Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan: With their respective successes at The Royal Junior, Brayden Lee and Anna Iwanaga have made impressive advancements in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

Singaporean Lee and Japan’s Iwanaga produced outstanding performances to emerge triumphant in the Boys’ and Girls’ categories at The Royal Club last week.

On the back of those efforts, Lee has risen 103 places to 269th in the men’s WAGR. For her part, Iwanaga progressed 19 spots to 61st in the women’s standings.

Reflecting on his victory, 17-year-old Lee said: “It’s great to win the Royal Junior this year. This is my first win in 2025, and hopefully it will give me the experience and confidence to have a good year.

“Playing against the top amateurs from Japan and Asia-Pacific is always a pleasure, especially against friends like Nguyen Anh Minh and Shinichi Suzuki.

“It was a tough fight and I really had to dig deep with a few one-putts on the last few holes.”

Organised by Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings Inc. and approved by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) and The R&A, The Royal Junior is also supported by the Japan Golf Association, Japan High School and Junior High School Golf Association.

With the aim of nurturing and developing the next generation of international golfers, the tournament includes 49 boys and 40 girls. The top players outside of Japan were selected by the APGC.

With their second and third-place finishes in the Boys’ division, Thai Parin Sarasmut and Korean Yu Min-hyeok also improved their ranking. Parin has gone up 64 spots to 397th while Yu rose 53 positions to 213th.

It was also a productive week for Chinese duo Li Menghan and Liu Yujie.

Joint runner-up in the Girls’ category, Li has reached 117th, up 12, while Liu, who ended joint fourth, progresses nine places to 130th.

Japan’s Kurara Arakaki, who ended level with Liu, was the biggest mover of the week in the women’s WAGR, racing 1,155 spots up the table to 760th.

Meanwhile, Xu Ying, the leading China player at last month’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Vietnam where she finished sixth, has soared into the top-50 for the first time thanks to her maiden China LPGA win at the ZF.Kove Chongqing Women’s Open.

Xu who will represent China at next month’s Queen Sirikit Cup in Japan, advanced 21 places to 48th.