{"id":53767,"date":"2026-08-21T07:32:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/53767\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T07:32:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:32:50","slug":"miyu-yamashita-the-early-leader-at-cpkc-womens-open-in-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/53767\/","title":{"rendered":"Miyu Yamashita the early leader at CPKC Women\u2019s Open in Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Miyu Yamashita, of Japan, watches her tee shot on the first hole during the first round at the CPKC Canadian Women’s Open LPGA tournament in Edmonton on Thursday.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canadian teenagers were within striking distance of leader Miyu Yamashita of Japan after Thursday\u2019s opening round of the CPKC Women\u2019s Open.<\/p>\n

Yamashita shot a season-low 62 on the 6,452-yard, par-70 Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton to sit one stroke ahead of her countrywoman Nasa Hataoka and two up on Kiara Romero of the United States.<\/p>\n

Vancouver\u2019s Anna Huang, 17, and 18-year-old amateur Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill, Ont., were three shots off the lead at five-under-par 65 in a tie for fourth with China\u2019s Ruoning Yin.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Yamashita, who won June\u2019s Meijer LPGA Classic in Belmont, Mich., recorded eight birdies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a while since I finished the first round in good position,\u201d she said. \u201cMy putting was really nice, so I felt really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defending champion Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., seeking a third win in her home LPGA tournament, finished with a birdie to go three under.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel it was very important and it felt great,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cI really wanted it. I hit it really hard. I\u2019m glad I hit the hole, but to see it go in was really nice. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe scores are very low out here today, the leaders especially, so just trying to go out tomorrow and make a bunch of birdies and try to catch them.\u201d<\/p>\n

World No. 1 Nelly Korda of the United States was also three under.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Brooke Henderson of Canada plays her shot from the fourth tee during the first round of the CPKC Women’s Open at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club on Thursday in Edmonton.Vaughn Ridley\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Both Huang and Xing were positioned to make the cut Friday for the first time in their careers after two tries apiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely making the cut would be a really big goal for me, and then hopefully some good weekend golf,\u201d said Huang, who won four European Tour tournaments in the last 11 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xing was a late addition to the field with a sponsor\u2019s exemption.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an amateur, like that\u2019s one of my biggest goals, is to make the cut at an LPGA event, especially when it\u2019s in Canada,\u201d she said. \u201cIt would mean a whole lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first round was played under mostly cloudy skies, a temperature of 24 C and in occasional clouds of insect repellent.<\/p>\n

Edmonton\u2019s 56 centimetres of rain since June 1 made the city a breeding ground for mosquitoes. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting annihilated,\u201d said one caddie as she sprayed herself down at the turn.<\/p>\n

The majority of women wore long pants and long sleeves, and paid a price if they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cBad. Bad. Look at my arms,\u201d said Xing, wearing short sleeves. \u201cI have gotten bit all on the front side but none on the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the more reason to stay out of rain-thickened rough that both houses insects and grabs club heads, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially like when it\u2019s going against you, it\u2019s really hard to get a solid club on it, so hitting fairways is crucial here,\u201d Xing said.<\/p>\n

Huang said she was bitten through her pants and long sleeves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would wear shorts out here but because of the bugs, can\u2019t do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Henderson birdied her first three holes of the back nine after making the turn at even par. Her tee shot and second shot found rough on the 16th hole, which she bogeyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you find the rough or you\u2019re not hitting it so well, it can really be penalizing as well, so you\u2019re just trying to stick to the short stuff,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery time I made a bogey, I was able to bounce back with a birdie pretty quickly, which is important.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree under, definitely going to need a little bit more tomorrow, but a good start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clairey Lin, a 16-year-old amateur from Langley, B.C., shot a 68 in her tournament debut. <\/p>\n

Tour veteran Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., joined her at two under. Vancouver\u2019s Leah John turned in a one-under 69.<\/p>\n

Lin\u2019s fellow Canadian amateurs Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C., Calgary\u2019s Aphrodite Deng and Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont., shot even par, Toronto\u2019s Vanessa Borovilos was two over and Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta., carded a 78.<\/p>\n

Katie Cranston of Oakville, Ont., shot a 74, Alena Sharp of Hamilton was at 77 and Calgary\u2019s Tillie Claggett shot a 78.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Miyu Yamashita, of Japan, watches her tee shot on the first hole during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2098,2082,2099,199,195,2100,2097,2074,2088,2089,2084,2075,2073,2094,374,2093,2087,2081,2111,2076,2077,44,2086,2083,375,899,2101,2079,2106,2107,2109,2104,2108,2102,2105,1979,1106,2092,2090,2091,2103,1150,2095,2096,2085,2080,2078,2110],"class_list":["post-53767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-golf","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}