Rose Zhang’s First Major As a Pro Showed Stunning Signs of What’s to Come

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Just moments before play was suspended due to thunderstorms at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Baltusrol buzzed with speculation. 

But the chatter had nothing to do with the swirling winds or the ominous rain clouds closing in on the property. It stemmed from one individual, and one individual only: Rose Zhang. 

The 20-year-old Stanford product—who won her first professional start at the Mizuho Americas Open just three weeks ago—went on a birdie run that electrified the Baltusrol premises on Sunday morning. 

Zhang made back-to-back birdies to open her first final round in a major as a professional. Then, after four steady pars, she strung together another pair of birdies on the par-5 7th and the 353-yard par-4 8th. 

After starting the day at one under, seven strokes behind 54-hole leader Leona Maguire, Zhang found herself just one shot off the lead. 

Zhang’s lights-out ball-striking, which hadn’t quite shown itself yet at the Women’s PGA Championship, was finally on display. Chasing up the leaderboard, she hit every fairway and every green on the front nine. 

The same seemingly incomprehensible possibility flashed in front of everyone’s eyes: Could Rose really pull this off? 

No player in LPGA history has ever won her first two starts as a professional. 

When play resumed, the young phenom only added fuel to the fire: She birdied her 11th hole of the day. 

But shortly thereafter, the prospect of such a dream result—not only for Zhang herself, but for the women’s game in its entirety—started to progressively fall apart. 

Zhang found herself in a precarious position on the bank of a creek on the par-4 13th. She hacked a long iron out of the rough, but found the greenside bunker and failed to make par, marking her first scorecard blemish of the day. 

On No. 14, Zhang bounced right back, sticking her approach tight and sinking the short-range birdie putt to regain her stride. She sat at six under, one shot shy of her playing partner and tournament leader, Xiyu “Janet” Lin. 

But Zhang missed a legitimate chance at birdie on 15, only to follow it up with the second major blip of her round on 16. 

The newly minted pro missed her tee shot on the dreaded but fittingly named “amateur side,” short-siding herself with a downhill lie in a bunker on the 183-yard par-3. Bogey was a respectable score after that. 

Zhang walked away with par on the first of Baltusrol’s back-to-back finishing par-5s, a true three-shot hole, but the reachable 18th didn’t go so smoothly. 

Zhang pulled her tee shot, just barely catching the pond running down the left side, forcing a drop and a penalty stroke. She blasted a fairway wood for the chance at a 230-yard up-and-down, but her approach skirted over the back of the green. Zhang got down in two from that point, gracefully saving par to finish at five under for the championship.

China’s Ruoning “Ronnie” Yin was soon crowned the champion after sinking a putt on the last to reach eight under, and it was official: Zhang finished inside the top 10 in her first major start as a professional. 

“I would say I'm content with the result. I'm not content with how I played,” Zhang said. “From the beginning of the week, I feel like there's always room to work on things, and I'm really satisfied with my overall performance, but there's little mistakes that I made that you just can't really afford to make.

“I felt really confident with my putter the whole day, and the last couple days I feel like that really saved me this entire week. But the last couple holes, putts fell a little short, they lipped out a little bit.”

Zhang not only posted a T8 finish in her first major as a pro, but she did it without her "A" game. 

A week in which the 20-year-old fires on all cylinders is not far off whatsoever, and her potential for dominance is almost unfathomable. 

But unlike her cult following that’s growing by the day, Zhang doesn’t want to think that far ahead. The Irvine, Calif., native is simply confident that she can get her game in a spot that satisfies her. 

A week like this one at Baltusrol will only help her inch closer to that status. 

“This week I didn't have any sort of expectations on myself, but at the same time, I wanted to see where my game ended up with the professionals and to really see if I can able to be in contention on a good day, on a bad day, etc. It's really cool to see that my game is there, and I just have to work a little extra harder to play better,” she said.

This week’s result sets things up almost too perfectly for the approaching U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. Zhang will be on familiar turf in California and on the iconic oceanside venue, where she holds the women’s course record (63). 

“I learned a lot, especially with Gilly [Jason Gilroyed, Zhang’s caddie] on my bag. It's definitely a different dynamic when you're a professional versus an amateur, and when you're playing your game, you really have to be precise with your numbers, really understand what your swing is doing, and there is no room for error. Therefore I'm excited to keep working on my game and make sure that it's pristine when I go to the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble,” Zhang said. 

When scoring and interviews were complete, Zhang couldn’t have been in better spirits. She was immediately greeted by a group of friends, who stayed by her side as she signed autographs and took pictures with fans. 

Zhang didn’t accomplish the unthinkable and historic outcome that the golf community hoped for so earnestly this week. But you can sense that she knows such a result will come in due time.