SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Rose Zhang hits a tee shot on the eighth hole during the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club on June 22, 2023. | Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
The 20-year-old phenom, Rose Zhang, fought her swing at Baltusrol, but she is still in contention after the first round.
She is one special player.
Despite a tough start, Rose Zhang carded an opening 1-under 70 at the KPMG LPGA Women’s Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club on Thursday.
“It was quite difficult [to start],” Zhang said afterward on Golf Channel. “I felt like I was searching, and ultimately that’s what you have to do out here when conditions are not ideal, and you need to grind it out.”
Overcast skies, strong winds, and intermittent rain blanketed Baltusrol and the greater New York City area all day Thursday.
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Rose Zhang hits from the 17th fairway during the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club on June 22, 2023.
The poor weather conditions produced poor scoring conditions. Only 15 players sit under par just past midway through the first round.
Zhang is one of those players; only one shot back of the leaders as of this writing.
And yet, the former Stanford Cardinal is searching for her swing.
“I feel like I was searching my game a little bit,” Zhang added. “But when my alignment feels a little bit off, when I feel like I am not using my arms the way I should, or shifting my weight properly, those are all factors of trying to figure out where the ball is going to go after that.”
“I was not in the mindset to try and figure things out, but I ultimately grinded things out. I am pretty proud of how that turned out.”
Zhang sat at 2-over par through four holes after bogeying the 2nd and 4th holes.
She then bounced back with a birdie at the par-5 7th as she continued to grind her way through the elements.
On the back nine, Zhang birdied the 14th to return to even par.
But the shot of the day came on the famous par-5 18th, as she echoed Jack Nicklaus at the 1967 U.S. Open in launching her second shot onto the green:
Although she missed the eagle putt, her birdie at 18 put Zhang in red figures—rare territory for most of the field on Thursday.
Had she made that putt on 18, she would have had a share of the lead.
Yet, Zhang carded a 70 and is near the top of the leaderboard going into Friday’s second.
Not bad for someone searching for their swing.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @jack_milko for more golf coverage.
