Another trophy went in AJGA alumna Rose Zhang's bag on May 23 at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Stanford freshman went wire-to-wire to win the 2022 NCAA D1 Women's Golf Individual National Championship.
Zhang started her week with two bogeys on the first three holes, but an eagle on the par-5 No. 4 brought her confidence back on the course. With another four birdies on her scorecard, Zhang took solo lead at 4-under 68 after the first round, and never gave first place away. The second round started similarly for Zhang, as she bogeyed the same two out of first three holes. This time she failed to eagle No. 4, but added one more birdie and one more bogey on her scorecard. The 2-under 70 kept her lead at the championship.
Zhang carded a 3-under 69 in the third round with three birdies on her last three holes to take a six-shot lead into the final round. In the last round, the Stanford Cardinal fired a birdie on the par-4 No. 2, followed by a double bogey on the par-3 No. 5 and two bogeys on Nos. 9-10. She took control of her game again with a birdie on No. 13, and kept a steady pace after a bogey on No. 15. Zhang secured the three-stoke win with three straight pars to close out the final round of stroke-play at the Grayhawk Golf Club.
Just two days later on May 25, the No. 1 amateur in the world also came up clutch to win the NCAA Team National Championship for Stanford. With Stanford and Oregon tied 2-2, it all came down to Zhang's match, which she closed out on No. 17.
Zhang had a plethora of remarkable achievements during her junior golf career at the AJGA. The California native was a two-time Rolex Junior Player of the Year, five-time First Team Rolex Junior All-American (2016-2020), and stayed at the top of the Rolex AJGA Rankings for more than 100 weeks. She also owns 10 AJGA titles, including eight Invitationals.