Rose Zhang hits her tee shot on Saturday on the first gap at Liberty National.
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Noooo. Way.
No approach would she dig herself out of the rubbish she was in after two photographs on Liberty National’s par-5 thirteenth. The lie? Patchy. The water? Left. Would she chunk? Would she blade? Would she crumble? She wouldn’t. She did what she might with the pitch, two-putted from 30 toes and parred. OK, however …
No approach would she squeeze an iron in shut on the par-3 14th, with the Liberty in Liberty National — Lady Liberty, that’s — simply off to her proper. Would she go lengthy? Would she go quick? Would the nerves strike? Please. She dropped her ball to three toes, birdied, and he or she was tied for the lead on Saturday on the LPGA’s Mizuho Americas Open. Cool, however …
No approach would she drive — drive — the par-4 sixteenth. This was a risk-reward gap. And they don’t name it that for giggles. There was hassle left. And proper. And wind all over the place. It’s been enjoyable, people, however the story would finish right here, proper? Stop it already. You already know what she did. Yeah, she drove that inexperienced. To. Five. Freaking. Feet. She laughed. It was humorous. She didn’t make the putt, however she birdied. She was the chief by a stroke.
No approach, no approach, no approach. Noooo approach would Rose Zhang, one of many most-hyped ladies’s golfers in a while, discover a approach and do that in her pro debut. This simply doesn’t occur. Tiger Woods? He tied for sixtieth on the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open. Jack Nicklaus? He tied for fiftieth on the 1962 L.A. Open. On and on. The Golf Channel reported that it has been 72 years (!) since a participant had received on the LPGA Tour in their first pro begin, with Beverly Hanson doing so on the 1951 Eastern Open. For these doing the maths, that’s 52 years older than Zhang.
Then once more, possibly we should always recalibrate.
No approach? Consider:
Zhang’s the primary lady to win two NCAA Division I particular person crowns. She received 12 occasions at Stanford, and no, not even that Tiger man did that. She’s received the U.S. Women’s Am. In April, she received the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. And on and on.
So right here we go once more, irrespective of that she’s doing this for cash now, and going up towards gamers who’re doing this for a dwelling. She opened with a two-under 70 on Thursday, adopted with a 69 on Friday and a 66 on Saturday, and he or she leads by two over Atthaya Thitikul, Aditi Ashok and Cheyenne Knight getting into Sunday’s ultimate 18.
It’s been somewhat little bit of all the pieces, too. Zhang’s missed 4 fairways — all week. And simply 9 greens. The placing has been regular.
“Certainly there are expectations on me,” she informed Golf Channel’s Karen Stupples, “but like I said before, I feel like that’s just a compliment and testament to what I’ve been doing well so far so I’ve been very thankful along the way.”
Amateur golf legend Rose Zhang is formally a pro. Here’s how that’s going
Alan Bastable
Oh yeah, she’s additionally cool, calm and picked up too. But …
That was on Saturday. Not Sunday.
And the story was enjoyable. But this ain’t a film.
And there might be these nerves. And there might be these double-bogeys. And Thitikul, Ashok and Knight shall be there, together with a number of others in hanging distance.
No approach Zhang wins, proper?
Right?
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