Rose Zhang loves a big stage. The collegiate standout and 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion won the Mizuho Americas Open in her first-ever LPGA professional start.
Fast forward 12 months, and Zhang now has two chances to go back-to-back. Not only is she defending her title from a year ago, but she is also trying to win in successive weeks. Nelly Korda may have stolen the show at the Met Gala, but Zhang’s late Sunday birdie barrage at the Cognizant Founders Cup confidently displayed one fact – there’s nothing like a rose in full bloom on Mother’s Day.
For the second year in a row, Liberty National Golf Club is the host of the Mizuho Americas Open. No stranger to championship golf, several FedExCup playoff events have been contested here, and so was the 2017 Presidents Cup.
This amazing golf landscape is one of a kind. Imagine hitting an approach with Manhattan in the background. It’s something you have to see in person in order to appreciate the unbelievable contrast in scenery. A par-72 scorecard (6,675 yards) has your traditional setup – four par 3s and four par 5s, woven in between 10 par 4s.
Don’t get distracted by the sights because this is not a tourist trip. Liberty National Golf Club is total target golf, as the course has 98 bunkers and 13 holes where water comes into play. The par-4 5th hole is a microcosm of what the field will face. The fairway of the 400-yard par 4 travels along a pond down the left-hand side and has out of bounds down the right. Should a player find the fairway, they’ll face a two-tiered green with a bunker on the right and a creek on the left.
Accuracy counts on every shot around this treacherous track. Total control tee to green is the first filter to look at this week. Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda is back to lead the betting board, with Zhang sitting next in line. It’s no coincidence they both are also near the top of the tee-to-green rankings for this field, along with Haeran Ryu, Nasa Hataoka and Lydia Ko. The season of star winners carried on in nearby Clifton, N.J., and Liberty National Golf Club will be very similar to Upper Montclair Country Club as a well-rounded, ball-striking contest.
Similar to that setting at Upper Montclair, consistent driving will again give our contenders an advantage. Charley Hull, Korda and Linn Grant are the off-the-tee favorites for Liberty National. But the accuracy test doesn’t end after the tee shot. It continues by challenging every iron in your bag. To separate themselves from the field, players must accrue as many greens in regulation as possible. Zhang tied Jennifer Kupcho at 9-under after 72 holes last year, securing the victory in a sudden-death playoff.
All of the targets are surrounded by trouble. Getting up and down is important, and the need for a variety of short game-shots is invaluable. The average green size is 4,650 square feet. The weather looks similar to last year, and cooler spring temperatures are always a factor on the water. Liberty National is located on the Hudson River. The forecast calls for some wet weather as well. All of these influences will give Ayaka Furue, Ko and Brooke Henderson an advantage, as they are the best scramblers in the field.
How does a player score at Liberty National? Those who capitalized on the par 5s jumped ahead of the competition a year ago. You can look at the keys to winning by analyzing the top 10 from that leaderboard. Zhang finished second in par-5 scoring for the week. Coming into this edition, Yuka Saso, Korda and Ko have been conquering the 5s on the LPGA Tour and are the best at making sub-par scores on those holes of the favorites in our field.
More unique than the setting is the format for this second-year event. The field of 120 LPGA players will be joined by 24 elite players from the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). The young women will compete alongside nine of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Only the top 50 and ties make the weekend, so this is one of the toughest cut lines to navigate on Tour. Keep an eye on the players who are in great form and tend to start quickly.
Even though this is only the second year for the LPGA Tour at Liberty National, they just wrapped another New Jersey event nearby. Combine that with four New Jersey events in 2023, and there is a solid amount of research to determine who plays well at venues with this agronomy and design style. Of course, we see Korda’s name a bunch since she won five times in a row this year. But Ko and Ryu really catch my attention after processing all of the player skills as well.
What Tour player do you think of when you read these specific player skills? Write that name down, bet a friend or go online. Invest a little extra in this event and the return will always be positive.
Keith Stewart is an award-winning PGA Professional. He covers the LPGA and PGA Tour for Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, LPGA, and PGA TOUR. If you are looking to raise your golf acumen and love inside information about the game, check out his weekly newsletter called Read The Line.
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