Category: Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Meet the Internationals competing in the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur field

Get to know the International players in the field.

The world’s best women’s amateur golfers are heading back down Magnolia Lane.

The fifth Augusta National Women’s Amateur tees off this week with 47 of the top 50 players in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking dreaming of hoisting the trophy on the 18th green.

The field of 72 – 36 Americans and 36 Internationals – will play two rounds of stroke play at nearby Champions Retreat Golf Club on Wednesday, April 3, and Thursday, April 4, with the top 30 players advancing to the final round on Saturday, April 6. The entire field will play Augusta National for a practice round Friday, April 5.

Get to know the International players in the field.

Meet the field: Americans competing at ANWA

Meet the Americans competing in the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur field

Get to know the players in the field from the United States.

The world’s best women’s amateur golfers are heading back down Magnolia Lane.

The fifth Augusta National Women’s Amateur tees off this week with 47 of the top 50 players in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking dreaming of hoisting the trophy on the 18th green.

The field of 72 – 36 Americans and 36 internationals – will play two rounds of stroke play at nearby Champions Retreat Golf Club on Wednesday, April 3, and Thursday, April 4, with the top 30 players advancing to the final round on Saturday, April 6. The entire field will play Augusta National for a practice round Friday, April 5.

Get to know the players in the field from the United States.

Meet the field: Internationals competing at ANWA

U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill returns to Augusta National as one to watch

Schofill can join Rose Zhang as the only players to win both the ANWA and U.S. Women’s Amateur.

The Robert Cox trophy, one of the oldest and most beautiful trophies in all of golf, doesn’t travel well. Megan Schofill buckled it up in her car to take it home over Christmas break. She’ll take it back in May after she leaves Auburn so that her home club, Glen Arven Country Club in Thomasville, Georgia, can enjoy it for a few months before this year’s edition of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Auburn went all out to celebrate Schofill’s achievement, honoring her on the field during a football game, on the court during a basketball game and with a dinner at the university president’s house attended by 200 supporters. The athletic director, John Cohen, even had a painting made for the fifth-year senior who became the first Tiger to win the title at Bel-Air Country Club.

It took Schofill six appearances at the Women’s Amateur before she won it all. Next week, when the 22-year-old tees it up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, she’ll be a different player than she was last spring.

“I proved to myself that I’m capable of a lot more than I really knew,” said Schofill, who tied for 14th last year after carding a 4-under 32 on the front nine at Augusta National (her back nine).

Painting commissioned by Auburn athletic director John Cohen. (courtesy photo)

The Augusta National Women’s Amateur trophy was designed in collaboration with Tiffany & Co. The bowl, spun from sterling silver and a 24K yellow gold vermeil, features the namesake flowers of each hole at Augusta National. The wooden base is made from a Magnolia tree.

While the original trophy remains at Augusta National year-round, each winner receives a replica trophy, similar to what’s done for the Masters Tournament.

It, too, would look like nice buckled up in Schofill’s front seat.

At this year’s ANWA, Schofill’s boyfriend, C.J. Easley, will be her on bag April 3-6 for the fifth edition of event. Easley is a senior on the Ole Miss golf team, and the couple have been dating for four years. Schofill relied on Easley’s laid-back demeanor inside the ropes at the Women’s Am.

“The only thing I had to do was get up and hit the shot,” she said of that week in Bel-Air.

2023 U.S. Women's Amateur
Megan Schofill smiles alongside her caddie and boyfriend CJ Easley after hitting her tee shot on hole 16 during the final round of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. (Photo: James Gilbert/USGA)

Easley has also attended a number of Schofill’s lessons back home with David Jackson, Schofill’s next-door neighbor and a former PGA Tour player. Schofill says Jackson, who now works in medical sales, is the sole reason she loves golf deep in her soul. They work often together when she’s home from school.

Schofill said she’s currently working on the same things she’ll probably be working on for the rest of her life. One of those areas is the sequence of her swing, as her hips often get in a hurry.

“I always try to think of a paint brush,” said Schofill. “Smooth like a paint brush, if you were painting something.”

Head coach Melissa Luellen said Schofill came to Auburn already a beautiful ball-striker but has worked to elevate other areas of her game. In her first team meeting freshman year, Luellen was going through the pin sheet and advising when to take one on.

“It was just like a foreign language to her,” recalled Luellen. “She was like, ‘I don’t think I can play that way. I like to go for pins.’ ”

Needless to say, Schofill no longer goes for every pin. She’s more patient, which is helpful at a place like Champions Retreat, where the first two rounds of the ANWA are played. Her short game has improved, too.

The next month will be a busy stretch for Schofill as her team heads to the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in Athens this week. She’ll then drive to Augusta with Easley on Sunday night. After the ANWA, Schofill heads to the SECs the next week in Florida and will then head directly to the Chevron Championship in Texas to compete in the first of four majors.

The trappings that come with a U.S. Women’s Amateur victory are life-changing, but none more important than the boost of self-belief.

“It kind of solidified a lot of things for me personally,” said Schofill, who looks to join Rose Zhang as the only players to win both prestigious titles.

Augusta awaits.

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LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad eyes ANWA redemption, where the World’s No. 1 amateur has unfinished business

One last shot.

As the world’s top-ranked amateur, Ingrid Lindblad has faced hundreds of daunting opening tee shots in her life. There’s one that paints a canvas in her memory.

It vividly comes to life inside Lindblad’s head. It’s intimidating and historic, demanding yet memorable. Millions have observed it, many even mimicking it in their own head, but few have attempted it. It’s one Lindblad, 23, replays over and over again.

After winning by four shots at the second stage of LPGA Q-School in November, Lindblad had every reason to forgo the spring semester of her final collegiate season and turn professional. Instead, she remained loyal to LSU, where she’s a graduate student.

She has unfinished business. She wants to win another SEC Championship. She wants to win a national title.

Bigger than all, she wants one closing stab to conquer the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. And that starts with the opening tee shot on the par-4 first, named Tea Olive.

“You’ve got that bunker right, and then if you’re a drawer and can’t carry that bunker, you have a hard time finding the fairway,” Lindblad said. “You want to hit a fade off the tee. Being the first hole, you want to get off to a good start.”

The opening shot is what first comes to mind when Lindblad thinks about Augusta National. It’s the place where she was the most nervous before hitting a shot in her career. It’s also a shot she has faced twice, overcoming the hole both times en route to top-three finishes.

Another shot at ANWA after two top-three finishes

Lindblad’s record at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is stellar. In 2021, she finished T-3 and a shot out of a playoff. The next year, she shot 68 in the final round with two eagles to finish T-2 and a shot behind the winner.

Last year was an anomaly, as she missed the 36-hole cut and didn’t get to head to Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday and hit that first tee shot. It has been on her mind ever since.

With the inaugural ANWA debuting in 2019, the first two rounds take place at Champions Retreat Golf Club, nestled 15 miles up the road in Evans, Georgia. Only the top-30 players after 36 holes get to play the final round at Augusta National.

That’s why missing the cut in 2023 laid the groundwork for her to remain an amateur.

Lindblad has been one of the best college golfers in the country since she stepped on campus in Baton Rouge. She is a four-time first-team All-American, being named a finalist for the Annika Award, given to the top women’s collegiate golfer, all four years. She has won 13 times in her career, an LSU record, and also has the school record for career scoring average (70.31) and top-10 finishes (39 in 46 total events).

At the 2022 U.S. Open, Lindblad set the record for the lowest 18-hole score by an amateur, shooting 6-under 65 at Pine Needles playing in the same group as fellow Swede Annika Sorenstam.

But she wants more.

“There was unfinished business there,” LSU coach Garrett Runion said. “She would go home for Christmas break and people would be asking when she would turn pro. But she likes LSU. She likes her teammates and she continues getting better. She also wanted to win a national title, individually and as a team.“Then there’s Augusta National.”

Even with Lindblad’s marvelous consistency, her college career has somewhat been overshadowed. The pandemic took away the end of her freshman season. Then as a sophomore, then-freshman Rachel Heck at Stanford burst onto the scene, winning nationals and the Annika Award. The next two years, as Lindblad continued winning and setting records, the best women’s amateur of all time, Rose Zhang, was dominating the college landscape.

Thanks to COVID, she chose to return to LSU for a fifth year, as did teammate Latanna Stone, who also finished runner-up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2022.

Unfinished business.

“At first, I wanted to just play in the fall,” Lindblad said. “Then after stage two, I decided I actually wanted to stay the whole year so I can get another shot.

“It was the right decision.”

ANWA: ‘The Masters of the amateur world’

Lindblad not only had a strong pathway to turning professional, she dominated LPGA Q-School’s second stage, winning by four shots. Thanks to a recent LPGA rule change, she would need to turn professional before having a chance to earn an LPGA card. The win guaranteed Lindblad status on the Epson Tour in 2024, but she was in no rush to turn professional.

Her final season of college golf is going a lot like the first four.

Lindblad has won twice in six stroke-play events, her worst finish being T-5. She has been runner-up twice and been a shot out of medalist honors in another start. She’s again looking like a shoo-in for first-team All-America honors and in her best position yet to win the Annika Award.

The thought occupying her mind most often, though? The opening tee shot at Augusta National.

“I’m trying to take it one tournament at a time, but it’s not that easy,” Lindblad said of looking ahead. “You don’t want to only work on short-term things for each tournament. It’s not all you can focus on.”

The final part of Ingrid Lindblad’s amateur career is swiftly approaching. First, it’s the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. A week later, the SEC Championship. Then, it’s time for NCAA postseason play.

Lindblad has plenty of lofty aspirations over the next couple months. For the average amateur, they may seem unattainable or difficult to even dream that big.

Lindblad isn’t an average amateur. The next two months are why she decided to come back to school and delay turning professional for six months. It’s what she has prepared her entire life for, to compete and thrive in the biggest championships. It’s a perfect springboard into the future.

“It’s an amateur major,” Lindblad said of ANWA. “You’ve got the best players there from the whole world. It’s the Masters of the amateur world.”

And amongst the azaleas the first week of April, Lindblad plans to be hitting a fade down the first fairway, just like she has visualized thousands of times.

Sadie Englemann poised to step out from the shadow of Stanford teammates at Augusta National

Englemann admits she’d be lying if she said the lack of attention never bothered her.

Sadie Englemann used to bring her iPad to class in high school to watch the pros play Amen Corner on Masters.com during class. The surefooted Texan knew from a young age that she wanted to one day compete at the highest level.

Folks who follow women’s amateur golf even a little bit know two of Englemann’s highly decorated teammates at Stanford – Rose Zhang and Rachel Heck. They might even know Megha Ganne, who dazzled at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open when she played her way into the final group on Sunday as a high schooler.

But Englemann?

It’s tough to step out from the shadows cast by the greatest amateur player in the modern game (Zhang),  and the hotshot golfer who will graduate as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force (Heck).

Englemann admits she’d be lying if she said the lack of attention never bothered her. A top-10 finish at a tournament barely gets a mention when her teammates are winning every week.

“But when it’s two of your best friends in the world,” said Englemann, “it’s hard to be jealous.”

Sadie Englemann (courtesy Stanford athletics)

Englemann, now in her senior year, came to the realization if she wanted that kind of spotlight, she’d have to raise her game.

Heading into her second Augusta National Women’s Amateur April 3-6, Englemann ranks 38th in the world and boasts back-to-back top-five finishes in her last two college starts. She’s the highest-ranked Cardinal of the four who qualified for the field. Heck, still plagued by a shoulder injury, is expected to play.

The two ANWA appearances will bookend Englemann’s career at Stanford. She missed the cut the first time around, but one gets the feeling her time is coming.

“Sadie absolutely loves golf,” said Stanford coach Anne Walker. “She eats, sleeps and breathes golf all day long. Because of that, she’s always wanting to get better. She’s obsessed about getting better.”

And her game since coming to Palo Alto, said Walker, is like night and day.

“I was a good player, and I had some success in my junior career,” said Englemann, “but I was also a hothead. Anyone would tell you that.”

Unable to control her emotions on the course, a bad stretch of holes would invariably balloon into a bad round. It’s not that she gave up on the round.

“I would try so hard to get back to even par,” she explained, “that I would blow up mentally.”

A more mature Englemann has learned how to stabilize herself, pointing to significant progress in recent months.

From a technical standpoint, Walker rerouted Englemann’s swing to help her play with a fade. Englemann came to Stanford hitting a draw that sometimes became uncontrollable.

While she doesn’t have a textbook swing, Walker notes, Englemann is comfortable with her own style and has learned much about her game. In 2022, Englemann helped the Cardinal win the team NCAA title.

“To play at the highest level,” said Walker, “you have to know yourself well.”

Englemann, who will graduate in June with a degree in science, technology and society, was starstruck at her first U.S. Women’s Open last summer at Pebble Beach. At the same time, the exposure gave her confirmation she could perform among the best in the world.

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Zhang won her first LPGA start as a professional last spring after claiming both the ANWA and NCAA titles.

Englemann notes that Walker never gave Zhang special treatment at Stanford. She qualified for tournaments like everyone else.

When Walker talked to the media, Englemann continued, she never focused on one player. The chemistry felt among the Stanford players – with Zhang at the center – was strong, and it was real.

Zhang propelled everyone around her to get better.

“Freshman year Sadie would’ve gone (to ANWA) just overwhelmed by the stage and all the great players,” said Walker. “Almost feeling like she was an outsider looking in.

“Senior year Sadie believes she belongs.”

Field for 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur set, includes No. 1 in WAGR and two past champs

The field includes players from 18 countries and six continents.

The field for the fifth Augusta National Women’s Amateur is set.

A full field of 72 golfers is confirmed for the 2024 competition, which is set for April 3-6, the week before the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club confirmed Wednesday.

The top 43 eligible amateurs in the final World Amateur Golf Ranking of 2023 have accepted invitations to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The field includes players from 18 countries and six continents, including two of the last three champions in Tsubasa Kajitani (2021) and Anna Davis (2022), along with top-ranked amateur and three-time participant Ingrid Lindblad.

The Augusta National Women’s Amateur field will compete across 54 holes of stroke play, with a cut to 30 players and ties taking place after 36 holes. The first two rounds will take place on the Island and Bluff nines at Champions Retreat Golf Club on Wednesday, April 3, and Thursday, April 4. The entire field will then play Augusta National for an official practice round on Friday, April 5. The final round, featuring competitors who made the cut, will take place on Saturday, April 6 at Augusta National.

The first and second rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur will be broadcast live on Golf Channel (1:30-3:30 p.m. ET) from Champions Retreat Golf Club. NBC Sports will produce and broadcast three hours (Noon-3 p.m. ET) of live final-round coverage of the event at Augusta National.

Additionally, Golf Channel’s “Live From the Masters” will commence on Friday, April 5 at Augusta National to provide coverage of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals and the Masters Tournament.

Rose Zhang is the defending champion, defeating Jenny Bae in a playoff.

Here’s a look at the field for the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Player Country
Yuna Araki Japan
Kajsa Arwefjall Sweden
Amari Avery USA
Helen Briem Germany
Phoebe Brinker USA
Zoe Antoinette Campos USA
Jensen Castle USA
Leigh Chien USA
Gianna Clemente USA
Hailee Cooper USA
Hannah Darling Scotland
Anna Davis USA
Sadie Englemann USA
Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio Spain
Maisie Filler USA
Francesa Fiorellini Italy
Laney Frye USA
Eila Galitsky Thailand
Megha Ganne USA
Melanie Green USA
Charlotte Heath England
Rachel Heck USA
Maddison Hinson-Tolchard Australia
Chiara Horder Germany
Saori Iijima Japan
Tsubasa Kajitani Japan
Lauren Kim Canada
Minsol Kim
Korea
Jasmine Koo USA
Rachel Kuehn USA
Andrea Lignell Sweden
Ingrid Lindblad Sweden
Julia Lopez Ramirez Spain
Carolina Lopez-Chacarra Coto Spain
Caitlyn Macnab South Africa
Rianne Malixi Philippines
Maria Jose Marin Colombia
Paula Martin Sampedro Spain
Emma McMyler USA
Ashley Menne USA
Emilia Migliaccio Doran USA
Anna Morgan USA
Hinano Muguruma Japan
Kokoro Nakamura Japan
Lauryn Nguyen USA
Farah O’Keefe USA
Meja Ortengren Sweden
Annabelle Pancake USA
Ashleigh Park USA
Catherine Park USA
Jennie Park USA
Avani Prashanth India
Andrea Revuelta Spain
Kiara Romero USA
Louise Rydqvist Sweden
Amanda Sambach USA
Megan Schofill USA
Mamika Shinchi Japan
Bailey Shoemaker USA
Latanna Stone USA
Nora Sundberg Sweden
Asterisk Talley USA
Rocio Tejedo Spain
Sayaka Teraoka Japan
Mirabel Ting Malaysia
Casey Weidenfeld USA
Yana Wilson USA
Lottie Woad England
Chun-Wei Wu Chinese Taipei
Kelly Xu USA
Suzuna Yokoyama Japan
Rin Yoshida Japan

 

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley announces Masters, ANWA invitations for future NCAA champions

Last year’s NCAA men’s champion, Gordon Sargent, is playing this week on a special invitation.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — More amateurs will be making their way down Magnolia Lane next year.

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Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, announced Wednesday that the winners of the individual men’s and women’s NCAA Championships will earn exemptions into the Masters and Augusta National Women’s Amateur beginning in 2024.

“These additions to our qualifications are in recognition of the impressive quality of today’s collegiate game, and in continued respect to Bobby Jones who believed in the importance of the best amateurs in the world competing at Augusta National,” said Ridley during his annual press conference.

Vanderbilt sophomore Gordon Sargent, the winner of the 2022 NCAA individual title, is playing this week’s 2023 Masters via a rare special invitation, the first in more than 20 years. The last player to earn a special invitation as an amateur was Aaron Baddeley in 2000.

Stanford sophomore Rose Zhang, winner of the 2022 NCAA individual, won the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Saturday to complete her amateur grand slam.

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

The inclusion of the college champions adds further legitimacy to the NCAA Championship, a tournament which has grown over the last few years thanks to its stroke play individual and match play team formats, as well as Golf Channel’s television broadcast.

“And as it relates to the NCAA champion, as I stated, that is a major amateur championship, and I thought it was time that we acknowledged it,” said Ridley. “And we couldn’t be happier to have Gordon here this week. He’s a fine young man and a heck of a player.”

The news also furthers Augusta National’s commitment to shine a brighter light on the amateur game. The ANWA, just four years old, continues to grow in popularity each and every year. Now in its 87th year, the Masters has a history of inviting amateurs and has taken further strides in recent years with inclusion of both the Asia-Pacific and Latin American amateurs. The Masters also invites the following amateurs: U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up, British Amateur champion and the U.S. Mid-Amateur champion.

Ridley acknowledged that amateur sports as a whole are evolving, and that “amateur golf is no exception.” The chairman believes the amateur game vital, seeing as most players are amateurs and don’t “have the ability nor the desire to make golf their profession.”

If anyone knows the importance of amateurs at the Masters, it’s Ridley. The chairman was a member of the University of Florida men’s golf team, won the 1975 U.S. Amateur at Country Club of Virginia in Richmond and went on to play the Masters in 1976, 1977 and 1978.

“It really goes back to our roots, and that is that Bobby Jones was the greatest amateur of all time,” he continued. “He believed in the importance of amateurs in the Masters. I had the personal experience of enjoying that on three different occasions, and I can tell you that it changed my life.”

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Photos: Rose Zhang meets Tiger Woods at Amen Corner, receives ovation from Masters patrons at Augusta National

The pair of Stanford stars met on Monday at Augusta National.

AUGUSTA, Georgia – As the Augusta National Women’s Amateur replayed on Golf Channel Monday morning, champion Rose Zhang was out on the back nine tracking Tiger Woods. Zhang got a prime seat at the back of the 12th tee alongside good friend and fellow NCAA champion Rachel Heck and waited for Woods, who was playing alongside Rory McIlroy and Fred Couples.

A member of Zhang’s team first got the attention of McIlroy, who nudged Woods to let him know that a fellow Cardinal was in the gallery.

“I got to shake hands with Rory and Tiger,” said Zhang with a wide smile. “And then Fred Couples came up and had me stand up. I was like, ‘Wow, I was really being put on the spot.’ ”

Zhang, 19, certainly deserved an ovation after clinching the ANWA in dramatic fashion on Saturday to add to one of the greatest amateur resumes the game has seen. Zhang joins Woods and Pat Hurst as one of three players to win the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Junior and NCAA Championship. She won the ANWA in her fourth attempt.

There’s a chance that Zhang could top Woods’ Stanford record in the coming weeks. The sophomore has won nine of 16 career starts for the Cardinal, including five of six this year. Woods holds the record for most wins at Stanford at 11, along with Maverick McNealy and Patrick Rodgers. Woods made 26 career starts in two years at Stanford.

Zhang, who first met Woods at the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup, has four events left on her spring schedule.

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After meeting with the press on Saturday, Zhang headed back over to Amen Corner to take sunset pictures with her team.

“It was perfect,” said Zhang. “Kind of the calm after the storm environment.”

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

 

Rose Zhang gets locked inside gates at Augusta National after historic win

“It’s such a story to tell,” she said.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rose Zhang might be the first Augusta National champion to get locked inside the gates. Zhang said she and good friend Rachel Heck took pictures next to Gate 5 while they waited roughly half an hour to get out.

“It’s such a story to tell,” she said, laughing. Nothing could’ve spoiled the evening for the Stanford sophomore, who clawed her way to victory at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Saturday in the most pressure-packed round of her life.

After Zhang met with the media Saturday, she and her team were taken down to the 12th hole for a sunset photo session.

“It was perfect,” said Zhang. “Kind of the calm after the storm environment.”

Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion Rose Zhang of the United States, left, and LPGA legend Nancy Lopez, right, pose with Anna Midyett of the Girls 7-9 division while holding her third place overall trophy during the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 2, 2023.

She then called her mom for the first time en route to an AirBnB to celebrate with family and friends who had flown in from as far away as Paris.

“She’s the rock of the family,” said Zhang of her mom, Li Cai.

Of the roughly 150 text messages on her phone, Zhang said she’d gotten to about 10 of them. She returned to her hotel around 10:30 p.m. and drifted off to sleep around midnight.

“A sense of relief, disbelief, everything,” said Zhang of what she felt when she laid her head down that night.

Sunday morning marked the first time she’d ever stepped foot on Augusta National without feeling a mountain of pressure. After making another appearance on Golf Channel, Zhang headed over to the Masters Main Golf Shop with her team. She bought a Masters crew neck sweatshirt and quarter zip along with a coffee mug for her matcha lattes.

“Matcha is one of my most favorite things in the world,” she said of her prized purchase.

Zhang stopped to sign autographs on her way to greet champions from the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals alongside Nancy Lopez. She then met current World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for the first time.

“He is such a role model,” Zhang gushed. “He’s a man with so many values and I respect every single part of him as a player and as a person. He’s so nice.”

Zhang heads back to Stanford on Monday morning with Heck, who walked every step of the way on Saturday as well as a victory lap the next day.

“I was supposed to fly out this morning,” said Zhang, “but for me to just enjoy the moment and see Augusta National in a different light … that’s something so crazy. I’m super lucky to be here.”

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Nichols: Rose Zhang’s dominant amateur career may change the way American prodigies view college golf

“I’ve never been around anybody like her,” instructor George Pinnell said of Zhang.

AUGUSTA, Georgia ­– People told Rose Zhang that college golf would ruin her. She hated that.

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“I wanted to push myself to the limit,” she said on the eve of the final round of the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Those limits were laid out for the world to see on Saturday at the Augusta National Golf Club, where Zhang clawed her way to victory in a two-hole playoff over Georgia’s own Jenny Bae, clinching the only big title that had eluded her in amateur golf. Zhang has dominated at every level, and her decision to spend the past two years at Stanford might change the way the next great American prodigy views college golf during a time of unprecedented exposure and NIL cash.

For the past 20 years, phenoms in the women’s game have skipped the books and gone straight to the LPGA. Before Zhang set off to beat the world, however, she wanted to find herself, something that’s incredibly hard to do when cocooned by family on a professional stage.

“The big reason to go to college,” said Zhang’s longtime instructor George Pinnell, “it’s not for the education. It’s to get away from the family and grow yourself – do all the little things that mom and dad have always done.”

Stanford head coach Anne Walker told Zhang when recruiting her that there likely weren’t any nuggets she was going to teach her to make her a better player. What she was already doing was clearly enough. Where Walker felt like Stanford could help Zhang was in her aspirations to be a professional, all the elements that come into play beyond the technical prowess.

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For example, at the end of Zhang’s first semester at Stanford, Walker told her players to put their clubs away during the offseason. Zhang returned to practice in January banged up and battling a horrific flu. Walker later learned that Zhang had been hitting 200 balls a day during what was supposed to be a down period.

“You have to learn that rest and recovery takes as much discipline as hitting 200 balls or 200 chips,” Walker told her.

A disciplined Zhang took the lesson to heart.

In two years at Stanford, Zhang has a winning percentage of 56.25 through 16 career starts. Her nine victories are two shy of tying the all-time Cardinal record, held by Tiger Woods (26 starts), Patrick Rodgers (35 starts) and Maverick McNealy (45 starts). She has four starts left in what could be her final semester of college.

Zhang’s peers are awed by mostly everything Zhang does, from her work ethic to her keen understanding of the golf swing to her ability to make everything look so effortless. Nary a bad word is ever spoken about the world No. 1. She’s as beloved for her character as she is her vast potential.

There’s a deep sense that greatness is brewing.

After building a five-stroke lead heading into the final round at Augusta National, Zhang got off to shaky start with an opening double bogey, calling her swing uncomfortable.

“Your game can humiliate you to the point that you can’t get out of that hole,” said Nancy Lopez as she stood behind the 18th green on Saturday.

Nearly everyone seems to think that an extended weather break midway through the final round would do Zhang a world of good as her lead dwindled.

Pinnell started working with Zhang eight years ago, and for a long time, never could figure out why she never texted him during a tournament. Every other student would check in from time to time with questions. Does she have another coach, he wondered.

No, Rose wouldn’t do that.

Then one year at the AJGA Ping Invitational in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Zhang texted after a second-round 75 and said, “It was brutal out there today,” noting the bad weather and a swing flaw. Pinnell didn’t asked about the flaw, and Zhang didn’t offer. The next day she shot 67 and won the tournament.

The following week during their lesson, Zhang sat down on a bucket as Pinnell inquired about the turnaround in Stillwater.

Zhang explained that she went to the range after that 75 and pulled out her 9-iron. She didn’t hit any balls, just started making slow-motion swings, scanning through all the fundamentals they’d talked about in her mind. In less than 10 minutes she’d figured it out – without hitting a golf ball – and headed off to dinner with friends.

“I damn near fell off the chair,” said Pinnell. “That was the answer to why she never contacted me.”

A similar scenario played out mid-round at Augusta National, as Zhang once again found herself scrolling through her mind what everything felt like out there – from setup to ball position to grip.

The grip!

The “aha” moment flashed through her mind as she was approached her third shot into the par-5 13th. Zhang adjusted her right hand and hit one of the best wedge shots of the week.

“I think that everyone should realize that I’m very much human, and that I do have my fair share of dumb mistakes out on the golf course,” she said.

“But I’m just really proud of myself in terms of how I was able to overcome so much media, so much expectations.”

Where Zhang’s amateur career thus far ranks all-time is debatable. She’s the only player to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Girls’ Junior, NCAA Championship and Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She’s on another level than her peers in the collegiate game.

JoAnne Carner, winner of five U.S. Women’s Amateurs and a Girls’ Junior turned pro at age 30, giving her an enormous window of opportunity. Juli Inkster, a three-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion who won 17 times in college, didn’t take the game seriously until age 15, while Lydia Ko, a U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, won twice on the LPGA as an amateur and topped the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 130 consecutive weeks.

Zhang’s humble and gracious approach to life reminds many of Lorena Ochoa, who dominated college golf for two seasons but never won the big amateur titles like Zhang.

“I’ve never been around anybody like her,” said Pinnell.

The golf world can hardly wait for what comes next.

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