Tag: Rose Zhang

LPGA set to unveil new way for superstar amateurs to bypass Q-School

The LPGA informed players of the changes during The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

BELLEAIR, Fla. –  At long last, there will be a way for superstar amateurs to bypass Q-School and go directly to the LPGA. Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine first reported the news, noting that two separate programs will provide paths to both the LPGA and Epson Tour. The LPGA informed players of the changes at a meeting earlier this week during The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

The tour has confirmed that more details on the programs will be released next week at the CME Group Tour Championship.

The path that leads directly to the LPGA will be similar to the PGA Tour’s University’s Accelerated program, though the women’s version will be open to all amateurs rather than just college players.

“I love it so much,” Rose Zhang told Golfweek. “The criteria to get into the LPGA is very difficult, but if you have such a stellar career in the amateur league, then why not?”

Zhang, of course, bypassed what’s now known as LPGA Qualifying by winning her first LPGA event as a professional.

“We weren’t sure what the qualifications mean,” said Hannah Green, “and then they showed obviously who would’ve earned spots that are currently members and playing and it was only three people: Lydia (Ko), Rose and Leona (Maguire).”

Such a short list eased their minds that it wouldn’t be a rush of amateurs, Green said.

Most years won’t have anyone meet the threshold, in fact.

Lottie Woad of England and Lydia Ko of New Zealand pose for a photo on Day Four of the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews Old Course on August 25, 2024, in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images)

Players were told that Lottie Woad, the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, would currently have 16 points under the new system.

The second program, Romine noted, will mirror the PGA Tour University rankings for those in their last two years of college.

The top players from those rankings will earn Epson Tour status.

Linn Grant liked the proposal but felt that the 20-point threshold could be dropped some in future years, noting the quality of talent in the amateur game.

“If you play that well during your amateur career, you should definitely have a spot out here,” said Grant. “You shouldn’t have to go to Q-School and all of that. You go to Q-School, you could be sick for a week or just play your worst golf for some reason.”

With LPGA Qualifying falling in November and December, college coaches have dealt with losing star players midseason for more than 15 years. This won’t solve the entire problem, of course, but it will help.

This year five college players advanced to December’s final stage, and they’ll each have to turn professional in order to compete. The deadline to inform the LPGA of their decision is Friday, Nov. 15.

Rose Zhang is using AimPoint for the first time this week at The Annika, where she’s contending

Zhang’s father left the putter she used to dominate amateur golf on a train in London in the summer of 2023.

BELLEAIR, Fla. – Rose Zhang met with AimPoint founder Mark Sweeney early this week at Pelican Golf Club to try something new. The suggestion came from Zhang’s caddie, Olly Brett, who first broached the subject after the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.

“We just weren’t holing enough putts inside 15 feet,” said Brett, “and we both felt it was more read than stroke.”

Zhang carded a 2-under 68 in the second round of The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican to get to 5 under for the tournament. Alexa Pano and Jin Hee Im hold the clubhouse lead at 7 under.

Zhang currently ranks 91st on the LPGA in putts per green in regulation. Last year she ranked 10th. It’s also worth noting that Zhang’s father left the putter she used to dominate amateur golf on a train in London in the summer of 2023.

She’s been on a short-game journey ever since.

“It’s something new,” said Zhang. “My putting hasn’t been great statistically so I wanted to have a new sort of mindset when it came to the putting green, and it’s been going well so far.”

Rose Zhang of the United States looks on from the seventh green during the second round of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club on November 15, 2024, in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

When Zhang won the Cognizant Founder Cup earlier this year, it’s not surprising that she ranked first that week in both greens in regulation and putts per green in regulation.

If only she could’ve bottled it up.

Brett has been familiar with the AimPoint system for 13 years and said he didn’t want to mention it to Zhang until he’d gathered enough statistical evidence. Zhang was quick to agree.

Nichols: At what feels like a tipping point for the LPGA, a closer look at the rocky tenure of commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan

“I would almost argue in this year was just as much of a rollercoaster as last year for me,” said Zhang, who won her first tournament as a professional on the LPGA after closing the books on a record-breaking year at Stanford.

“There is a lot of new challenges I faced, old recurring things that I’ve been trying to figure out.

“So I think it’s been going good. I feel like I grinded a lot this year. There’s a lot of good showings, and I’m really excited for my potential to get better.”

Solheim Cup champs Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Rose Zhang headline field at Kroger Queen City Championship as LPGA returns

Fresh off the 2024 Solheim Cup, the LPGA is right back at it this week.

Fresh off the 2024 Solheim Cup, the LPGA is right back at it this week.

There will be 11 players competing in the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G in Maineville, Ohio, outside Cincinnati.

Three of those – Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang – are from the winning American side, set to play just five days after hoisting the trophy.

“Gosh, it was such an unbelievable and crazy week,” Korda said. “It was just overall so much fun with our caddies, with the assistants, Stacy, the helpers, with the girls, too. That was my fourth Solheim Cup, and obviously it was sweeter to get the victory at the end of the week, but also such an amazing week with the girls.”

But now it’s back to LPGA competition where she’ll be battling her American teammates.

“Just hate all the girls again,” she quipped, which brought laughs to media center. “Coming out here and competing, doing what I love just gives me a little bit more energy boost.”

The eight Europeans in the field are Linn Grant, Georgia Hall, Esther Henseleit, Charley Hull, Leona Maguire, Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom and Albane Valenzuela.

This is the third playing of the event but the first time that the Arnold Palmer-designed TPC River’s Bend is the host course following two years at Kenwood Country Club. It’s just the third time the LPGA has played a tournament at a TPC venue. Just last month, the inaugural FM Championship was at TPC Boston. The 2023 Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown was at TPC Harding Park.

Minjee Lee is the defending champion this week. She took down Charley Hull on the second playoff hole a year ago.

There are four sponsor exemptions in the event: Amari Avery, Gianna Clemente, Gabrielle Woods (who won the Div. II individual NCAA championship last season playing for Findlay) and Yana Wilson, a former No. 1-ranked player in the Rolex AJGA Rankings.

The Kroger is the first of the remaining nine events on the LPGA’s 2024 schedule.

In her second appearance, Rose Zhang had a historic weekend at the 2024 Solheim Cup

Rose added her name to the record book yet again.

Sunday was a sigh of relief for the Americans. For the first time in seven years, the U.S. team knocked off the Europeans to win the 2024 Solheim Cup.

There were numerous standouts for the United States at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, including Megan Khang and Virginia native Lauren Coughlin, but none moreso than Rose Zhang, the 21-year-old phenom who went 4-0-0, including a dominating 6-and-4 victory in singles against Carlota Ciganda.

Zhang’s second Solheim Cup appearance went a lot better than her first last year in Spain, where she admitted she struggled to get comfortable while going 0-2-1 at Finca Cortesin.

On home soil, she had a historic week.

Zhang is the eighth different player and third different American in Solheim Cup history to finish 4-0-0 or better. The other two Americans to go 4-0-0 are Dottie Pepper (1998) and Morgan Pressel (2011). She is also the first player ever to go 4-0-0 or better and never reach the 17th hole in any match. This week, Zhang led all players by winning 28 holes and only losing eight; that 20+ win/loss hole differential is the most dominant in the last 20 years.

The next best performance over that time is Jessica Korda in 2019, winning 29 holes and losing 14 holes

“It’s been absolutely incredible,” Zhang said of her week. “I feel like starting off the beginning of the week, I just felt so comfortable with everyone. The whole team has just been — they’ve just been so friendly, and everyone has had a good time in the team room, on the golf course. Like Stacy (Lewis) said, it translated over to the golf course.

“I felt a lot more loose than I did last year, and it was good vibes all around.”

2024 Solheim Cup
Rose Zhang of Team USA reacts after her putt on the second green during single matches against Team Europe during the Solheim Cup 2024 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Khang (3-0-0), Coughlin (3-0-1) and Andrea Lee (2-0-1) were the other Americans to go undefeated. It is the second time the U.S. team had that many undefeated players at one Solheim Cup.

Zhang’s dominance was no surprise to U.S. Captain Stacy Lewis, who along with stats guru Justin Ray put together a plan with plenty of data to lead the Americans to victory.

“The golf course was made for you, Rose,” Lewis told her star after winning Sunday.

The Match: Looking back at all nine made-for-TV golf matches

Which version of The Match was your favorite?

It’s been nearly six years since the first edition of The Match, the made-for-TV series of silly season golf events featuring everyone from PGA Tour legends to current NFL and NBA all-stars.

In that time, golf fans have been treated to seven different matches, most recently the first to be played using a mixed-team format.

Even though the first edition of The Match – Woods vs. Phil Mickelson in November 2018 in Las Vegas – didn’t quite live up to the hype, it proved there was a market for the competition. Over the years the matches have grown into charitable causes benefitting COVID-19 relief and HBCU’s while still providing golf fans a unique product outside of 72-hole stroke-play tournaments.

Watch: Rose Zhang gets stuck in pot bunker at St. Andrews, makes quadruple bogey at 2024 Women’s British Open

One of us, one of us!

One of us! One of us!

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Rose Zhang shot an even-par 72 in blustery conditions Thursday during the opening round of the 2024 AIG Women’s British Open at St. Andrews, but her second 18 got off to a rocky start after finding a greenside pot bunker on the second hole.

Hoping to get up and down for par, Zhang’s first attempt slammed into the riveted face and rolled back down into the sand. Her second try ended the same way.

With her third from the sand, she rocketed her ball out sideways back into the fairway and went on to make a quadruple-bogey eight.

Zhang birdied the next hole but double-bogeyed the par-5 fifth and was 5 over through 5 holes Friday. The projected cut sat at 4 over as of 10 a.m. ET Friday.

Here’s how the Americans fared at the 2024 Paris Olympics

Team USA was shut out of the podium in Paris.

It was a disappointing day for America’s best as Team USA was shut out of the podium in Paris. With the top two players in the world on the three-player U.S. squad – plus Rose Zhang! – odds were high that someone would clinch a medal.

Alas, it wasn’t to be.

Zhang, who began the day two back of the lead, played in the final group alongside Lydia Ko and Morgane Meatraux but struggled to a closing 74 that included a double-bogey on the ninth, a par 5. Zhang led the Americans with a T-8 finish.

“Takes a lot of resilience to get the job done or to even be in contention,” said Zhang of her Olympic debut. “Really proud of how hard I fought, and I think there’s just a lot more coming and pretty excited for what I can work on and what I can improve on.”

Aug 10, 2024; Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France; Rose Zhang (USA) on no. 2 in the final round of women’s individual stroke play during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Le Golf National. Mandatory Credit: Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Sports

Korda made two bogeys and a double over the last five holes to card a 75. The 2021 gold medalist plummeted to a share of a 22nd.

“I think recently what’s been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it,” said Korda.

“Needing to control that bit of it where I don’t compile all the mistakes, which that’s what I’ve been kind of doing recently.”

World No. 2 Lilia Vu had it going early in the week but took a nosedive as the week wore on. The two-time major winner closed with a 74 to finish tied for 36th.

Is the 79th U.S. Women’s Open Rose Zhang’s time to shine? The signs certainly suggest it

Zhang currently ranks No. 6 in the world.

LANCASTER, Pa. — Some signs are more obvious than others. At the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open, where the purse rose to $12 million, the championship logo is not the logo of Lancaster Country Club but rather a red rose, a nod to the city of Lancaster’s English roots.

And, according to oddsmakers, who is the player – outside of Nelly Korda, of course, – most poised to win this week?

A woman named Rose.

Rose Zhang, a freshly turned 21-year-old who won her second LPGA title at the Cognizant Founders Cup earlier this month, currently ranks No. 6 in the world.

“I want to win this one pretty badly,” said Zhang, who tied for ninth at Pebble Beach last year in her first U.S. Women’s Open as a professional.

U.S. Women’s Open: Leaderboard | Photos | How to watch

This week marks Zhang’s sixth start in the championship, with her first coming in 2019 at the Country Club of Charleston. She has competed in every edition since, making the cut three times.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda’s six wins in her last seven starts makes her the overwhelming favorite this week, but those who follow the women’s game agree that few things could bolster the tour more than a Korda vs. Zhang rivalry, though it would no doubt be a friendly one.

Zhang, who became the first player since Beverly Hanson in 1951 to win the LPGA in her pro debut, was quick to praise Korda’s dominant run.

“I’m witnessing some crazy history,” said Zhang, “and it’s really, really inspiring to see her out here and playing. She’s almost looking unfazed, and I think because she’s so solidified in her prep work, she’s so solidified with the people around her, and she loves the game. She’s really just going out here and playing for herself.”

2024 U.S. Women's Open
Rose Zhang plays her shot on the 14th tee during a practice round prior to the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. (Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

After Zhang won the Founders Cup, snapping Korda’s five-win streak, she was forced to withdraw from the Mizuho early in the first round with illness, though she’s in fine shape now. A total of 10 players withdrew from the event that week for various reasons, including a viral infection.

Growing up, Golf Channel analyst Paige Mackenzie, a former tour player, remembers golfers picking a side in high school: Tiger or Phil.

“It wasn’t you’re both,” she said. “You can’t just be a golf fan. You actually chose sides.”

With two different styles of play and different personalities, Mackenzie believes there’s enough separation between Korda and Zhang to attract different fans. And, hopefully, new ones.

With Lexi Thompson announcing her retirement at the end of 2024 earlier this week and Lydia Ko potentially on the verge of doing the same should she get into the LPGA Hall of Fame (she needs one more point or win to clinch it), the tour could use a star-studded rivalry.

The first time Arizona-based Mackenzie watched Zhang play was at an Epson Tour event several years ago in the desert, where the young amateur was warming up for an appearance in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Mackenzie was struck by how natural the game seemed to come to the young prodigy.

As her father/caddie zoomed around the course, Zhang took things at her own speed, deliberate and composed.

“To watch her in control of her game and her person,” said Mackenzie, “she’s got a level of maturity in how she approaches the ownership of her game.

“When you start this professional career, there are a lot of distractions that can take the focus away if you’re not a centered person or player.”

At the Founders Cup, Zhang hit nearly 85 percent of the greens in her victory three weeks ago and made four birdies in the last five holes to hold off Madelene Sagstrom in an epic two-player duel.

After the gutsy victory at Upper Montclair Country Club, Zhang credited Scottie Scheffler’s press conference after his most recent Masters victory as an inspiration, pointing to how the World No. 1 carries himself as a follower of Jesus Christ.

While Zhang no longer plays golf for the Cardinal, she’s still a student at Stanford, committed to finishing her degree. Zhang talked about how much growth she has experienced in the past year. Her faith, she said, has really deepened since she’s been in college, and she was able to “re-grasp” who she is as a person at Stanford.

“There was definitely a lot of energy, a lot of, I guess, shivers when I was playing out there,” said Zhang at the Founders Cup, “but I had something in me that really told me to keep myself grounded and patient, which I’m very thankful for.”

To win what many consider the toughest and most meaningful championship in women’s golf takes both a strong mind and spirit.

Which simply means that Zhang is tailor-made for this championship, as the logo suggests.

Rose Zhang WDs from LPGA’s 2024 Mizuho Americas Open, ending title defense after three holes

This week at the Mizuho Americas Open felt like a victory lap, but the party didn’t last long.

When she won the Cognizant Founders Cup on Sunday, Rose Zhang said she’d been taking inspiration from none other than Scottie Scheffler, who has been winning consecutive tournaments seemingly with ease in recent months.

And while this week at the Mizuho Americas Open felt like a victory lap as she entered the event as the reigning champion, the party didn’t last long.

Zhang played just three holes on Thursday and then was forced to withdraw from the field, according to Grant Boone of NBC Sports and the co-host of Golfweek’s Big Pickle podcast.

Zhang vaulted up 16 spots in the Rolex Rankings after her victory at the Cognizant, cracking the top 10 for the first time. Now No. 6 in the world, the 20-year-old Zhang is in position to snag a spot on Team USA for the Paris Olympics.

Zhang spent 141 weeks as the No. 1 amateur in the world, which is where she sat one year ago as a Stanford sophomore.

The Big Pickle: Rose Zhang joins the show as she looks to make it a double in Jersey

Zhang talked with both Grant Boone and Beth Ann Nichols about the win and her defense of the Mizuho Americas Cup.

Nelly Korda didn’t finish off her six-pack while Rose Zhang scored a huge victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Zhang, who turns 21 later this month, closed with a 66 at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey, winning her second career title by two over Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom.

She talked with both Grant Boone and Beth Ann Nichols about the win as well as her defense of the Mizuho Americas Cup. Watch the entire show here or listen below.

 

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