Rising American star Rose Zhang has become a two-time LPGA Tour winner with her two-stroke victory at the 2024 Cognizant Founders Cup on Sunday.
Zhang carded rounds of 63, 68, 67 and 66 at Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey for a 24-under-par 264 total, setting a new tournament scoring record at the course.
Starting the final round one shot adrift of Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, Zhang nailed four birdies in her last five holes for a closing 66 to her rival’s 69. The three-shot swing gave Zhang a two-shot victory, with Australian rookie Gabriela Ruffels a distant third on 9-under-par.
In her first start as a professional close to a year ago, Zhang won the Mizuho Americas Open in a playoff over compatriot Jennifer Kupcho. Zhang will be defending the title this week at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City.
While Zhang’s second victory came in less than a year on the LPGA Tour, the 20-year-old admitted that she had struggled to deal with the lofty expectations that came with her early breakthrough win.
“Coming out here on tour, there was a lot of expectations on me to perform, especially after what I did at Mizuho last year. And sometimes the noise did get to me a little bit, but I had such a good support group around me. I had people who really stuck in and told me to take it one at a time,” said Zhang.
“I was able to grow so much throughout the journey in this past year. I don’t know, it’s crazy to come out here. Didn’t have any expectation of having to win because I realize that it’s all just noise and I really just have to be able to work at it myself, and try my best to put myself in positions like this,” she added.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda failed in her bid to win a record sixth consecutive start on
the LPGA Tour, opening with rounds of 69 and 66 but shooting a pair of 73s over the
weekend to settle for tied seventh on 7-under-par. Malaysia’s Kelly Tan missed the
halfway cut by four shots following rounds of 75 and 74.
With the win, Zhang climbed 34 spots up to seventh place in the LPGA Tour’s season-long Race to CME Globe rankings. She won US$450,000 (RM2.1million) to take her season earnings to US$608,097 (RM2.88m) and her career haul to US$1,997,891 (RM9.45m).
Prior to turning professional, Zhang enjoyed a stellar amateur career and spent a record 142 weeks at number one spot in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking. She won two NCAA Championship individual titles (2022, 2023) with Stanford University, along with a host of other prestigious tournaments including the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur and 2021 US Women’s Amateur Championship. – LPGA TOUR
