Yamashita defies bugs with opening 62 at Canadian Open

Australia's Grace Kim made a promising start but Miyu Yamashita has set a cracking early pace at the LPGA Tour's Canadian Women's Open in Edmonton.

Yamashita shot an eight-under 62 opening round with eight birdies to lead by one shot from fellow Japanese player Nasa Hataoka with American Kiara Romero a further shot back.

Canadian teenagers showed their quality in their national open with 17-year-old Anna Huang and 18-year-old amateur Michelle Xing posting 65s to be in a group tied for fourth.

Kim put together a 67 and was tied 14th, heading the Australian contingent, witb Karis Davidson and Cassie Porter posting 69s while Robyn Choi and Gabriela Ruffels had 71s. Further back Steph Kyriaco shot a 72, Hannah Green had 73 while Minjee Lee and Hira Naveed were near the tail of the field after 75s.

Yamashita closed her morning round at Stanley Thompson-designed Royal Mayfair with a birdie on the par-4 ninth. She won the Meijer LPGA Classic in June after taking the Women's British Open and Maybank Championship last year.

"It's been a while since I finished the first round in good position, so I was able to make some putts as well," Yamashita said. "I'm pretty happy with how I played."

She wasn't pleased about the abundant mosquitoes on the tree-lined course tucked in a bend in the North Saskatchewan River near downtown.

Huang, from Vancouver, British Columbia, has four victories on the Ladies European Tour, two last year and two this season.

"I think I'm definitely a lot more confident than I was the past few years coming into this event," Huang said.

Xing, from Richmond Hill, Ontario, is set to begin her freshman year at UCLA.

"I was just trying to keep it simple." Xing said. "Like a lot of the time just trying to get the speed with certain putts because I had a lot of long putts."

The 20-year-old Romero is the second player to earn LPGA Tour membership through the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway, following Lottie Woad last year.

Top-ranked Nelly Korda was at 67 with Canadian star Brooke Henderson, the 2018 and 2025 champion.

"The scores are very low out here today," Henderson said. "Just trying to go out tomorrow and make a bunch of birdies and try to catch them."