Rose Zhang Gets a Grip In a Tough Final Round to Triumph in Playoff at Augusta National

The game's top female amateur saw a huge lead evaporate in the final round at the Augusta National Women's Amateur, but one adjustment made the difference.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It was a light-bulb moment that eventually led the best player in the women’s amateur game, Rose Zhang, on the path to win the the fourth Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

It was a victory that took 20 holes, 18 in regulation and two in a playoff that ended with a tap-in par, a seventh win in a season that was never a done deal as everyone predicted at the beginning of the final round. The light bulb was on the fritz for most of the day, causing her to cough up most of her 36-hole lead before the turn.

Zhang played in the previous three ANWAs with a stroke average of 74.67 in her three rounds at Augusta National. So when the 19-year-old from Irvine, Calif., made a mess at Tea Olive, recording a double-bogey 6 on the 365-yard first hole, the Stanford sophomore's lead was cut and it seemed to follow a script of her discomfort at the Bobby Jones and Alistair Mackenzie masterpiece.

“I felt like the advantage disappeared after hole 1,” Zhang said. “I just knew that on this golf course a five-shot lead is not enough. A 10-shot lead is not enough. Every single hole mattered.”

The problems at the first were just the beginning of her struggles as she shot a final-round 4-over-par 76 and even with a birdie on the par-5 2nd hole, Zhang continued to struggle early and watched her lead diminish to just two shots after recording a 4-over-par 40 on the front nine.

After seemingly righting the ship with six consecutive pars from the 7th to the 12th hole, Zhang finally had that light-bulb moment on the par-5 13th hole.

What she would late call her best wedge shot of the week, Zhang loosened her grip on her right hand to produce her second and last birdie of the round and her first since the 2nd hole.

Raising her game 🙌

Rose Zhang earns her first birdie of the second nine on No. 13 to move back to a two stroke lead.#ANWAgolf | @StanfordWGolf pic.twitter.com/NevhYTsyxa

— Augusta National Women's Amateur (@anwagolf) April 1, 2023

The birdie extended her lead to two over Jenny Bae, a fifth-year senior from the University of Georgia and, more importantly, the change was validated with her drive on the par-4 14th.

“Oh, well, let's see what this does with my little adjustment,” Zhang said of her approach. “And the drive that I hit was perfect, so from then on I kind of realized that it was going to work out.”

It may have worked out too well after a par on the 14th and a perfect drive on the par-5 15th, as, Zhang was left with a decision to go for it or lay up.

Anyone that has played at Augusta National with the tournament on the line has had that decision.

Her father Haibin, and for this day her caddie as well, wanted Zhang to go for the green and slowly his will became her will. With a two-shot lead in her back pocket and 226 yards out, Zhang pulled out a metal wood and hit a low shot that never had a chance to clear the pond in front of the green and before the ball found the water, Zhang slapped her right leg in anger.

Zhang admitted later that if not for the light-bulb moment on the 13th, she would not have gone for the green and would have laid up.

She also admitted she was unaware of her two-shot lead over Bae at the time she hit into the water.

“It wasn't the smartest decision, but at that time I felt like any sort of lead needs to kind of be maintained,” Zhang said. "And I really trusted in the shot that I was going to hit. Unfortunately, it did not happen that way. And I really made things more interesting in terms of leaderboard.”

Ultimately, Zhang made a six-footer for bogey and while reducing her lead to just one shot, the putt was a saving grace that made the rest of the round palatable.

“I think that that putt on 15 was necessary for my confidence,” Zhang said. “I blasted it by six feet, and if I didn't make that, that would have probably been the end of me, in terms of everything that happened.”

A Bae birdie on the 17th after a solid wedge shot and Zhang parring in forced the second playoff in ANWA history, which saw Zhang standing with legs crossed watching Bae stroke a 15-footer for a playoff win on the first playoff hole, the 18th.

Bae never got the ball to the hole and after a perfect drive on the second playoff hole, hooked her second shot under a tree and was left with a seven-foot bogey putt which she never attempted as Zhang two-putted for the win.

“I feel like it's always difficult to have such a big lead, especially on such a prestigious stage,” Zhang said. “When things matter the most and you have a big lead, but the job's not done, it definitely puts a lot of things into perspective.”