At barely 14, they’ve already competed in tournaments far more intense and demanding than most recreational golfers will ever experience.
Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Kaige Zhu and Eli Perng have proven themselves to be among the most gifted boys in their age group. And beyond.
But they’re just getting started, really, with hopes for bigger and better things as they work at perfecting their performances in a game that can be cruel and unusually punishing.
Yes, golf can be a lot of fun, but the golf gods also taketh as easily as they giveth.
None of that really bothers the St. Davids teenagers because they try to approach play with strong mental attitudes designed to complement their prodigious physical skills.
This past season has been one of progress and passion for the duo who have grown up as good friends, neighbours and classmates.
But now, in Grade 9, they attend different high schools, where they’ve already established themselves as the top talents on the school golf teams. They both led their teams to berths in the Southern Ontario Secondary School Association championships earlier this month.
For Zhu, who is also a gifted tennis player, the golf season is wrapped up. He’ll practice golf all winter but will also be hitting the hard court.
He played in a three-star regional tennis tournament in Vineland Oct. 17 and 18, losing in the singles semifinal to the eventual champion.
For Perng, there are still a couple of major tournaments to come in the United States. In November, he’ll compete at the Notah Begay National Championship in Louisiana and the MJT National Championship in Florida.
And for both, the winter ahead means more time practising and working on getting even better at the game they love.
Looking back at 2026, both are happy with how their golf game has improved.
“At the start of the year, I would be shooting three to four over par on my average around,” says Zhu. “Now, I’ve lowered it to even-par or better, and on a bad day one or two over.”
Perng battled a wrist injury from hockey through much of the season but was also focused on trying to shoot close to par.
He’s a big proponent of developing the mental side of the game.
When adversity inevitably strikes, “I just really try to keep myself positive” and focus on having a “next-shot mentality. It doesn’t matter if you hit a really bad shot, you’ve just got to focus on hitting the next shot well.”
In early October, he and Zhu were among 33 players invited to the annual Ontario Super Camp for players 18 and under.
It was played at Bond Head in Beeton, a links-style course that stretched to around 7,000 yards, close to the distance pro players often face.
“It was the longest distance I’ve ever played,” says Perng.
Zhu says the competition was intense and “very serious,” with most of the players a few years older than the Niagara-on-the-Lake boys.
While Zhu performed well, finishing ninth at plus-4 for 54 holes, Perng says his putting let him down on the lightning-fast greens.
He says he focused on keeping his drives in the fairway “and then really dialling in on my long irons and taking advantage of times when I had short irons and wedges into the greens.”
He finished back in the pack but used the opportunity to learn from some of the older players.
Over the summer, Zhu finished near the top of the leaderboard in several events, including fifth at both the Ontario U15 and U17 tourneys.
Among Perng’s top accomplishments this season was making his third trip to the Future Masters tourney in Alabama, placing third at an American Junior Golf Association all-star qualifier in Pennsylvania and playing in the U.S. Kids World Teen Championships in Pinehurst, N.C.
He also participated in the Ontario Summer Games, provincial U15 and U17 championships, U15 national tourney and finished second in the Notah Begay Canadian Western final in Saskatoon.
Come next spring both look forward to a new season of making their mark on the course.
