Rose Zhang has long proven that she’s mature beyond her years. Her veteran poise was on display Friday at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro after a steady second round – during a tough scoring day – has left her firmly in shouting distance heading into the weekend.
Zhang shot her second 2-under 69 in a row to sit at 4 under through 36 holes. She was just three back of the lead as the afternoon wave got underway.
Zhang, who is on a break from classes at Stanford and doesn’t need to try to manage school and work these days, opened with three birdies in her first seven holes but made an unfortunate double bogey on the par-4 17th.
She birdied the next three holes as she made the turn though, and will be right there heading into the weekend as she looks to win for the second time on the LPGA Tour.
“In the morning it was pretty calm, so I was able to capitalize on a couple shots and gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities,” Zhang said. “Going into the back half of the nine, it was definitely a little bit more difficult – a lot more difficult actually.
“I just tried to keep myself as composed as possible. Sometimes when you’re out there you get in the moment a little bit too much, so I tried to calm myself down a little bit.”
Both of Zhang’s birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 came after she knocked her approach shots to just a couple of feet. She’s 31st so far this season in greens in regulation on Tour but is well inside the top 15 in that statistic so far this week.
The wind severely picked up at Wilshire Country Club and Zhang held on tight to the finish line as the squares on the scorecards starting to add up amongst the rest of the field.
Zhang admitted at the beginning of the week that she still “feels like” a rookie on the LPGA Tour as most of the events she played at through the beginning of 2024 she was seeing for the first time. She turned pro last June and of course, won the Mizuho Americas Open in her professional debut.
Zhang is not a stranger to Wilshire, however, having played the Monday Qualifier for the event at the storied Hollywood club as just a 16-year-old, which was a “great opportunity” for Zhang to see what an LPGA Tour-style golf course looked like and how it was set up.
“I just remember this golf course being very challenging, especially if a slight wind picks up, so I'm very satisfied with how I was able to maneuver myself around the greens, keep myself composed,” Zhang said.
Zhang has had a bit of a hit-or-miss campaign so far in 2024. She missed the cut at The Chevron Championship last week but has two top-10 finishes so far this season in just five tournaments.
“Throughout this first little segment of the year, I know that there has been very difficult tracks, so I've just been trying to take it in my stride and prepare as best as I can,” Zhang said earlier in the week. “I think that I've had a very fulfilling journey thus far. I've been learning a lot. There has been a lot of ups and downs, and some weeks are not as consistent as others, but I think these growing pains are really good.
“Even if you feel like you're taking a step back, you'll be able to take two steps forward afterwards once you kind of learn and navigate yourself around.”
Zhang navigated her way around a tricky Friday just fine at Wilshire and now is eager for her best result of the season – and maybe even a return to the winner’s circle.
“Very satisfied,” Zhang said of how she felt grinding out a solid round on Friday. “Hopefully with a little bit more prep work, the weekend will look good as well.”
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