Anna Huang has lost count how many countries she has visited during what has been a whirlwind rookie season on the Ladies European Tour for the 16-year-old Vancouver native.
It all began in February in Morocco and Huang has trekked through many airports since then, travelling to Australia, South Africa, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Ireland, England, Switzerland . . . We could go on, but you get the idea. She has been busy.
“I have all the places we’ve been to written down and it’s a really long list,” Huang said in an interview from Spain, the site of her next event. “It’s pretty insane. At the beginning of the season, the first half, it was quite hard to manage because it was all really new to me. But I think now I have got a lot more experienced at just planning stuff and booking plane tickets and hotels. It’s gotten easier and is less stressful now.”
The fact that Huang has played well has also helped ease that stress level. She is coming off a season-best tie-for-seventh finish at last week’s VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open and currently sits 50th on the LET Order of Merit. Her consistent play has helped prove the skeptics wrong.
Huang knows some doubted her decision to turn pro at such a young age. Heck, even Huang questioned whether it was the right move. “I am actually really happy with my decision to turn pro,” she said. “I know a lot of people probably thought it was a risky decision, so did I, but so far with how it has been going this season I am pleased with my progress.
“I am just really proud that I have been able to adapt quickly to everything. The year has gone by so fast. I can’t believe it is already September. I mean with all the travel, all the new experiences, golf tournaments and the pro life, it has been a lot, but I am really proud of the way I have handled it so far.”
The fact she has had her parents alongside most of the way has been a big help. Her dad, Alex, caddies for his daughter, and Huang jokes he has struggled with all the various currencies they have had to use along the way.
“My dad has so many different types of currencies in his pockets, it’s crazy,” she said. “We try to keep track of everything but it is quite hard. It’s kind of cool to see all the different types of money and calculating it.”
Huang, who turns 17 on Oct. 30, is the youngest player on the LET, but says her fellow competitors don’t treat her any differently than the other players on tour. “Honestly, I always forget about that,” she said of being the new kid on the block. “I think I am always caught up in my golf and life and that slips my mind. Everyone just treats me like a regular player.”
She has been impressed by the quality of tournament venues on the LET. “We play at great golf courses. The conditions are always very nice. Sometimes the weather gets in the way and makes a course more challenging and difficult, but overall it has been really good.”
Huang’s play has also been good. She has made the cut in 11 of her 16 starts and with six events remaining, she is in great position to remain fully exempt for 2026. “My status is not yet guaranteed for next year because I am currently 50th in the rankings and the top 70 get status,” she said. “There are a few more events so we’ll see.”
Huang would eventually like to play on the LPGA Tour, but will have to wait at least a year to attend qualifying school. “I was going to try and play at LPGA Q-school, but unfortunately I am still not old enough. So I will probably try that next year. I will focus on the European side now.”
This week she will tee it up at the La Sella Open in Denia, a port city on the Mediterranean coast of eastern Spain. This week’s event offers one of the bigger purses of the season at one million Euros. Last week’s event in Switzerland had a more typical purse of 300,000 Euros and Huang made 6,525 Euros, or about $10,500 Cdn, for her tie-for-seventh finish.
Huang had made 34,838 Euros (about $56,000 Cdn) so far this season. She’s not getting rich, but Huang is gaining some valuable experience and collecting lots of air miles. And there’s more to come. “This week is Spain, next week is France and then I’ve got a tournament in India and then a couple more in Asia that I may or may not get into,” she said.
Play golf, travel the world. Not a bad life for a 16-year-old rookie pro.