A golf phenom is favored to win the US Women’s Open
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The third major of the year’s Women’s Golf of the Year tees Thursday at Pebble Beach, one of the most famous (and beautiful) courses in the world. Besides the iconic location, there are some interesting storylines to keep an eye out for during the US Women’s Open. As:
Everyone looks at Rose Zhang.
The 20-year-old American sensation has made a Tiger Woods-esque entrance into professional golf. After winning back-to-back NCAA titles at Stanford (Tiger’s alma mater) along with the prestigious US 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 this. She then tied for eighth at last month’s major, the Women’s PGA Championship.
Now playing in only her third event as a pro, Zhang is the betting favorite to win the US Open at the hallowed Pebble Beach. Sounds like a case of runaway hype, until you consider that Zhang shot a women’s course record 63 on Pebble just 10 months ago while playing for Stanford. If she wins this week, it will surely draw comparisons to the 21-year-old Woods’ historic win at the 1997 Masters.
Brooke Henderson will be part of the Zhang show.
Speaking of a featured group, Henderson, a two-time major winner ranked 11th in the world, will play on Thursday and Friday with Zhang and world No. 3 Lydia Ko of New Zealand (also a two-time major champion).
Henderson, 25, made 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 native of Smiths Falls, Ont., then added the Evian Championship in France last July.
Now Henderson will try to polish up a banner season for Canadian golfers. Five of them have won major tours, including Henderson’s Canadian record-extending 13th career win in January at the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Tournament of Champions. Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Svensson and Corey Conners scooped trophies on the PGA Tour before Nick Taylor trumped them all last month to become the first Canadian in 69 years to win the men’s Canadian Open. Adam Hadwin nearly joined Canada’s 2023 winner’s circle at the PGA Tour stop in Detroit last week, but Rickie Fowler beat him and Collin Morikawa in a playoff.
The other three Canadians in the US Women’s Open field are amateurs: Monet Chun, Celeste Dao and Lauren Kim.
Competition will, as always, be fierce.
The last eight majors have resulted in eight different champions from seven different countries, indicating the depth of international talent in women’s golf. While Zhang is the clear betting favorite, her odds imply she has less than a 10 percent chance of bagging the handsome Harton S. Semple Trophy on Sunday.
Other 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 from the United States, who is looking for her second major title; and third-ranked Ko, who finished No. 1 last year but is still seeking her first major since 2016.
The American Michelle Wie West, a kind of Rose Zhang from a previous generation, plays her last competitive tournament at the age of 33. The former phenom made the cut at the US Women’s Open when she was just 13, winning it in 2014 for her only major title.
Read more about Zhang and the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach here.
