15-year-old freshman shoots 9-under 62 to win California (CIF) high school golf title

La Canda St. Francis ninth-grader Jaden Soong birdies last two holes to win by two shots at Poppy Hills Country Club; Hometown Stevenson shoots 2-under to win team title

St. Francis of La Canada freshman Jaden Soong wins California (CIF) state golf championship with a 9-under round of 62 at Poppy Hills Country Club in Pebble Beach. / Photo courtesy of CIF

The same week the U.S. Open tees off in Pennsylvania, a California 15-year-old showed that he might not be far away from golf's largest stage.

Jaden Soong, a freshman at St. Francis High School in La Canada, shot a 9-under-par round of 62 Tuesday to win individual honors in the California (CIF) State championships at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.

Soong, who played in a U.S., Open qualifer almost two years ago to the day, shot a bogey free round to go along with seven birdies and an eagle to shoot the sizzling round.

He had to birdie the final two holes to knock off Torrey Pines' Evan Liu, who shot a 64 with an eagle, six birdies and one bogey on the par 4 13th hole. Like Soong, Lui birdied his final two holes.

There were low scores to be had on the 6,558-yard layout as 11 players broke par, including three from team champion Robert Louis Stevenson-Pebble Beach, which shot a team score of 2-under 353, to defeat De La Salle-Concord and Santa Margarita, which each shot 362.

• COMPLETE SCORES | 2025 California (CIF) Golf Championships

La Serna (364), Palo Alto (367) and Torrey Pines (381) closed out the team scoring.

Luke Brandler (67), Steven Lai (69) and Zachary Hawkins (70) each shot under-par for Stevenson, which took advantage of playing on a nearby course it is familiar with.

That wasn't the case for Soong, who told the Los Angeles Times he hadn't played at Poppy Hills since he was 7- or 8-years old.

He joins a long list of golf prodigies who starred on California golf teams and in this tournament, including Tiger Woods, Phil Michelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff and Patrick Cantlay.

"This is my personal lowest round and one of my best," Soong said. "I would say everything clicked."

Calvin Etcheverry (73) and Johshveer Chadha (74) closed out the scoring for Stevenson, only the fourth team in the last 20 years to finish a state-championship round under par.

De La Salle holds the record in that span with a 9-under par round, also at Poppy Hills, to win the 2023 title. On Tuesday, the Spartans were led by Josh Kim's 67 and an even-par 71 from Noah Eisen.

The Stevenson Pirates shot a 2-under team round of 353 to win to easily win the team competition of the 2025 California (CIF) State golf championship June 3 at Poppy Hills Country Club in Pebble Beach. / Photo courtesy of CIF

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