Teenage professional, Anna Huang fired the lowest round in AIG Women's Open Final Qualifying on Monday to book her place among the 144-player field at Royal Porthcawl later this week.
The 16-year-old was in scintillating form throughout the front nine at Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club, making the turn at six-under thanks to four birdies and an eagle between holes five and nine.
Three bogeys in her sprint for home threatened to deny Huang top spot, but the Canadian rookie gained another stroke at the 16th to ensure she was the highest finisher in the field of 107 on four-under-par (67).
Speaking after, Huang said: “I’m delighted with my score. On the front nine, I just stayed really patient, didn’t miss any fairways and the putts dropped.
"I don’t play links golf, so it took a couple of practice rounds to get used to it, but I think I handled it pretty well.
"I played in the US Open this year so this will be my second Major championship. I learned a lot from that week and bringing more patience into this week will be really helpful.”
Huang led 17 players in qualifying for the 2025 AIG Women's Open, with Ireland's Anna Foster and Thailand's Arpichaya Yubol just a stroke behind.
For Foster, who was in the first group of the day which teed off at 6:45am, less-than-ideal circumstances failed to prevent the Irishwoman from achieving her goal.
She said: “The 4am alarm this morning was definitely something else! But once I saw the draw I was really pleased that I was out first, with the fresh greens and the calmer conditions. I was delighted to be able to take advantage of playing early and do the simple things effectively, like playing the par-5s well.
“I was first reserve for the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open last week but didn’t get in. I drove down from there on Friday and got to play here at Pyle & Kenfig on Saturday and Sunday so that definitely helped.
"I played in the AIG Women’s Open in 2023 at Walton Heath and it was quite an overwhelming experience as an amateur, but now I feel I have more confidence in myself.”
Meanwhile, Morgane Metraux, Olivia Cowan, Momoka Kobori, Meja Ortengren and Linnea Strom were among the LET golfers to progress. Kim Metraux - sister of automatic qualifier, Morgane - was part of the three-player alternate group alongside Sarah Kemp and amateur, Emily Odwin.
However, several big names found themselves missing out on the final women's Major of the year. Danielle Kang and Jeongeun Lee5 both posted two-over for the day to finish T45th while Jodi Ewart Shadoff signed for a four-over 75 to end T64th.
But for Kang, who was trying to reach her 13th AIG Women's Open following a spell with injuries, the American insisted her result was far from a disappointment.
The 32-year-old said: "Not even a little bit [disappointed]. I met unbelievably great people here. I got to play with a bunch of members at Porthcawl, and I got to know everybody at Pyle and Kenfig. It's been great."
Several notable stars also failed to turn in a score in South Wales, with Emily Kristine Pedersen, Annabell Fuller, Anne Van Dam, Pia Banik joining Celine Herbin in posting NRs.
Now that the full field for the 2025 AIG Women's Open has been set, tee times will be released in the coming days before the action begins at Royal Porthcawl on Thursday.
AIG WOMEN'S OPEN QUALIFYING SCORES
- -4 Anna Huang
- -3 Anna Foster
- -3 Arpichaya Yubol
- -2 Hira Naveed
- -2 Soo Bin Joo
- -2 Morgane Metraux
- -2 Alessandro Fanali
- -1 Brianna Do
- -1 Olivia Cowan
- -1 Lydia Hall
- -1 Pei-yun Chien
- -1 Momoka Kobori
- -1 Aline Krauter
- -1 Laura Fuenfstueck
- -1 Meja Ortengren (a)
- -1 Marta Martin
- -1 Linnea Strom
- ALTERNATES
- E Kim Metraux
- E Sarah Kemp
- E Emily Odwin
