U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

July 8, 2023

Rose Zhang

Pebble Beach Golf Links

Flash Interview

THE MODERATOR: We're here with Rose Zhang. Can you talk us through your round today?

ROSE ZHANG: Yeah, I felt like I was playing really solid. I was driving the ball well. The winds were pretty high, and knew that the ocean breeze was definitely causing the ball to go all sorts of places.

But I felt like I hit everything pretty solid. I just wish I could have made more putts.

Overall I feel like it was a very solid round for what today's conditions were in the afternoon.

Q. How hard is the golf course starting on 8 through the rest of the round?

ROSE ZHANG: It was very difficult. 8 is just a very menacing hole in general.

And going into 9, it was really weird having an AirPod in my ear for the first time, which was really cool, but it was definitely new.

I felt like the winds really just picked up, and you had to know where you're supposed to place the ball. Even if you do hit it there or if you hit a really great shot, the chances of you being penalized are also really high.

I just felt like I made a couple mistakes going in and missed a couple putts, but that's pretty normal when you're out here and playing Pebble. Bogeys are not necessarily the worst score in the world, so just being able to stay composed is what I tried to do.

Q. You often kind of let go of your club and the shot ends up being like 10 feet from the pin. Can you just explain what's going on there and if anyone has poked fun of you for it?

ROSE ZHANG: My teammates give me so much crap for it, the fact that sometimes I like do the one-handed finish and then they're like, that's probably like 10 feet from the hole.

But to be fair, if you watch me play I don't -- in my opinion I feel like people could agree with why a one-handed finish, because it's just like I sometimes top it, I sometimes chunk a little bit, and it's not the best contact, so I don't know where this ball is going to go.

That's why it's usually the one-handed finish that I end up having and resorting to when I'm out there.

I mean, I don't really explain it, to be honest.

Q. So when you don't let go of the club, do we just know that that shot was just perfectly struck?

ROSE ZHANG: Sometimes when I don't let go of the golf club, the shot tends to be worse or it gets worse, or it'll be a really good shot and it just doesn't -- it's just not next to the hole.

I can't really -- when you watch my reactions, I can't really say what is exactly good or bad. So keep guessing.

Q. In terms of the putting, do you feel like part of it is the greens, or is it something that's a little off? Where do you feel like you're missing these putts?

ROSE ZHANG: Yeah, just a little bit off. I found out that right before I actually made my par putt on 16, my club face was a little bit open at address, so even if I do have a good stroke, I tend to miss right today.

I think going into tomorrow just understanding my alignment and committing to that stroke is what I'm planning on doing.

Speed was all right except for the last hole. Other than that, I think everything was pretty solid.

Q. How did you realize that your face was a little open?

ROSE ZHANG: I felt it. I mean, I missed a couple putts -- well, starting on 7, I didn't really know. I didn't feel as comfortable with how I was placing my club. The putter face, it looked all right to me. Sometimes when you play into something, the perception of your eyes gets a little bit off.

It's very natural for me to do that. I tend to open or close sometimes, and that just causes probably like a half an inch margin of error and causes you to miss couple putts or lip-out.

I think it was gradual. I saw myself missing a couple more putts to the right rather than the left and they felt like good strokes, so it's just something that you go back to in terms of fundamentals.

Q. How involved in the green-reading process is Gilly?

ROSE ZHANG: Gilly is a good amount involved I would say, but I do my own reading for sure. I usually just -- it's always routine, ever since I was an amateur, to look front to back, look at the hole, to the ball, and then I always like to find somewhere in the middle, the breaking point, and I usually point it out just for myself and also if there's a caddie nearby, for Gilly to see.

It's always myself pointing it out, and then usually I just say left to right, right to left, uphill, downhill, and then I putt from there.

Unless there's something that I'm really confused about, usually he just agrees or says a little more, a little less, and then that's about it.

Q. As someone who's gone low here, how aggressive can you be tomorrow in this setting?

ROSE ZHANG: I have said that over the weekend I wanted to be somewhat aggressive, but the definition of aggressive here at Pebble is completely different from other golf courses.

Because the greens are so tiny and because there's less room to get the ball on the green, with the winds picking up, with the tomorrow probably being a little firmer I'm assuming, you can't really be aggressive-aggressive.

You have to make putts, and you have to ensure that you're hitting the ball in the fairway, and once you are on the greens, making sure that you just have a good feel for distance and speed is crucial.

Definition of aggressive would probably be hit greens. That's it. Center of the greens and then you putt around.

Q. You mentioned your Stanford friends are here. How many are there, and do they know anything about golf?

ROSE ZHANG: I have no idea how many there are. I just know I'm just texting one friend who she just came to watch. The dad is a big fan, loves golf, absolute crack head for it. She's one that I've always went to just to have fun, just to relax. She's here. She doesn't watch much golf, and she doesn't know anything about golf.

We would actually -- start of the year we would work out together and just have fun when there's no workouts obligated for the team.