“This week isn't necessarily anything different” - Rose Zhang reminds fans she’s no stranger to majors ahead of KPMG Women’s PGA Championship debut
Rose Zhang is the talk of the town ahead of the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The 20-year-old golfer leaped into fanfare by winning the Mizuho Americas Open earlier this month, just weeks after turning pro. She is now ready to make her majors debut as a pro at the Baltusrol.
Ahead of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Zhang has reminded fans that she’s no stranger to major events. The Mizuho Americas Open winner has played several majors as an amateur, including a strong T11 finish at the 2020 Chevron Championship. The golfer on Wednesday exuded confidence in her game and said that she’s treating the major weekend as any other. The breakout star golfer said that “this week isn’t necessarily anything different” than any major she’s been part of.
Speaking ahead of her debut Women’s PGA Championship outing, Rose Zhang said, as quoted by Golf Monthly:
“I don't think it's any different. I feel like if anything, I've played Major championships before as an amateur, and with that amateur status, I kept in mind, hey, I'm just going to go out here, have a learning experience, and it's been turning out well for me.
"I've played well in the Major championships that I've competed in, but if anything, this week isn't necessarily anything different. I would compare this week to other weeks, whether it's in college golf or even last week at Mizuho.”
Rose Zhang:
“As long as I perform as well as I can, I’ll be able to be in contention week in and week out.”
Rose makes her first major start as a pro this week at Baltusrol. I can’t wait to see how she gets on.
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Rose Zhang dubs Baltusrol a 'much difficult' course
Despite oozing confidence, Rose Zhang did admit that an outing at Baltusrol isn’t the easiest. The young golfer said that the course has all the telltale signs of a major venue and dubbed it “much more difficult” than other regular courses.
She said:
“The golf course is much more difficult. The way that the course is laid out is a lot more of a tester for all the players out here this week… With that in mind, it's just the venue is going to be a lot harder for us to play. We're going to have to grind through every single shot. It takes a lot more precision, a lot more grind within us to be able to execute what we need to when we're out here performing and playing. That's all I'm thinking about.”
It is pertinent to note that Rose Zhang is one of the big attractions at the major championship this weekend. The golfer made a name for herself in her LPGA Tour pro debut by beating an experienced Jennifer Kupcho to win at Liberty National.
Zhang, who holds several Amateur records including a record of 141 consecutive weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is being looked at as the ‘next big thing in pro golf.’ It’ll be interesting to see how the American college golf star turned professional fairs this week at the major.