On a cold and overcast day in Jersey City, Rose Zhang battled the wind to stay atop the leaderboard. The recently-turned-businessman started his day strong with a birdie on No. 1 to team with three more birdies on the front nine. He continued his strong round with two more birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 as he moved up the leaderboard after his first nine. The 20-year-old’s third-round 66 was one of two bogey-free scores today with the LPGA. Tour rookie Hae Ran Ryu. In her first LPGA Tour event as a professional, Zhang comes out of the gates preparing to compete in her third round and talks about her position in the final round.
„I think it’s great to be in that position. It shows that you’ve done a good job of playing your best on the golf course the last three days. For me, I think I’ve been in this position before, but I’m not in this position as a professional, because it’s my first week. , I’m learning everything I can. Tomorrow I’ll try to figure out how it feels to be in the final group, go my way, and I’m sure I can make myself at the end of the day. It’s a lot of character.”
Behind the NCAA women’s golf champion are three players under nine, including Thailand’s Athaya Didikul, 2017 LPGA Tour rookie Aditi Ashok and 2019 Volunteers of America Classic champion Cheyenne Knight. Tithikul and Ashok both shot 68s in their third rounds to advance from a tie in the fourth round. With one bogey and one eagle on the day, Tithikul could credit his score to 28 putts and 14 fairway hits. In comparison, Ashok had a lone bogey on the back nine and a total of 25 putts, tying him for third among players in the third round. Knight’s consistent two-under 70 put her in contention today and into the final round.
„I think I have honest conversations with myself about what I need to do to get better and I’m good at that moment,” he said on his approach to the final round, sitting two shots behind the leader in the nightclub. „Yeah, I think I’m just trying to stay mentally strong and learn from contention because last year I wasn’t really in contention all the time and this year I’ve been in contention a lot so far. But all that is to keep learning and growing.
Cognizant Founders Cup runner-up Minzhi Lee sits in solo third place, four shots behind Zhang, at seven-under after an even par round. Tomorrow she will be paired with LPGA Tour rookie Hae Ryan Ryu, who climbed the leaderboard to sixth place alongside Jennifer Kupso and Yoon-Hee Ji.
Amateurs Yana Wilson and Anna Davis are tied for first on the AJGA side of the Mizuho Americas Open. Wilson held onto his lead despite struggling on the back nine. Paired with LPGA Tour pros Emma Daly and Marina Alex, Davis shot 43 on Saturday, including six birdies and an eagle, to start at eleventh place and move up ten places.
„It was definitely a fun event. It was a lot of fun playing with the pros. I played in some tour events last summer, so it’s a lot of fun to be in this environment again,” said Davis, who has verbally committed to play college golf at Auburn University. “It’s a great experience for me and the other girls to measure our games against theirs and see what we can work on and things like that. They also chose a great location for it.
Tomorrow, both the AJGA junior and LPGA Tour player will walk away from Liberty National Golf Club as champions of the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open. Not only will players have a view of the New York City skyline when they hit the course tomorrow, but they’ll also have their sights set on the first-ever Mizuho Americas Open Cup.