EDMONTON – The Miyu Yamashita train keeps rolling at the CPKC Women’s Open and her record-setting pace through 54 holes at Royal Mayfair Golf Club has all but wrapped up this year’s tournament.
The Japanese star, who is looking for her second win in her last six starts on the LPGA Tour, fired a 5-under 65 Saturday and leads by six shots heading into Sunday’s finale. That ties the widest 54-hole lead in tournament history set all the way back in 1987.
Yamashita’s 19-under 191 total also sets the tournament scoring record through three rounds and ties the all-time 54-hole scoring record on the LPGA Tour.
She made three birdies in her first seven holes and added two more on Nos. 11 and 12 before finally giving one back on No. 17. However, she hit her approach shot on the par-4 18th to just a couple of feet and rolled in another birdie to put a bow on her record-setting performance through three days in Edmonton.
“This course I like,” Yamashita said. “(With) putting, my feeling so good.”
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The chasing pack will need to go full steam ahead Sunday if they have any chance to catch Yamashita.
Tied for second at 13 under are Gina Kim and Yuri Yoshida, while Jennifer Kupcho is 12 under and Somi Lee is 11 under.
Amongst those a little further down is Canadian Aphrodite Deng. Deng, who is just 16, moved up more than 20 spots on the leaderboard Saturday thanks to a tidy, bogey-free 63 — the round of the day.
Last year, as a 15-year-old, Deng finished as low amateur at the CPKC Women’s Open and now she’s looking to do one better and earn low Canadian honours. Deng admitted she learned lots through her first two days at Royal Mayfair and was eager to minimize her mistakes on Saturday.
“Felt really great,” Deng said. “But I wasn’t really counting how low I was shooting. I was just trying to play as best I can.”
Fellow Canadians Brooke Henderson and Anna Huang sit at 7 under and tied for 15th. Henderson got off to a rocky start and was sitting at 1 over for her day through 13 holes. But she rallied with three birdies in a row on Nos. 14-16. Her day was close to being a really good one, she said, but she missed a handful of putts by mere inches.
“Honestly, I think it just came down to a few putts. I missed quite a few inside six feet today, honestly, which I haven’t been doing, so it was a little bit unusual,” Henderson said. “Honestly, I feel like I didn't get out of my round what I really should have. I hit 16 greens and gave myself a lot of good looks, so it's disappointing to only shoot 2-under.
“In the same breath, I'm really grateful for those three birdies on the back nine to kind of get myself back into it.”
After having a tough start to her 2026 campaign, Henderson has rallied through the summer months. She hasn’t missed a cut since May and is trending towards her sixth top-25 finish of the season.
Everyone in the field, including Henderson, knows that Yamashita has an almost insurmountable advantage heading into Sunday’s finale. But that doesn’t mean there’s not still a fine finish to shoot for for the defending champion.
“I think at this point (Yamashita is) playing really well and she has a substantial lead on most everybody, so at this point I'm just trying to get a really good finish for myself,” Henderson said. “Seeing if I can go low tomorrow just so I can feel really good about how I played the last four days tomorrow afternoon. So just trying to focus on myself and seeing what I can do.
“Feel like I've been really close; just didn't really turn it over. But one more day, so we'll see if we can do it.”
