The final round of the Lacoste Ladies Open de France concluded on Saturday as the Irish in the field were no match for Canada’s Anna Huang as the teenager secured a two-stroke victory over the field, ending her week on 16-under.
Lauren Walsh finished highest amongst the Irish as a one-under-par final round secured T26 for the 25-year-old, ending her week at four-under.
A quick start saw Walsh birdie the first two holes and another came on the par-4 seventh. Two bogeys came shortly after on the par-3 eighth and the par-4 11th.
Cork’s Sara Byrne saved her best work for last as the 24-year-old posted a final round 68 to see her finish in T42 on two-under par.
Five birdies and two bogeys were the making of Byrne’s three-under round, her lowest round of the week.
Just behind Byrne was Armagh’s Annabel Wilson who posted a one-under-par final round to finish in T46 on one-under after 54 holes.
Dublin’s Anna Foster posted a two-over final round to see her drop down the leaderboard to T55 on even-par.
Even if the Irish had their A game, it was unlikely they would catch teenage prodigy Huang as the Canadian remained unphased throughout the weekend.
The 16-year-old rookie won last week’s La Sella Open and fired a final round of six-under-par at Golf Barrière to clinch her second victory in two weeks on Tour.
Huang becomes the third player to win back-to-back in 2025 following in the footsteps of England’s Mimi Rhodes and Czechia’s Sara Kouskova.
“I’m honestly just so shocked right now! I don’t think I have fully processed my last win and then to win again is just so crazy,” said Huang.
“I’m going to go home and go to China and see some of my family who I haven’t seen in about 10 years. I might also buy myself something nice. I’m going to have the same mindset for the rest of the year and keep working hard because it’s paying off,” added the two-time LET winner.
South Africa’s Casandra Alexander and Germany’s Briem shared second place on 14-under-par after they both produced five-under-par rounds on the final day in France.
“If someone told me that I was going to play three rounds quite far under-par – not just a little bit, I was five-under, four-under and five-under – it’s a huge step forward,” said Briem.
“It wasn’t enough and of course, it hurts being second for the third time this year. Overall, I’m really happy and that shows I worked on the right things over the last weeks. We will see what the rest of this season will bring,” added the German.
LET rookie Brianna Navarrosa fired the joint-best round of the week carding an eight-under round on the final day in France, securing fourth place on 11-under.
“I had a pretty good start. I wanted to leave it all out on the dance floor today. I put myself in good spots on the greens and really took my time over the putts,” said Navarrosa.
Three players finished in a tie for fifth place with India’s Pranavi Urs, Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley and Italy’s Alessia Nobilio all on 10-under-par.
In the Order of Merit, Mimi Rhodes still leads the way as Lauren Walsh remains in 11th place on 1,193.01 points. Anna Foster is in 47th place and Sara Byrne is in 63rd place.
The LET now has a one-break before heading to India for the Hero Women’s Indian Open, which takes place at DLF Golf and Country Club between on the 9th of October.
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