A new star is born in Canadian golf.
Anna Huang, a 16-year-old from Vancouver, took home a dominant victory in the Ladies European Tour's La Sella Open, shooting a 3-under 69 in the final round to win by seven shots on Sunday in Spain.
It was an impressive four days for the Canadian, as she opened on Thursday to an 8-under 64 and rode that momentum to a -20 finish at the tournament overall. She led wire to wire.
France's Nastasia Nadaud came in second, seven shots behind Huang at -13 for the tournament.
“Honestly, I’m really shocked right now. I can’t believe I just won,” Huang said, per the tour. “It’s really crazy. I was really focused on the present and the moment, so the scores weren’t really a distraction to me. I was really focused on hitting each shot to what I could do.
“Being in the final group showed me that I had to stick with the same game plan and not play too conservatively because what I was doing the past few days was working really well, so I kept that up.”
Coming into Sunday, Huang had only one bogey to her name. Though she picked up two more in the final round, her lead was too big and her five birdies on the day guaranteed the hardware for the youngster.
Huang made the bold decision to turn professional ahead of this season and has now become the first player under 17 to win on the Ladies European Tour since 2022.
Heading into the La Sella Open, Huang was 50th on the Ladies European Tour order of merit this season. She jumped up to 22nd with the win.
“At the beginning of the season, I didn’t even have a full card so to win is absolutely insane. I remember I was a reserve for Wistron Ladies Open and Aramco China Championship, but after this, I think I’m good," Huang said.
Huang also qualified for two LPGA Tour majors this season — the U.S. Women's Open and AIG Women's Open — and received an exemption into the CPKC Women's Open in Mississauga, Ont.
