Rose Zhang on the 5th tee during the 78th U.S. Women's Open Championship in Pebble Beach, Calif., on Thursday, July 6, 2023. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
PEBBLE BEACH – Rose Zhang’s U.S. Women’s Open debut approached the two-hour mark when she reached Pebble Beach’s signature hole: the par-3 seventh, darting 113 glorious yards toward Carmel Bay.
Gap wedge in hand, gray sky overhead, she dropped her tee shot within 3 feet, 8 inches of the hole. Next came her third birdie in a five-hole span in Thursday’s opening round, eliciting cheers from a few hundred fans perched atop the nearby hilltop.
The Rose Parade, if you will, was marching down golf’s majestic main street.
And then it wasn’t. Zhang double-bogeyed her next hole, falling victim to “the toughest second shot in golf” as her eighth-hole approach fell into the treacherous gulch. Her scorecard got further scarred with mood-numbing bogeys, rather than title-chasing birdies.
Zhang’s seventh-hole birdie was the last of her opening round. Golf’s newest star needs to rally when she reports back for Friday’s second round, an 8:50 a.m. start at the No. 10 tee box. Finishing with a 2-over-par 74 has Zhang tied for 39th place; the top 60 (plus ties) make the weekend cut.
No one is running away with this historic tournament, not after its first round on the Monterey shore. This will not be a cakewalk, certainly not one to rival that by another ex-Stanford golfer here (see: Tiger Woods’ 15-stroke victory in the 2000 U.S. Open).
Typically, the strategy is to score well on Pebble’s first seven holes, then dig in for the battle back to the clubhouse. Sure enough, Zhang didn’t get to savor that seventh-hole birdie, which put her in a tie for sixth place at the time. She found trouble on No. 8, when her second shot came up short and forced her to re-hit back on the other side en route to a double-bogey. That at least paused her coronation as the tournament favorite.
Woods, by the way, played his first 22 holes without a bogey in that incomparable 2000 U.S. Open — and he went bogey-free the final 26. Nearly a quarter-century after his showstopper here, Zhang did attract the largest gallery for Thursday’s opening round. Many fans wore Stanford gear, as did she, from the ball marker resting on her cap to her “Go Card” notebook in her back pocket.
The 20-year-old, Southern California native is only six weeks removed from defending her NCAA Championship, and only a month past winning her professional debut in New Jersey. She has a mild-mannered, static persona that suited her black-and-white outfit. She smiled at fans, chatted up playing partner Lydia Ko, and casually moved from one shot to the next.
There was no fist pump after one-putting for birdie on holes No. 3 (from 32 feet), No. 4 (from 14 ½ feet) and No. 7 (the 3-foot, downhill tester). Nor was there any club tossing or sulking after a bogey here, a double there, or a two-putt here and there.
That doesn’t make her a bore. Her control, her rhythm, her precision all make her the must-see attraction for a tourney being broadcast in prime-time for the first time.
She nearly snapped her birdie drought on the 17th hole: a creative chip shot went from one side of the hourglass green onto the other, and the ball flirted with the cup. The final sign it wasn’t her day: her approach into the 18th green came to rest on a sprinkler head, amid the back rough. She nearly chipped in after gaining relief, then made her par putt to complete a 5 1/2-hour round about 20 minutes shy of sunset.
It was, of course, unfair to expect her to go chase the women’s course record, even if she’s the one that set it last fall, with a 9-under 63 to win the Carmel Cup. Her steely mindset is evident, like on hole No. 13, when she converted a sand save with a 7-foot par putt.
Zhang, Ko and Brooke Henderson tee off together again Friday morning. China’s Xiyu Lin was in Thursday’s morning group and posted the first round of 4-under-par. Hyo Joo Kim matched that about seven hours later to grab a share of the overnight lead.
NOTES: Mina Harigae, the proverbial girl next door from Monterey, bogeyed three of her first five holes before responding with back-to-back birdies and finishing 2-over. … Amateurs Áine Donegan (Ireland; 69) and Benedetta Moresco (Italy; 70) were among the first to finish and rank among the leaders. … Defending champion Minjee Lee birdied two of her first four holes en route to an even-par 72. … Lexi Thompson, after a heartbreak finish in 2021 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club, carded a 2-over 74. … Stanford’s Kelly Xu had opening-shot honors, finished with a 77, and said of Pebble Beach: “It’s genuinely so special, especially that it’s at Pebble and it’s the first time the women get to play here, and it was just a magical feeling.” … Former U.S. Women’s Open champion Michelle Wie West carded a 79, and three-time champion Annika Sorenstam had an 80.
Originally published at Cam Inman