EDMONTON – It didn’t take long for the up-and-coming Canadian teenage talent to make their mark at this year’s CPKC Women’s Open, with both Anna Huang and Michelle Xing firmly in the mix through the morning wave at Royal Mayfair Golf Club.
Both Huang, 17, and Xing, 18, opened with 5-under 65s. They trail early leader Miyu Yamashita of Japan by just three shots.
Huang started on the back nine Thursday in Edmonton and was 2 under before making the turn, adding three birdies to her scorecard – including two in a row on Nos. 6 and 7.
Huang, who is the youngest golfer in the history of the Ladies European Tour to win four times after she won twice in 2025 and twice again so far in 2026, hit 15 of 18 greens in her opening round and had plenty of other opportunities to go even lower.
She admitted, with a smile, she had some trouble with outside forces that made it tough to roll the rock.
“The only downside is the mosquitoes,” said Huang, who stated she was getting bug bites through her clothes. “It's pretty bad. My arms are pretty red right now.”
Alas, Huang said her comfort level on this LPGA Tour stage – given her successes so far in 2026 across the pond – is “pretty high.”
“I think my game is in a pretty good spot, so hopefully I can just continue playing some good golf,” she said.
“I think I'm definitely a lot more confident than I was the past few years coming into this event, and then also just all the crowds out there really helped.”
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Xing, meanwhile, was 5 under through her first 12 holes. She gave one back with a bogey on the par-4 6th – she started on the back nine – but got it right back with a birdie on the next hole. She needed only 23 putts on Thursday.
“I was just trying to keep it simple,” Xing said. “Like a lot of the time just trying to get the speed with certain putts because I had a lot of long putts. I was lucky enough to make a couple longer ones from the fringe, which kind of helped me with the putting numbers.”
Xing, who won the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship last year, is committed to going to UCLA in the fall. She won the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada to earn a spot in her maiden CPKC Women’s Open but missed the cut both that year and in 2025 (ironically, she has only ever shot 75 in each round she’s ever played at the CPKC Women’s Open until Thursday’s opener).
She said finding the weekend in her national open would be meaningful.
“It would mean a lot,” Xing said. “I’ve played this tournament a couple times before. I've been trying, I've been close before, but I haven't done it yet. As an amateur that's one of my biggest goals. Is to make the cut at an LPGA event, especially when it's in Canada.”
“I definitely feel more comfortable,” Xing added. “I remember when I was playing my first one, I was very, very nervous – like shaking nervous – but this definitely feels a little more familiar to me now.”
The Canadian duo will have some ground to make up with Yamashita off to a record-breaking start. Her 62 set the Royal Mayfair course record and was just one shot off the tournament 18-hole low score of 61.
Yamashita came into the week after a missed cut at the AIG Women’s Open in July, but prior to that she had four top-5 finishes in her last six tournaments – including a win at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. In all, Yamashita has finished inside the top 10 in half of her starts so far this year.
“I took two weeks off in Japan and I got really good feelings right now; so I want to keep (the) good rhythm for (Friday),” Yamashita said. “It’s been a while since I finished the first round in good position, so I was able to make some putts as well (and) I’m pretty happy with how I played.”
