Rose Zhang Digs Deep For Weekend At Augusta

Photo: Courtesy Augusta National

EVANS, GEORGIA | Rose Zhang was stumped. “Yeah,” she stammered as her mind turned and her silence grew longer. “I mean, in college I haven’t really had that … yikes.”

She grew silent again and kept thinking. “Good question,” she added to the filibuster.

Who knew such a simple question could be so difficult for an 18-year-old Stanford freshman: Can you remember the last tournament you played where you had to dig yourself out of a hole?

Rose Zhang doesn’t dig holes. The reigning U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion – the No. 1 female amateur golfer in the world going on three years – typically doesn’t walk off golf courses after shooting 4-over 76 and in 39th place.

But that’s where she was after the first round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where sustained wind and rock-hard greens made life difficult for the 72-player field on Wednesday at Champions Retreat. Zhang conceded it was “rough” and she struggled “to get my numbers right” and “it was definitely a grind...