She has been a force to be reckoned with this season. Nelly Korda has been very dominant on the course, with seven top-10 finishes out of eight starts, including six victories. Korda would surely be aiming for another one at the upcoming major, the 2024 U.S. Open. To do that, she would have to beat the likes of Rose Zhang and others. The 21-year-old, meanwhile, might find it hard to achieve success on the golf course, courtesy of her wedge game.

Rose Zhang was spotted in an interview ahead of the second major championship at Lancaster Country Club. She mentioned the need to focus on the course rather than on the World No. 1 while coming out candid on the issues with her gameplay.

Rose Zhang comes out candid on her gameplay

The athlete was queried on whether her mind would be filled with thoughts of beating Korda. The young pro was quick to reply, “I definitely do think a little bit more about how I should play this golf course because, at the end of the day, Nelly is also a human being.” Such a statement doesn’t come off as a surprise especially when one looks at the 25-year-old’s placements in the 2023 season: a total of 9 top-10 finishes out of 18 starts without any victories.

Zhang, however, was worried about her wedge game ahead of the major. “I’ve been having some interesting pitching, chipping issues, I guess. Upper Montclair didn’t really show it too much just because I was able to hit a lot of greens. I’ve lacked a little bit of confidence in the beginning of the year from my wedge game.” The golfer, thus, also alluded to her gameplay during the Cognizant Founders Cup, ranking first in the number of birdies (27), most greens hit in regulation (61/72), and least number of putts (109).

The pro, interestingly, wasn’t able to dish out a similar performance at the start of the season. As a result of her sub-par short game, she could only rake in 2 top-10 finishes out of the six starts before her victory, which included two missed cuts. Even with the drawbacks, Rose Zhang was quite confident of being able to work on her game, which was a bit lacking at the start of the season. “Being able to work a little bit and fine-tune the impact, the way I should hit the golf ball, I’ve kind of started from baseline fundamental day one kind if and worked my way up… A re-learning process for me on how to feel again with my short wedges.”

Despite having such confidence ahead of the major, she didn’t shy away from praising the current No. 1 golfer in the Rolex Rankings. She also went ahead to point out how wonderfully Korda has been able to handle each expectation and pressure coming right at her.

Zhang dishes out praise for Nelly Korda

“I think she has a lot of pressure on her,” admitted the golfer about Korda before dubbing her performance as something beyond belief, “That’s why I’m saying she’s so incredible because she’s able to handle all that pressure.” Owing to her performances, the 25-year-old has been portrayed as the flagbearer of the LPGA Tour. She has, consequently, been faced with the question of the growth of the sport more than anyone else on the Tour.

the 21-year-old didn’t forget to praise the other talented golfers in the field. “You’ve got a lot more people out here who are really just as driven, as competitive and as great of players,” said Zhang before highlighting how getting qualified to take part in the major itself proves their ability. The athlete, regardless of the dangers, had her priorities set right: “Lancaster is a difficult place. It’s a difficult track. I’m going to have to — including all the other players, but prepare for that.” Well, with her eyes on all the other players, the course, as well as her own short game, the fans can surely expect something great from the pro this weekend.