Looking back on her amateur career, the list of accolades that Zhang piled up is remarkable. She won the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 2021 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, three of the preeminent tournaments in amateur golf.
Then, there was what she did at Stanford. Upon her arrival in the fall of 2021, Zhang kicked it into a gear not seen in college golf. She notched 12 wins in 20 starts for the Cardinal, including consecutive NCAA individual titles. For context, Tiger Woods won 11 times in 26 starts at Stanford, and LPGA great Lorena Ochoa won 12 times in 20 starts at Arizona.
For her stellar play, the Californian won the Annika Award twice, as the female college golfer of the year. Not only did she set a new NCAA scoring record (69.68) as a freshman, but she broke her own mark as a sophomore with a 68.70 average. She also had a major hand in Stanford winning the team title in 2022. Not too shabby.
Now that she is officially a professional, what should expectations be for Zhang? Well, for starters, securing an LPGA membership is surely near the top of her priority list. In addition to her debut next week and the aforementioned four majors, Zhang also received exemptions in the Dana Open, CPKC Women’s Open and Kroger Queen City Championship. All three events are set for this summer.
Predicting her to nab a win this early in her pro career is a bit of a stretch, but she certainly has the game to compete at the highest level. Zhang is the total package — she’s accurate off the tee, controls her distance with her irons, scrambles well and putts the lights out. That skillset has allowed Zhang to keep the No. 1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking since September 2020, a crown that she has donned for 141 straight weeks.
Once she gets her pro career started, Zhang will be must-see TV. Her playoff victory over Jenny Bae in April’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur, her final remaining achievement at the amateur level, showed an impressive amount of grit and determination in the spotlight. Add those traits to her already-refined game, and you have a potential star in the making.
Becoming a star will, naturally, be a challenge. But Zhang is ready for it.
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