Canadian 15-year-old Deng tied for clubhouse lead at CPKC Women's Open

The first round of the CPKC Women's Open is underway and there's a surprising name atop the leaderboard in Aphrodite Deng.

The 15-year-old Canadian amateur shot a 5-under 66 on Thursday and is tied for the lead at her national open.

Deng got off to a hot start in the opening round, beginning her day with consecutive birdies to drop down to 2-under early. She would keep things rolling with two more birdies at the par-5 fifth and par-4 seventh, finishing the front nine at a 4-under 31.

The Calgary native was stalled at 4-under for most of the back nine with a long string of pars before dropping a shot at the par-4 15th, her lone bogey of the day, to get back to 3-under.  

Deng would then settle down with another par at the 16th, before quickly getting back on track with back-to-back birdies to end her day and vault up the leaderboard into a share of first place.

"It feels really great," Deng told TSN's Bob Weeks on being tied for the clubhouse lead. "[I] was just trying to make as few mistakes as I can and make a bunch of putts"

She finishes her day with 13/14 fairways hit off of the tee, 13/18 greens in regulation and just 26 putts en route to the opening-round 66.

Deng shares the clubhouse lead with American Megan Khang and Mexico's Gaby Lopez, who played her final nine holes of the day at 5-under to keep pace with the young Canadian.

In July, Deng became the first Canadian to win the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship which helped earn her an exemption into the CPKC Women's Open.

Track her first round from Mississagua Golf and Country Club with a hole-by-hole look below. 

Leaders: Aphrodite Deng, Megan Khang, Gaby Lopez (-5)