NEW YORK (AFP) – Rose Zhang, making her professional debut after a dominant amateur career, fired a six-under par 66 on Saturday to take a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Mizuho Americas Open.
The 20-year-old Californian, whose amateur victories included back-to-back National Collegiate Athletics Association collegiate titles, the United States (US) Women’s Amateur and this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur, had six birdies without a bogey to build a 54-hole total of 11-under par at Liberty National in Jersey City, New Jersey.
That put her two clear of overnight co-leader Cheyenne Knight of the US, Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul and India’s Aditi Ashok.
“It’s been great,” Zhang said of her week so far on the course that overlooks the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty.
“Today was pretty much what I expected. The golf course was playing a little more difficult, especially with the winds gusting up a little bit more and it’s in a different direction.
“I was just committed to every single golf shot that I hit today, so I think all that allowed me to shoot the best score that I could.”
