Keya Naik of Ashburn, VA and Sydney Dinh of Fairfax, VA have earned spots in the 78th U.S. Girls’ Junior at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C., July 13–18.

Two junior golfers from the MAPGA area will be teeing it up at the 2026 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship this July. Keya Naik of Ashburn, Virginia, and Sydney Dinh both earned their spots in the 78th edition of the championship, set for July 13–18 at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, North Carolina.

 

Keya Naik

Naik arrives at the U.S. Girls’ Junior with a full year of Division I college golf already behind her. She finished her freshman season at Clemson this spring, competing in the ACC, and she is quick to point out one side benefit of that schedule: the Tigers play a lot of golf in North Carolina.

She qualified at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Weyhill Course in Pennsylvania, shooting 5- under par to finish second. It was her fourth attempt at the championship. Last year she came closest yet, finishing as the second alternate after shooting 2-under par at a qualifier in South Carolina.

Naik is no stranger to USGA championship settings. Last year she competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes as an alternate, her first-ever USGA Championship. Going into this qualifier, she leaned on that experience.

“I’ve played plenty of qualifiers before at this point and I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m just gonna go out there and try to play the best golf I can,” said Naik.

This will be both her first and last U.S. Girls’ Junior. As a rising sophomore in college, she still meets the age requirements, but this is her final year of eligibility for the event. She is heading to Old Chatham with some extra preparation lined up: she will play in the North and South Amateur at Pinehurst the week before, with caddy Rob Tegnor, a former LPGA caddy familiar with the Carolina golf scene.

 

Sydney Dinh

Dinh’s path to Old Chatham came through a qualifier at Williamsburg Golf Club in Virginia. It was her first time qualifying for an individual USGA event, and she made the most of it. She opened with three birdies on the front nine, taking advantage of the par fives, then worked through some trouble on the back nine and scrambled to finish. She was playing blind the whole way, without checking the leaderboard.

“I just didn’t really think about the results. I kind of left it to my golf game and played to my strengths,” said Dinh.

She credits her coaches, Billy Hoffman and Tim Ritter, with building the game and confidence that got her there. “I wouldn’t be here where I am today without them,” she said.

The 78th U.S. Girls’ Junior features a 156-player field. Two rounds of stroke play on July 13–14 set the cut to 64 players for match play, with the 36-hole final on July 18. Old Chatham was designed by Rees Jones and opened in 2001 on 400 acres of pine woodlands along Jordan Lake.