It was a successful day for an abundance of Ladies European Tour (LET) stars at the Final Qualifier for the AIG Women’s Open as 11 members punched their ticket to Royal Porthcawl.
A total of 17 spots were up for grabs at Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club in Bridgend, Wales, with 107 players taking to the fairways at Royal Porthcawl’s neighbouring club.
On a testing day for all involved, it was 16-year-old sensation Anna Huang who came out on top as the Canadian fired a round of 67 (-4) to qualify for her first ever AIG Women’s Open.
Huang, a rookie on the LET, will now play in her second Major of 2025 having qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year.
“I’m really stoked!” Huang said who was helped by having her brother on the bag. “It’s going to be really fun and interesting playing links golf this week. I honestly haven’t played much links golf in my life, I grew up in the States, it’s a lot more windy here but I’m really excited.”
In close second finished another LET rookie, Ireland’s Anna Foster, who matched Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol‘s 68 (-3) to qualify for her second AIG Women’s Open.
“I was first reserve for the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open last week but didn’t get in,” Foster said. “I drove down from there on Friday and got to play here at Pyle & Kenfig on Saturday and Sunday so that definitely helped. I played in the AIG Women’s Open in 2023 at Walton Heath and it was quite an overwhelming experience as an amateur but now I feel I have more confidence in myself.”
One shot further adrift was LET pair Morgane Metraux from Switzerland and Alessandra Fanali from Italy. The latter kept her composure as the wind picked up in the afternoon to qualify for her first Major. Later this week the popular figure will also celebrate her 26th birthday.
In arguably the story of the day, Lydia Hall, born in Bridgend, completed her dream of qualifying for a home AIG Women’s Open thanks a round of 70 (-1). She joins the already qualified Darcey Harry as the second Welshwoman in the field at Royal Porthcawl.
“Porthcawl was my home course for seven years,” the one-time LET winner explained. “I played for their team, was club champion there, so it’s been a dream of mine to play in this tournament since it was announced four years ago! I’m absolutely thrilled. I’ve been striving towards making it in.
“It’s going to be a huge event. I can’t wait for all the crowds to come out to support it to make it a big one. I’ll have a lot of people coming down.”
Matching Hall’s score from the LET ranks were Olivia Cowan, Aline Krauter and Laura Fuenfstueck from Germany, Spain’s Marta Martin, Sweden’s Linnea Strom and New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori.
Like Fanali, Kobori, a product of the LET Access Series (LETAS), will now get to compete in her first ever Major when play gets underway on Thursday.
The remaining qualifiers at Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club were Australia’s Hira Naveed, Korea’s Soo Bin Joo, USA’s Brianna Do, Sweden’s Meja Ortengren – an amateur who competed in the PING Junior Solheim Cup – and Pei-yun Chien of Chinese Taipei.
Full results from AIG Women’s Open Final Qualifying can be found here.
