Aditi Ashok misses out as Rose Zhang makes historic LPGA debut

Aditi Ashok could not convert her third opportunity this year to land a breakthrough title on the LPGA on Sunday but the occasion was marked by collegiate star Rose Zhang’s stunning professional debut at the Mizuho Americas Cup in New Jersey outdoing many past greats.

The Stanford golfer capped her transition out of the amateur ranks with an impressive performance at Liberty National Golf Club, edging out fellow-American Jennifer Kupcho in the first playoff hole after both had finished regulation play on 9 under par 279s.

Behind them, South Korean Hae Ran Ryu took third place with Aditi, Ayaka Furue of Japan and Eun Hee Ji of Korea tied for fourth place two shots shy of the winning total.

With her latest performance, Aditi now has nine top 10 career LPGA finishes though she is still on the lookout for her maiden title since making her Rookie of the Year debut seven years ago.

Going into the final round, Aditi was clear about the task facing her. “I think for me I always believed I could do it, because I knew I had the short game and the putting, but I just didn't hit it far enough,” she said on Saturday.

“My first year I used to hit it a bit further than I did last year, but still in the last five, six seasons I felt like to be a better player I needed some length, so I worked on that in the offseason,” said the winner of the Magical Kenya Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour.

“I feel like that 20, 30 yards extra has just been helping me look at the flag on some holes as opposed to playing middle of the green. The closer I get, it helps that my putting is good, too, so creates more birdies,” the 25-year-old from Bangalore added.

Including Sunday’s result in Jersey City, Aditi now has a shared second, a tied fifth and a tied fourth in her last three LPGA starts and sits in the top 20 of the Road to CME Globe (Order of Merit).

At the JM Eagle LA Championship in late April, she was tied for second in a play-off and followed that up with a tied fifth placing at the Cognizant Founders Cup in mid-May. In the latest Rolex women’s world golf rankings, Aditi is now in 48th place with 118.36 points, her best for the season so far and also heads the LET Order of Merit.

But the attention was all on the winning debutant. Zhang needed to pull out her best golf to hold off Kupcho, the two finishing on level terms pver 72 holes before Zhang calmly rolled in a short putt on the first playoff hole to seal a history-making professional debut, winning on her very first start.

In comparable debut performances, Tiger Woods finished tied for 60th place at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open and Jack Nicklaus had a shared 50th placing at the 1962 LA Open.

“You guys will see me more on the LPGA Tour, as I am taking membership from now on, and I'll be playing in 2023,” Zhang said at the post-victory media interaction. “I had to stay composed throughout the round. When you're under pressure, birdieing is very difficult and going at flags sometimes is just not smart.

“I'm fortunate to have really grinded throughout the round and only managed two bogeys. I honestly didn't even expect to make the cut and the reason why I say this is because I don't think about my expectations a lot. I think about playing the golf course. I think about trying to shoot the best score that I can.

“Obviously, I have frustrations, disappointments with my game, but I never once think about where I finish, where I should finish, et cetera. The expectation for me winning did not even cross my mind. I was just playing my game. I was having a good time out there. This is the game that I love, and I'm so thankful to be a professional doing it now."

In addition to her 12 titles at Stanford University, the 20-year-old Zhang won two college championships, an Augusta National Women's Amateur title, a US Girls' Junior win, and a US Women's Amateur tournament coming into her LPGA debut.