands Golf Club champion Mariel Isabella Tee (2021) of Pasig City, Philippines remains in 2nd in the rankings. With Chloe Chan’s win in Hong Kong (her first JGTA event of the 2018-2019 season), she takes over 3rd place in the rankings. Eila Galitsky (2025) of Chiang Mai, Thailand has been bumped to 4th place, while Yulin Chen (2021) of Guangzhou, China has taken over 5th place.

At the end of the 2018-2019 JGTA season, a divisor of three will be applied to the sum of each player’s total ‘Merit Points’ earned during the season to calculate the final ‘Cumulative Average Points Per Tournament’, upon which each player is ranked. The divisor of three is applied to ensure players are competing in at least three events in order to be classified as ‘competitive’. Once a player competes in three events, their ‘Cumulative Average Points Per Tournament’ is a natural average representation, while if a player only competes in one JGTA event, their total points earned are divided by three, resulting in a Cumulative Average Points per Tournament that is only a 33% representation of their natural average.

The Junior Order of Merit race is on. To view the Junior Order of Merit Rankings, click here.