SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Rose Zhang, already a history-making player at the tender age of 20, hit a 1-iron for the first time last year during a team-building exercise at Merion with the Curtis Cup team. She did not get closest to the hole. Didn’t even reach the green, in fact. One of the few times she’s lost at anything in the past year.
From the Ben Hogan plaque on the 18th at Merion to the one celebrating Jack Nicklaus’ famous 1-iron here at Baltusrol’s Lower Course, Zhang finds herself immersed in big moments these days.
Zhang struck her best drive of the day up the 18th at the Lower Course in the opening round of the KPMG Women’s PGA, and though she was far from the Nicklaus plaque, nestled a 3-wood up to 8 feet for eagle on the closing par 5. The ensuing putt was a touch short on pace.
KPMG: Photos
“I’m not dismayed with that attempt,” said a smiling Zhang after the round. “It was a very solid birdie.”
Ben Hogan famously used a 1-iron to force a playoff and win the 1950 #USOpen at Merion.
Players from this year’s #CurtisCup Match got to see the iconic club up close and recreate Hogan’s shot with a replica. pic.twitter.com/9uAhRc3RdV
— The Curtis Cup (@CurtisCup) June 9, 2022
Every birdie at the Lower Course on a drizzly and gusty Thursday was a solid one, as only six players broke par in the morning wave. Zhang’s 1-under 70 put her one back of a trio of players with the clubhouse lead: Leona Maguire, Celine Borge and Ayaka Furue.
Maguire, winner of last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic, made a birdie of her own on the 18th. She hit every green and missed one fairway in an opening 69.
“It’s a completely different test,” said Maguire of last week to this week. “I think you had to drive the ball equally well last week I would say, but you were going gung-ho at a lot of pins. Today you had to be really disciplined.”
Not long before Zhang turned professional, she broke Maguire’s record of 135 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Maguire, 28, was a prodigy in her own right own right long before she arrived at Duke.
“We knew even before she went to college, she started winning everything,” said Boutier, a former Blue Devil teammate, “so it was kind of obvious that she would make it.”
Maguire, who took off a year of high school to concentrate on golf as a junior, won 10 times as a Blue Devil and worked her way to the LPGA via the Epson Tour. She became the first player from Ireland to…
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