SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Stanford University’s Rose Chang shot a 4-under 68 Monday to become the first women’s golfer to win back-to-back national titles and tie the NCAA record for wins in a single season.
It is the latest victory for Zhang, who has already won the most important amateur titles in women’s golf. Zhang, who will celebrate her 20th birthday on Wednesday, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2020, the U.S. Girls Junior Award in 2021, and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April this year.
Leading by one length after San Jose State’s Lucia López-Ortega made back-to-back bogeys, Zhang par-spared the Grayhawk 4 par 17 with a par and par par 18 to become the first woman to win multiple national titles. .
Zhang finished at age 10 to match former Arizona player and LPGA Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa’s NCAA single-season (eight) and career (12) wins. Its 12 wins broke the Stanford record for men or women, which was held by Tiger Woods and three others.
Zhang helped Stanford secure the top seed in Tuesday’s game in a bid to win back-to-back national titles.
López-Ortega finished her tour with a birdie to shoot 71. She tied for second at 9-under with Southern California’s Katherine Park, whose short birdie putt missed the 18th that would have tied her with Zhang.
Zhang, from Irvine, California, had another record-breaking season, setting the NCAA single-season record at 69.68 while winning individual and collegiate championships. She was even better this season, hitting the desert with an average score of 68.70.
Zhang’s win is her eighth in 10 starts as a sophomore, including a Pac-12 Championship and NCAA Pullman Regional.
Zhang made up for his four-shot deficit on Park, the overnight leader, by converting the lead nine on a 3-under 33 at Grayhawk’s Raptor Stadium. Zhang rolled a birdie on the 5 par-11 to reach the 10-under, but Lopez-Ortega tied it with a birdie on the 5 par-3 after starting on the front nine.
Starting at number 10, Lopez-Ortega made up for bogey on the 11th par-5 with a birdie on par 14 and a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th. The Madrid sophomore tied Zhang at 10-under with birdie on the par-3 5th hole , but had bogeys at numbers 7 and 8 before the closing birdie.
Park improved as the season progressed, finishing second in the Silverado Showdown and third in the Pac-12 Championship.
Zhang led Grayhawk by two last-round shots by tying the NCAA record with 64 in the second round and 71 on Sunday.
Park put two birds around a bogey on the par-4 short 6th hole on the final single round, then had a two-stroke birdie in the seventh. She saved par when a fast-run chip on par-3 hit the flag, but made a bogey on par-4 of the ninth.
Park pushed her lead back to two with a curling putt on No. 12 par-4, but three putts down a steep slope at Par-4 15 brought her down with a shot behind her when Chang landed a birdie at No. 11.
Park hit a good putt from close range on the 18th hole, but parried a birdie right.