Rookie wins cup right after debuting on LPGA Tour

20-year-old American Rose Zhang chose the Mizuho Americas Open on the LPGA Tour to start her professional golf career and won the championship after a match in the extra hole.

Zhang tied with Jennifer Kupcho at -9 after four regulation rounds this morning, June 5, Hanoi time. To seal the final result, Zhang and Kupcho dueled on the 18th hole of the par-72 Liberty National course in New Jersey. The duel ended in the second round, when Zhang kept par and Kupcho made bogey.

Kupcho, born in 1997, has won three times on the LPGA Tour, including the 2022 Chevron Championship major. Zhang just turned professional golf last week, and just started his professional career from the Mizuho Americas Open.

Zhang lifts the Mizuho cup on the morning of June 5, Hanoi time. Photo: AP

This tournament, Zhang took the top spot at -11 and led by two strokes after round 3. On the way to the finish line, Zhang started at hole 1 and lost all her fire when she recorded two bogeys and pars throughout the match. It was the second bogey on the last hole that pushed her to -9, level with Kupcho and led to two extra holes that Zhang won.

"This is probably the best result I've had since I started playing golf. Before the tournament, I didn't even think I could make the cut, I just wanted to play well," Zhang said at the award ceremony.

By winning the Americas Open, Zhang became the first player to win the trophy in her debut at the top-tier US women's golf tournament since 1951. She earned $256,544 in her opening victory as a professional golfer.

Before reaching this level, Zhang had more than two years of dominating high-level amateur women's golf, demonstrated by reaching the record of 12 times bringing the cup to Stanford like Tiger Woods, being the only player to win the women's individual championship for two consecutive years in the National College Golf Association (NCAA) system, and holding the top position in the world amateur women's golf rankings for 141 weeks.

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