EDMONTON — Miyu Yamashita of Japan took a six-stroke lead into the final round of the CPKC Women's Open after shooting a 5-under-par 65 on Saturday to reach 19 under par at Royal Mayfair Golf Club. But even as the world No. 6 of the tournament's narrative, the day belonged to a new generation of Canadian talent making history on home soil.

Yamashita, who rebounded from her lone bogey of the day on the 17th with a birdie on the 18th, will seek her fourth LPGA win and second of the season on Sunday. Gina Kim of the U.S. (64) and Japan's Yuri Yoshida (66) are tied for second at 13 under.

While Yamashita's dominance was measured, she acknowledged her comfort on the course. "I like this course," she told reporters. "Putting, my feeling, so good." Her 54-hole score of 191 is a tournament record, and she enters Sunday with the largest 54-hole lead in the tournament's history.

A Historic Day for Canadian Teens

Sixteen-year-old Aphrodite Deng of Calgary became the story of the third round, shooting a bogey-free 63—the lowest round of the day—to climb to 10 under and into a tie for sixth. According to multiple reports, the round tied the record for the lowest amateur score in LPGA history, a mark first set by Lydia Ko in 2013. The LPGA's official account posted on X (formerly Twitter), "Domination from Aphrodite Deng. She leaps up the leaderboard with a bogey-free 63." Deng, who opened with rounds of 70 and 67, finished her round with five birdies and no bogeys.

Deng was modest about her achievement. "It felt really great, but I wasn't really counting how low I was shooting," she said. "I was just trying to learn from my first two days and make the least mistakes as possible."

Deng was one of four Canadian women aged 18 and under to make the cut, a tournament first, according to multiple outlets. She was the low amateur at the event for the second consecutive year, having first earned that honour in Mississauga in 2025. Deng will play collegiately at Stanford, according to numerous reports.

A New Generation Rises

The Canadian contingent was spearheaded by Vancouver's Anna Huang, who finished as the top Canadian, tied for fourth at 12 under par. Huang, 17, closed with a 67 on Saturday. She was joined in the final field by Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill, Ont., who finished at 3 under after making the cut on the number, and Clairey Lin of Langley, B.C., who made the cut in her tournament debut at 16 years old and finished 3 over.

"The young talent coming out of Canada right now is phenomenal," Canada's women's head coach Salimah Mussani said. "When you have these girls under the age of 18 doing these things, they are the future. They are the next 15, 20 years of Canadian women's golf. And they're going to be inspiring that next pool that starts to pick up the game."

The group's success is not a fluke, with all three veterans of Golf Canada's NextGen national team program. Huang, Deng, and Xing have all verbally committed to US colleges, with Huang and Deng to Stanford and Xing to UCLA.

The teenagers look up to their idols, chief among them Brooke Henderson. "She's a role model for all of us," Xing said. Henderson, who won the tournament in 2018 and 2025, shot a second straight 2-under 68 to finish at 7 under, tied for 13th. "It's amazing to see so many Maple Leafs at the top of the leaderboard," Henderson said. "Just amazing scores all week by all of them."

Deng, who is committed to Stanford, topped the leaderboard of Canadian amateurs. "Everyone's motivating each other and we see everyone winning these tournaments and we all want to be better," she said.

The emergence of this group is a deliberate product of the national program's focus, according to Mussani. "Knowing how to win is a thing. How to close a tournament is a thing. These girls are doing it already," she said. The coach pointed to Deng's mental fortitude at this year's Augusta National Women's Amateur, where she skipped lunch to spend extra time on the range after a poor round.

Deng will compete in the upcoming LPGA FM Championship, having qualified via her top-10 finish. The tournament at TPC Boston starts Thursday.

Meanwhile, Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., and Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., were the other Canadians in the field, finishing at 1 over and 3 over respectively. The final round tees off Sunday, with forecasters calling for 26 C and possible thunderstorms later in the day.