Ding Wenyi of China in action during the final round of Volvo China Open 2021 at Genzon Golf Club on December 19, 2021 in Shenzhen, China. Photo: VCG

Ding Wenyi became the first Chinese male USGA champion on Saturday, after playing great en route to his 3-and-2 victory over Caleb Surratt during the 74th US Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, said the USA Today.

Ding is also the second who made the final of the US Junior Amateur, following Bo Jin in 2019. And he is the first international champion since Min Woo Lee in 2016, it said.

With the victory, Ding earned an exemption into the 2023 US Open at Los Angeles Country Club. He and Surratt, who will attend Tennessee in the fall, were both already exempt into August's US Amateur, said the media.

Ding, 17, is committed to Arizona State University and has one year left before his college career begins.

The duo came in as the highest ranked players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings competing in the championship (Surratt at No. 19 and Ding at No. 20), and the final match certainly lived up to the hype, it said.

"I am very proud and happy," Ding was quoted as saying by the Golf Magazine on Saturday. "I'm part of history now."

As a three-time winner of the Chinese Amateur Open and the runner up in the 2020 Volvo China Open, Ding is a young headliner in his home country and the 20th-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, said the Golf Magazine. 

Despite that standing, though, he arrived at Bandon as a relative unknown, having only played once in the United States before and never in a USGA event. 

But he didn't remain overlooked for long. As Ding cruised through the first two days of stroke play, and the opening rounds of match play, the buzz around him began to build, it said. 

Many Chinese netizens congratulated Ding at China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

"It was a historic victory, and was on the front pages in almost all major golf media and even featured in Golf magazine," one commented.

"Ding's demeanor is even more convincing to his opponents. His tears and his father's support were really touching. Awesome young man!"