Huang and Do Advance to Women’s Open; Kang Fails to Qualify

Brianna Do and Anna Huang Secure Their Spot in the AIG Women’s Open

A total of 17 players, including American Brianna Do and Canadian Anna Huang, secured their participation in this week’s AIG Women’s Open, after an 18-hole qualifying round held on Monday. The AIG Women’s Open will tee off on Thursday at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. Huang, the youngest player on the Ladies European Tour at 16 years old, stood out on Monday with a round of 67 strokes, four under par, at the Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club. Behind her were Anna Foster from Ireland and Arpichaya Yubol from Thailand, both with three under par.

I am delighted with my score. I don’t usually play golf on this type of course, so it took me a couple of practice rounds to get used to it, but I think I handled it quite 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 this week will be a great help.

Anna Huang

Do, 35, tied for eighth place with a score under par. The 2011 Women’s Amateur Public Links champion will participate in her first Women’s Open since 2016. Currently ranked 351st, she comes from tying for 23rd place at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June and 59th three weeks ago at the Evian Championship.

A few years ago, I was the first alternate for the Evian, and I couldn’t participate, so I came to Scotland and played quite a bit of golf. I played at the Old Course, Prestwick, Elie, so I played quite a bit for fun, and it was incredible. I learned quite a bit there, but not in the sense of a tournament.

Brianna Do

Among the five Americans who failed to qualify was Danielle Kang, a major champion in 2017 and a four-time U.S. Solheim Cup player, who recorded a 73. Despite not qualifying for her 13th Women’s Open, Kang stated she didn’t feel disappointed.

Not even a little bit. I met incredibly cool people here. I got to play with a lot of members in Porthcawl, and I got to meet everyone in Pyle and Kenfig. It’s been great.

Danielle Kang

Hira Naveed of Australia (69) and Momoko Kobori of New Zealand (70), teammates at Pepperdine from 2017 to 2019, also managed to qualify. The 17 qualifiers for this week’s tournament, which will feature 144 golfers, finished under par.