It was her chance to make her own kind of history. If she had won the Cognizant Founders Cup, Nelly Korda could have then surpassed the likes of Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez to become the first LPGA Tour pro to have six straight wins on the circuit. Unfortunately, fortune didn’t seem to side with the golfer, as a confession by Rose Zhang hinted at how she was not even in the picture for the title race!

The 20-year-old managed to emerge victorious at the recently ended Cognizant Founders Cup while beating the likes of Madelene Sagstrom, who was close in contention with the American Pro. Now, case in point: Zhang went ahead to divulge how it didn’t feel like a normal tournament between her and the Swede, all the while turning a blind eye to Korda.

Rose Zhang’s comes out candid on her win

“It almost felt like matchplay,” admitted the 2-time LPGA Tour pro as she alluded to the final two days on the leaderboard. The reason? She was closely contending with Sagstrom for the top spot at 13-under owing to her figures of 63-68 after two days of play while leaving all the other golfers in the field well behind. After the fourth day, the champ had a 15-stroke lead over Gabriela Ruffels, the golfer who was at T3, not to mention Korda, who finished T7 with 7-under overall, a total of 17 strokes behind.

Rose Zhang recounted to her dad, her match against the Swedish golfer back at the 2023 Solheim Cup. Recalling the same, she said, “I played her at the Solheim Cup last year and I knew she was a solid player. No matter what anyone else says, I know she can rise to the occasion, no problem. So I had to really stay patient and find it in me to get it done.” At the 2023 edition of the prestigious event, the Swedish pro competed in a total of three matches, two of which she faced off against the Cognizant Founders Cup champ and her teammates.

The two groups involving Zhang and Megan Khang tied with Sagstrom and Gemma Dryburgh at the Friday Fourballs. However, the American athlete, along with Andrea Lee, lost out on the Saturday Fourballs against the European and her teammate, Emily Kristine Pedersen. No wonder she was on her toes against the 31-year-old.

The 20-year-old stayed true to her words and the final athlete left standing and pushed past Sagstrom, who unfortunately finished T2. The final day of match play was an intense, nail-biting event that kept all the spectators on the edge of their seats.

Zhang trumps Sagstrom and Korda on the greens

The 2023 Mizuho Americas Open champ managed to card a total of 27 birdies, six of which came on the final day of play, where she shot a flawless 66 (-6). Combining the numbers she managed to dish out on the other three days, a 63 (-9) on Thursday, a 68 (-4) on Friday, and a 67 (-5) on Saturday, the golfer registered a figure of 24-under 264 all the while raking in a cut of $450,000.

Finishing second, despite maintaining the lead for the first three rounds, was Sagstrom with an overall score of 22-under 266, owing to her figures of 65-66-66-69 over the four days of play. In the end, she was only able to get herself a cut of $277,738 from the total prize pool, all thanks to Zhang’s determination and talent. It was undoubtedly an exciting competition!