American Brianna Do and Canadian Anna Huang were among the 17 players to earn spots in this week’s AIG Women’s Open via Monday’s 18-hole qualifier.
The AIG Women’s Open begins Thursday at Wales’ Royal Porthcawl.
Huang, the youngest player on the Ladies European Tour at 16, posted the low round Monday with her 4-under par 67 at Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club. She was followed by Ireland’s Anna Foster and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol at 3 under.
“I’m delighted with my score,” said Huang, who is No. 521 in the Rolex Women’s Rankings. “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 U.S. 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.”
Do, 35, tied for eighth at 1 under. The 2011 Women’s Amateur Public Links champion will play in her first Women’s Open since 2016. Ranked 351st, she is coming off a T23 in June at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and a T59 three weeks ago at the Evian Championship.
“A few years ago, I was first alternate for the Evian, and I didn’t get in, so I came over to Scotland and played quite a bit of golf,” Do said. “I played the Old Course, Prestwick, Elie, so I played quite a bit for fun, and it was amazing. I learned quite a bit there but not in a tournament sense.”
Among the five Americans who fell short in qualifying was 2017 major champion and four-time United States Solheim Cup player Danielle Kang, who shot a 73. Despite failing to qualify for her 13th Women’s Open, Kang said she is not disappointed.
“Not even a little bit,” she said. “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.”
Australia’s Hira Naveed (69) and New Zealand’s Momoko Kobori (70), teammates at Pepperdine from 2017-19, both qualified. All 17 qualifiers for this week’s 144-golfer field finished under par.
–Field Level Media
