BOWLING GREEN, Florida - Clairey Lin of Palos Verdes Estates, California, won the inaugural Ninja Invitational hosted by Janet Xiyu Lin, finishing at 12-under-par to claim a three-stroke victory.
The 2025 event features 36 juniors ranked inside the top 100 of the Rolex AJGA Rankings. The 72-player field includes nine Rolex Junior All-Americans, representatives from five countries and 16 players from Florida. In addition, 21 competitors have already committed to play college golf.
Took down @Streamsong Black.
— AJGA (@AJGAGolf) September 1, 2025
Clairey Lin is your 2025 #NinjaInv champion.@NinjaKitchen | @JanetLinXiyu pic.twitter.com/okgP9KpA8d
Lin began the final round with a one-shot lead over Iris Lee and stayed steady on the front nine, making the turn at even par. On the back nine, she caught fire with five birdies, starting at No. 10 and highlighted by three straight on Nos. 13–15. She closed with a birdie on No. 18 to seal the three-stroke victory.
"I can't believe it. I think for the first few holes, I was thinking too much about playing other people rather than playing the course itself. After I fell behind a little bit, I tried to square my mindset up again. I tried to make birdies on every hole rather than waiting for what the other girls are doing. I stuck to my own game."
Entering as the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 8 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Clairey Lin captured her seventh AJGA title and first Invitational victory.
Chasing Lin were Iris Lee and Vidhi Lakhawala, who battled throughout the final round. Lee, of Orlando, Florida, finished solo second at 9-under-par 210, while Lakhawala, of Kendall Park, New Jersey, took solo third at 6-under-par 213.
Lee, a 2031 graduate, came in fresh off her second AJGA victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Junior. She put together a steady final round with birdies on Nos. 4 and 13, her only setback coming on No. 17 after a difficult bunker shot.
Lakhawala, a Wake Forest commit and 2025 Wyndham Cup East member, recorded her best AJGA Invitational finish. She opened with a birdie on No. 3 and made the turn at even par. A birdie on No. 12 briefly pulled her into a share of the lead, but she closed with a 1-over-par round to finish four strokes behind Lin.
Alexandra Snyder of Orlando, Florida, finished in a tie for sixth place after she fired a tournament-record 8-under-par 65 in the final round, breaking the previous mark of 7-under-par 66 set by Yana Wilson in 2023.
Rounding Out The Top 10 are:
T4: Ava Zhang of Lake Mary, Florida (-5)
T4: Zoe Cusack of Potomac, Maryland (-5)
T6: Alexandra Snyder of Orlando, Florida (-4)
T6: Shyla Brown of McKinney, Texas (-4)
T8: Nina Choe of New York, New York (-3)
T8: Asia Young of Bend, Oregon (-3)
T8: Kayla Bryant of Boca Raton, Florida (-3)
About the Course
Streamsong Black, designed by renowned architect Gil Hanse, is a bold and expansive Par-73 championship layout that has quickly earned national acclaim. Named Golf Digest’s Best New Golf Course of the Year in 2018, it currently ranks No. 33 on Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses (2025) and No. 31 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play (2025). Known for its massive greens—the largest in the country—Streamsong Black challenges players with creative contours, rolling elevation changes, and dramatic sand ridges reminiscent of Australia’s famed Sand Belt Region. The course has become a familiar stage for elite junior golf, marking the AJGA’s fifth event at Streamsong Black and the third time it has hosted the AJGA Girls Invitational, now known as the Ninja Invitational hosted by Janet Xiyu Lin.
About Janet Xiyu Lin
Janet Xiyu Lin has emerged as one of the most accomplished players in women’s golf, with 29 career top-10s and 85 top-25 finishes. Turning professional in 2011, she quickly made her mark on the CLPGA and LET before joining the LPGA Tour, where she has been a consistent contender for over a decade. Lin has represented China in three Olympic Games, finishing T4 at the 2016 Rio Olympics, T9 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and capturing a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the second Chinese woman to earn an Olympic medal in golf. She has also been a key contributor on Team China at the International Crown in 2016 and 2023. Known for her consistency, competitiveness, and ability to perform on the world stage, Lin continues to be a trailblazer for Chinese golf and an inspiration to aspiring players worldwide.
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