Updated Aug. 21, 2026, 4:49 p.m. ET
It’s crowded atop the leaderboard through 36 at the CPKC Women’s Open in Alberta, Canada, but there’s a surprise name among those in the hunt.
That would be Kiara Romero, playing her first LPGA tournament this since turning pro. The McCormack Medal, awarded to the world’s top-ranked amateur, gave Romero the 20 points needed to become the second graduate of the LPGA’s LEAP program, joining two-time LPGA winner Lottie Woad. Romero will forgo her senior season at Oregon to live the life of a pro golfer.
And so far, so good. With her brother Kyreece on the bag, who will finish his college studies online and caddie full-time for her, Kiara followed up Thursday’s 64 with a Friday 67. She sits 9 under, in a three-way tie for the lead through two rounds.
“Honestly, I’m just really grateful to be out here and I feel like I just came out here with the mindset to just go out and have fun and just enjoy it and just remember that it’s just golf at the end of the day,” she said. “I feel like regardless of how I’m playing out there, you know, we’ll be out there laughing and having fun and just kind of talking about everything but golf,” she said of her brother. “It really just keeps me grounded out there and keeps my mind off the stakes out here. It’s a lot of fun.”
She had six birdies Thursday and was bogey-free in the tournament until her ninth hole Friday. She started on No. 10 in the second round and made another bogey on the sixth, but she collected five birdies Friday, giving her 11 overall at Royal Mayfair Golf Club.
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Soo Bin Yoo of Korea and Yuri Yoshida of Japan are tied with Romero for the lead. Romero is trying to follow Woad in another way, as Woad was the last LPGA golfer to win her first event on the circuit after turning pro. Romero has put herself in position to match that.
Todd Kelly is an assistant managing editor at Golfweek.