Canada’s Anna Huang proved that pressure really is a privilege as the youngster clinched her first Ladies European Tour (LET) title at La Sella Open with a dominant seven-stroke victory ahead of France’s Nastasia Nadaud.
After four days of unwavering focus, Huang initially let out an understated smile as she birdied the 18th to finish on 20-under-par. However the smile grew even bigger as Shannon Tan surprised her on the green by pouring two celebratory bottles of water over her head to begin the celebrations.
Huang’s win marked the largest margin on the LET this season and the lowest score in La Sella Open’s three-year history, while also catapulting her from 50th to 22nd in the Order of Merit (OOM) rankings.
She said: “It’s super special being able to win this at 16; it’s so insane because I never believed that this would ever happen, but I’m so proud of myself.
“I was really focused on the present and the moment, so the scores weren’t really a distraction to me. At the beginning of the season I didn’t have a tour card so being able to win is insane”
Huang’s father has been her caddie all week and on the importance of that connection, she said: “It’s super special to have my dad on the bag because he’s caddied for me ever since I started golf.”
Ahead of the final round, Huang echoed Billie Jean King’s mantra that “pressure is a privilege,” showing nerves of steel before the tournament’s biggest crowd in Denia gathered to watch her alongside Nadaud and Lauren Walsh.
The teenager began the final day three shots clear and had to withstand an early bout of pressure from Nadaud after she birdied her first two holes to move within one shot of the Canadian.
However, Nadaud couldn’t sustain her early momentum, bogeying the 8th and 14th to slip back to 13-under, erasing her strong front nine, while on the back nine Huang twice cancelled out bogeys with birdies in succession.
Nadaud said: “Anna just played such solid golf since the beginning of the week so she deserved that; It’s really cool for her.
“If I knew I would finish second at the beginning of the week, I’d sign up for that immediately, but it’s just a bit sad to shoot over par on the last day.”
Australia’s Maddison Hinson-Tolchard hit a 3-under round of 69 to secure her best ever LET finish in third ahead of Singapore’s Shannon Tan who narrowed the gap on Mimi Rhodes in the OOM standings despite a mixed final round. There are now five events left this season.
Ireland’s Lauren Walsh backed up her second-place finish at the Swiss Open with a top-five finish at La Sella Golf resort in Denia.
Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini, the season’s leader in top-10 finishes, added her 16th, placing sixth at 9-under ahead of Czech Jana Melichova, who fought her way back into the top ten in what was her first LET event in over a year.
Order of Merit leader Mimi Rhodes just missed out on her seventh top-10 placing of the season on her debut at the Costa Blanca resort, finishing on 6-under in a four-way tie for 11th.
Nuria Iturrioz was the highest placing Spanish player, while fellow compatriot and amateur Carolina Lopez-Chacarra impressed on her LET debut as she tied for 26th.
Voted Tournament of the Year by the players in 2023 and Best Player Services in 2024, La Sella Open has quickly become renowned for its commitment to elevating women’s golf through the standards set across every aspect of the event, including a purse of €1,000,000, the largest for a women’s golf event in Spain and one of the largest in Europe.
