Yahui Zhang wins first Epson Tour event in South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Yahui Zhang knew Sunday morning when she arrived at South Bend Country Club that she and the other 60 golfers in the final round of the Epson Tour’s $262,500 Four Winds Invitational were in for a long day.

When the ups and downs of the roller-coaster final round, particularly on the back nine holes, finally concluded, it was the 18-year-old Epson Tour rookie from China who went home with the winner’s check of $39,375.

Zhang earned her first Epson Tour victory when she sank a nine-foot birdie putt at the upfill 478-yard, par-5 18th hole to complete a three-over round of 75 that left her with a six-under total of 210, good for a one-stroke victory over Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano, who at times had a piece of the lead on the back nine, and Lauren Stephenson of Lexington, S.C.

“Actually I was pretty nervous coming to 18,” Zhang said after making the winning putt and then celebrating with her caddie father and mother watching in the gallery. “But I just decided I had to do what I needed to do —– I needed a birdie to win.”

After hitting her first two shots to the uphill hole short of a fronting greenside bunker, Zhang hit a long chip onto the putting surface which stopped nine feet from the pin. She then made the putt, sending Cano, who had matched par 72 two groups before, and Stephenson, who finished off a two-over 74 with a birdie at 18, to their cars to begin their 110-mile drives to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for a flight to the next weekend’s Epson Tour Guardian Championship at Prattville, Ala.

“This morning I was crying because there was so much pressure,” said Zhang, who entered the day at nine-under 135 after opening rounds of 67 and 68 and with a one-stroke lead over playing partner, 26-year-old Brooke Matthews of Rogers, Ark., looking for her initial Epson Tour victory. In her previous 10 events this season, Zhang had six Top 10 finishes, but none got her to the winner’s circle.

So you can understand the pressure and it didn’t ease up when the Zhang family arrived at South Bend Country Club three hours before her 1 p.m. tee time. When they exited their car, they felt what Mother Nature had in store for Yahui and the rest who made Saturday’s cut at two-over 146.

“My coach called me from China this morning and told me not to be nervous,” Zhang said. “But when I got here, I saw the sun and the clouds getting big, and the wind kept getting bigger and bigger.”

The Four Winds…