ENFIELD, N.S. – Emma Zheng of Auckland, New Zealand and Cole Stewart of Fall River, N.S. both secured victories at the 2025 NextGen Atlantic Championship on Thursday to wrap up the 2025 NextGen season and lock up their places in next month’s national junior championships.
Both Zheng and Stewart took the lead following Tuesday’s opening round and failed to give way to their closest chasers over the final 36 holes at Oakfield Golf & Country Club in Enfield, N.S.
Zheng, the only international player to tee off in the NextGen Atlantic Championship this week, entered Thursday’s final round with a two-shot lead over Yeeun (Jenny) Kwon of Vancouver, B.C. With rounds of 70 and 74 behind her, the Kiwi found separation from Kwon in the early stages of her final round, stringing together birdies at the first, sixth and eighth holes to double her advantage to four strokes ahead of the more taxing back nine.
Consecutive bogeys at Nos. nine and 10 sliced Zheng’s lead in half, though a timely string of par putts on holes 11, 12 and 13 helped to get back on track before a birdie at the par-4 14th got her back to two-under par. A final birdie at the 17th sealed the deal for Zheng while Kwon played her final four holes at three-over par to fall out of arms reach.
The wire-to-wire victory marks Zheng’s fifth triumph of 2025, having claimed four other stroke-play events overseas to shoot up to 266th on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).
As for Stewart, the win marks his first of 2025 and featured three-straight rounds of maturity and poise to help claim a three-stroke victory without ever trailing. Stewart opened the tournament with a five-under 67 to lead Ben Brown of Antigonish, N.S. by a single stroke heading into Wednesday.
Soaring atop the leaderboard on the heels of a hot start became familiar territory for Stewart at the NextGen Ontario Championship that took place earlier this year at Black Bear Ridge Golf & Resort in Belleville, Ont. Then, Stewart bound a lonesome bogey in his opening round with five birdies to card a four-under 68, leading the tournament until a six-over 78 the next day dropped him out of contention.
Two months later and in the final NextGen Championship of the 2025 season, Stewart built on opening rounds of 71 and 74 to ride his advantage into the final round. The Nova Scotian entered Thursday with a four-stroke lead and was able to navigate around a series of bogeys at Nos. eight, nine and 13 to claim his maiden title on the NextGen circuit by five strokes.
“After NextGen Ontario I learned a lot,” said Stewart following his round Thursday. “I figured out that I needed a good-night sleep and not check the leaderboard every five minutes. It definitely helped a lot for this week.
“My mindset was to not make any big numbers and play my game that I was playing the past two days,” he added. “I proved to myself that I can win big tournaments like this and have the game to pull off wins in these types of scenarios.”
The victory for Stewart is layered by a different kind of excitement as well, having grown up playing in the Enfield community, specifically at Oakfield Golf & Country Club.
Brett Shaw of Stratford, P.E.I. rallied from a three-over par start through his opening six holes on Thursday to climb within three shots of Stewart and claim his second runner-up finish in two tries at the NextGen Atlantic Championship.
NextGen Atlantic Championship – Advancing to 2025 Canadian Junior Boys Championship
*Top 6 qualify
| Cole Stewart (Fall River, N.S) | -4 |
| Brett Shaw (Stratford, P.E.I.) | -1 |
| Kooper MacKay (Wolfville, N.S.) | +1 |
| Alex Pickle (Consecon, Ont.) | +2 |
| Theo Hustler (Miminegash, P.E.I.) | +2 |
| Tucker Doiron (Stewiacke, N.S.) | +2 |
NextGen Atlantic Championship – Advancing to 2025 Canadian Junior Girls Championship
*Top 6 plus ties qualify
| Emma Zheng (Auckland, New Zealand) | -2 |
| Yeeun (Jenny) Kwon (Vancouver, B.C.) | +3 |
| Payton Pattison (Gananoque, Ont.) | +9 |
| Olivia Seaman (Kentville, N.S.) | +10 |
| Amy Goddard (Toronto, Ont.) | +11 |
| Lila Bishop (Port Williams, N.S.) | +13 |
The conclusion of Thursday’s final round marks the end of the 2025 NextGen Championship season as the final participants in next month’s Canadian Junior Boys and Girls Championships round out. Twelve winners and many others that contended in this year’s NextGen Championship season will descend on Gowan Brae Golf & Country Club in Bathurst, N.B. August 11-15 and Club de golf Sainte-Marie in Sainte Marie, Que. August 12 – 16 for the Canadian Junior Boys Championship and Canadian Junior Girls Championship respectively.
To view the final leaderboards from the 2025 NextGen Atlantic Championship, please click here.
About the NextGen Championships
The NextGen Championships are a high-performance junior golf series which totals six competitions. From May to July, six championships will take place across Canada where the region’s best junior golfers will compete to earn exemptions into their respective 2025 national junior championships. NextGen Championships provide junior players an opportunity to develop and showcase their skills at the highest level of tournament golf.
The post Cole Stewart and Emma Zheng claim wire-to-wire wins at the 2025 NextGen Atlantic Championship first appeared on Golf Canada.