Canadian teen, American Brianna Do among AIG Women’s Open qualifiers

American Brianna Do and Canadian Anna Huang were among the 17 players to earn spots in this week’s AIG Women’s Open via Monday’s 18-hole qualifier.
The AIG Women’s Open begins Thursday at Wales’ Royal Porthcawl.
Huang, the youngest player on the Ladies European Tour at 16, posted the low round Monday with her 4-under par 67 at Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club. She was followed by Ireland’s Anna Foster and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol at 3 under.
“I’m delighted with my score,” said Huang, who is No. 521 in the Rolex Women’s Rankings. “I don’t play links golf, so it took a couple of practice rounds to get used to it, but I think I handled it pretty 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 into this week will be really helpful.”
Do, 35, tied for eighth at 1 under. The 2011 Women’s Amateur Public Links champion will play in her first Women’s Open since 2016. Ranked 351st, she is coming off a T23 in June at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and a T59 three weeks ago at the Evian Championship.
“A few years ago, I was first alternate for the Evian, and I didn’t get in, so I came over to Scotland and played quite a bit of golf,” Do said. “I played the Old Course, Prestwick, Elie, so I played quite a bit for fun, and it was amazing. I learned quite a bit there but not in a tournament sense.”
Among the five Americans who fell short in qualifying was 2017 major champion and four-time United States Solheim Cup player Danielle Kang, who shot a 73. Despite failing to qualify for her 13th Women’s Open, Kang said she is not disappointed.
“Not even a little bit,” she said. “I met unbelievably great people here. I got to play with a bunch of members at Porthcawl, and I got to know everybody at Pyle and Kenfig. It’s been great.”
Australia’s Hira Naveed (69) and New Zealand’s Momoko Kobori (70), teammates at Pepperdine from 2017-19, both qualified. All 17 qualifiers for this week’s 144-golfer field finished under par.