Rose Zhang wins 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Rose Zhang’s credentials include a U.S. Women’s Amateur championship, an individual NCAA title and too many other tournament wins to count.

Now, she can add the Augusta National Women’s Amateur to her collection.

“So, so thankful for this to end this way,” Zhang said after losing a six-stroke advantage, then overcoming Jenny Bae on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.

A sophomore at Stanford, Zhang set a record-shattering pace in the first two rounds Wednesday and Thursday at Champions Retreat Golf Club, but she struggled in Saturday’s rain-delayed final round at Augusta National.

Zhang opened the door for challengers by going 4-over par through seven holes — and slowly, Bae, a senior at the University of Georgia, crept closer.

“I thought on the back nine, ‘I can do this,’ ” Bae said. And she came close. She pulled even with a birdie at the 17th hole. She then left birdie putts short on the 18th green in both regulation and the first playoff hole.

Likewise, Zhang missed birdie putts on the final three holes of regulation, and the pair deadlocked at 9-under-par 207.

Finally, on the second playoff hole, Bae pulled her second shot into the flowers left of the 10th green, and Zhang collected the big prize with a two-putt par.

“I just tugged it a bit,” Bae said.

Given the way Zhang dominated the first two rounds, Saturday’s drama could not have been expected. She had matched the tournament record with an opening 66 and bettered that a day later with a 65.

Her 13-under-par 131 toppled the two-round tournament record — by eight strokes.

“I’m just super blessed to be in this kind of position,” Zhang said after the second round. But, she added: “The job’s not done yet. We still have to go out there and play a good (final) round.”

She didn’t do that. A final-round 4-over-par 76 seldom wins a championship, much less one featuring 44 of the top 50 players in the world rankings.

But this one did, thanks to a mid-round grip change.

“Jenny played amazing,” Zhang said of her rival, who posted a 2-under-par 70 Saturday.

Andrea Lignell, a senior at the University of Mississippi, entered the final round in second place, five shots off Zhang’s pace, in her first ANWA. She moved within two shots with birdies on 11 and 12 before falling back. She shot 74 Saturday for 210 overall.

Jensen Castle finish

Jensen Castle birdied her final hole in the second round Friday to make the 36-player cut and finished tied for 26th overall after her 5-over-par 77 over Augusta National on Saturday. She posted a three-day total of 223, seven over par.

The other players with South Carolina connections — Hannah Darling and Anna Morgan — missed the cut.

Castle is from West Columbia and plays for the University of Kentucky. She opened with a 2-under-par 70 before a second-round 76 left her at 2-over 146. She is playing after aggravating a rib injury that kept her from competing in last week’s tournament at Clemson.

A double-bogey at No. 13 and a bogey at 16 put her in a must-make situation on the final hole.

“I was like, not ideal,” she told reporters after the second round. “It was straight-down grain. I putted it about four feet and knew it was in immediately.”

Darling, a sophomore at the University of South Carolina from Scotland, faced a similar situation and missed her putt, a 15-footer for birdie on the par-5 18th, at Champions Retreat.

Darling posted round of 73-74—147 and finished in a tie for 32nd. She had a birdie the 16th to get under the cut line, but she bogeyed the 17th.

Morgan, from Spartanburg and a senior at Furman, shot rounds of 77-74—151. She faced an uphill climb after going 4-over par after six holes in the first round before playing the final 30 holes in 3-over par.

All three earned spots in the ANWA for the second-straight year.

This story was originally published April 1, 2023 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Rose Zhang wins 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur."