Rose Zhang Beats Her Own Record, Leads by 5 Ahead of ANWA Final Round

The Stanford sophomore is in prime position heading into a final round at Augusta National.

It only took one day for Rose Zhang’s single-round scoring record at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur to be topped—by Zhang herself. 

The Stanford sophomore and No. 1 amateur in the world followed up her bogey-free 66 with a stunning 7-under 65 to take a five shot lead of the tournament. 

Just four players in the 72 player ANWA field came within 10 shots of Zhang’s 36-hole score. Sweden’s Andrea Lignell shot a 3-under 69 to maintain solo second place at 8-under for the tournament. University of Georgia fifth-year senior, Jenny Bae, stands at 7 under in solo third, while Caitlyn Macnab and Hsin-Yu Lu are tied for fourth at 3 under. 

“I feel like I did everything pretty well today. I feel like I was hitting my irons a lot better than what I did yesterday, and yesterday I made a lot of long putts. Today I had a lot of good looks for birdie from short range. So that definitely allowed me to get some more birdie looks and convert some more putts,” Zhang said. 

Rose Zhang bests her 18-hole Championship record set yesterday by one stroke, carding a 65.

The No. 1 netted an eagle, six birdies and leads by five.#ANWAgolf pic.twitter.com/6Rhi8GfFOZ

— Augusta National Women's Amateur (@anwagolf) March 30, 2023

The 19-year-old carded six birdies, one bogey and an eagle for the record-setting round. Zhang’s eagle came on the par-5 9th hole at Champions Retreat Golf Club, where she hit a 3-wood from 237 yards in the rough to 30 feet and sunk the putt.  

“Definitely in the top 10 in my career,” Zhang said of the 3-wood shot.

A win at the ANWA would only strengthen to Zhang’s already stacked resume of victories: She’s won the U.S. Girls' Junior, the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the D-I NCAA Championship individual title. 

“The job's not done yet. We still have to go out there and play a good round,” Zhang said. 

A total of 31 players made the 36-hole cut and will move on to the revered final round on Saturday at Augusta National. Several high-profile players missed the cut, including the defending champion Anna Davis. Davis was assessed a brutal four-shot penalty after the first round when she wrongly used the life, clean and replace procedure in the rough.