Invited Player Rose Jang "Leap to the Lead"... 'Victory in Debut Match?'

Rose Zhang Mizho Americas Open 3R 6 Under Par
Titikun and Ashok, Knight 2 Shots Behind Tied 2nd
Minji Lee 5th, Hyeran Yoo 6th, Jiyoung Ko 9th Positioned

The whirlwind of invited player Rose Zhang (USA).

On the 3rd (local time), Rose Zhang surged with a 6-under-par round in the third round of the LPGA Tour Mizuho Americas Open (total prize money $2.75 million) held at Liberty National Golf Club (par 72, 6,656 yards) in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, to take the lead at 11-under-par 205 strokes. Last year's Rookie of the Year Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), Aditi Ashok (India), and Cheyenne Knight (USA) are in a chase battle tied for second place at 9-under-par 207 strokes.

Rose Jang is reading the putting line on the 5th hole of the 3rd round at the Mizuho Americas Open. [Jersey City, USA = AFP·Yonhap News]

Starting from a tie for 4th place, 2 strokes behind, Rose Zhang swept up 6 birdies without a single bogey. After a birdie on the 1st hole, she made 'stepping stone birdies' on the 4th, 6th, and 8th holes. In the back nine, she added two more birdies on the 14th and 16th holes, dominating the top of the leaderboard. Leading by one stroke, she seized the opportunity to win in her LPGA Tour debut.

Rose Zhang was the strongest player who held the world No. 1 ranking for 141 weeks during her amateur career. She recorded back-to-back wins at the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship and holds the record for the most wins (12) among Stanford University alumni. She turned professional last week and made her first appearance in this tournament. Only two players have won in their LPGA Tour debut: Beverly Hanson (USA) at the 1951 Eastern Open and Ko Jin-young at the 2018 Australian Women's Open.

Minjee Lee (Australia), who was co-leader with Knight the previous day, failed to reduce her score and dropped to 5th place (7-under-par 209 strokes). Korea's Yoo Hae-ran surged to a tie for 6th place (6-under-par 210 strokes) by lowering her score by 6 strokes, including two eagles. 'Big sister' Ji Eun-hee is also in this group. World No. 1 Ko Jin-young remained at even par, dropping to a tie for 9th place (5-under-par 211 strokes). Kim Sei-young is tied for 9th, and Choi Woon-jung is tied for 21st (2-under-par 214 strokes).