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The third women’s golf major of the year tees off Thursday at Pebble Beach, one of the most famous (and scenic) courses in the world. Along with the iconic venue, there are some interesting storylines to keep an eye on during the U.S. Women’s Open. Such as:
Everybody’s watching Rose Zhang.
The 20-year-old American sensation has made a Tiger Woods-like entrance to professional golf. After capturing back-to-back NCAA titles at Stanford (Tiger’s alma mater) along with the prestigious U.S. Women’s Amateur and Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Zhang turned pro in late May and promptly won her debut tournament — the first LPGA Tour player in 72 years to do so. She then tied for eighth at last month’s major, the Women’s PGA Championship.
Now, playing in just her third event as a pro, Zhang is the betting favourite to win the U.S. Open at hallowed Pebble Beach. Sounds like a case of runaway hype, until you consider that Zhang shot a women’s course-record 63 at Pebble just 10 months ago while playing for Stanford. If she wins this week, it’ll surely draw comparisons to the historic victory by a 21-year-old Woods at the 1997 Masters.
Brooke Henderson will be part of the Zhang show.
Talk about a featured group: Henderson, a two-time major winner ranked 11th in the world, will play with Zhang and world No. 3 Lydia Ko of New Zealand (also a two-time major champ) on Thursday and Friday.
Henderson, 25, captured her first major at the Women’s PGA Championship in 2016, when as a teenager she upset Ko (then the world No. 1) in a playoff. The Smiths Falls, Ont., native then added the Evian Championship in France last July.
Now Henderson will try to burnish a banner season for Canadian golfers. Five of them have won on the major tours, including Henderson’s Canadian record-extending 13th career victory in January at the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Tournament of Champions. Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Svensson and Corey Conners hoisted trophies on the PGA Tour before Nick Taylor trumped them all last month by becoming the first Canadian in 69 years to win the men’s Canadian Open. Adam Hadwin nearly joined the Canadian 2023 winners’ circle at last week’s PGA Tour stop in Detroit, but Rickie Fowler beat him and Collin Morikawa in a playoff.
The other three Canadians in the U.S. Women’s Open field are amateurs: Monet Chun, Celeste Dao and Lauren Kim.
The competition, as always, will be fierce.
The last eight majors have resulted in eight different champions from seven different countries, speaking to the depth of international talent in women’s golf. Though Zhang is the clear betting favourite, her odds imply she has less than a 10 per cent chance of lifting the lovely Harton S. Semple Trophy on Sunday.
Other top contenders this week include South Korea’s Jin Young Ko, who last week broke the record for most weeks at No. 1 in the women’s world rankings but hasn’t won a major in four years; No. 2 Nelly Korda of the United States, who’s looking for her second major title; and the third-ranked Ko, who ended last year at No. 1 but is still seeking her first major since 2016.
American Michelle Wie West, sort of the Rose Zhang of a previous generation, is playing her final competitive tournament at the age of 33. The former phenom made the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open when she was just 13 and won it in 2014 for her only major title.
Read more about Zhang and the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach here.
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