Teen sensation Huang makes LET history with third title

WOMEN’S golf has something of a history when it comes to producing young champions. Very young champions.

And 17-year-old Anna Huang has just become the youngest player to win three tournaments in Ladies European Tour history with victory at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.

She did it in style too. The Canadian had been six shots off the lead going into the final round but six birdies and an eagle in a closing round of 66 meant she pipped overnight leader Kelsey Bennett by one shot on 14 under par.

Her win on Royal Dar Es Salam's Blue course follows her back-to-back titles in September at the La Sella Open and Lacoste Ladies Open de France and means she has broken the record of Jeeno Thitikul, who was aged 18 when she landed her third title.

"I'm honestly just so shocked right now," Huang said.

"To get my third win on tour in only my second year is incredible. I'm just trying to enjoy the moment!"

It capped a fine few weeks for the teenager, during which she qualified for the US Women's Open before finishing tied for third at last week's Amundi German Masters.

The youngest-ever winner on a women's pro golf tour was a 14-year-old Atthaya Thitikul, from Thailand.

Many young prodigies fail to progress but Thitikul is the current world number two.  

Playing in the Thailand Open, in 2017, Thitikul won at the age of 14 years, 4 months and 19 days old.

Thitikul shot 72 in the final round of the 72-hole tournament, finishing at 5-under-par 283 and winning by two strokes. In 2019, still playing as an amateur, Thitikul won the same tournament again. She turned pro early in 2020, and, still only 17 years old, won her first tournament as a pro at the Thai LPGA Championship that year.

When Thitikul won in 2017, she broke the women's golf record previously held by Brooke Henderson. Henderson was 14 years, nine months and three days old when she won a 36-hole tournament on the Canadian Women's Tour in 2012.

Lydia Ko won the New South Wales Women's Open in Australia in 2012 at the age of 14 years, nine months and five days old, and Ko also, prior to Thitikul, held the LET record with a win at age 15 years, nine months and 17 days, in the 2013 New Zealand Open. The youngest LPGA Tour winner is also Ko, aged 5 years, 4 months, 3 days when she claimed the 2012 Canadian Women's Open. Ko is also the youngest women’s major champion, aged 18 years, 4 months, 20 days when she won the 2015 Evian Championship.

The youngest PGA Tour winner in the modern era is Jordan Spieth, who was 19 years, 11 months, 18 days when he won the John Deere Classic in 2013.

The youngest ever winner of a men’s major was Tom Morris Jr,  17 years, 5 months, 8 days when he won The Open in 1868. The youngest winner in the modern era is Tiger Woods, who was 21 years, 3 months, 14 days when he won The Masters in 1997.