Zhang just too tough as she rolls to victory over local favorite Davis in U.S. Girls' Junior final

    Rose Zhang was always going to win the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, which concluded Saturday at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md., eight miles away from Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., where Zhang won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship last summer.

   The 18-year-old Zhang of Irvine, Calif. arrived back in Maryland at No. 1 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). But despite the sense of inevitability Zhang injected into the proceedings with her startling 8-under-par 62 in the second round of qualifying for match play Tuesday that gave her medalist honors by three shots, it was still a fascinating week in Chevy Chase, for any number of reasons.

   The next biggest story line of the week was that of Zhang’s opponent in Saturday’s scheduled 36-hole final, 18-year-old Bailey Davis. It would have been a big deal for a Marylander to reach the final of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia and Davis, a three-time Class AAAA Maryland scholastic champion at North Point High School and a White Plains, Md. resident, had golf fans in her home state buzzing all week.

   More importantly, though, Davis is African-American and was bidding to become the first Black female to win a USGA Championship. And Davis, who will join the Tennessee program later this summer, completely embraced the fact that she might be a role model for young Black girls, much as former Stanford standout and current LPGA Tour performer Mariah Stackhouse has done before her.

   Davis battled hard in the final against Zhang, but couldn’t match the world’s top-ranked amateur in firepower and experience as Zhang claimed a 6 and 4 victory, finishing it off after the match was halted more than three hours by severe weather.

   Zhang, who will join the powerhouse Stanford program later this summer, put her precision game on display in taking a 4-up lead over Davis after the first 18 holes of the scheduled 36-hole final. She hit 16 greens in regulation and had looks for birdie on all 18 holes at Columbia. She converted six of those birdie tries in a 6-under 64 in the morning, allowing for the usual match-play concessions.

   Davis won 19^th hole to cut her deficit to 3-down. But Zhang won the 23^rd, 24^th and 26^th holes to stretch her advantage to 6-up. Davis got one last win at the 31^st hole to cut it 5-down, but Zhang closed it out in style at the 32^nd hole, banging her approach from 138 yards away off the stick to five feet. Zhang holed the putt for her 10^th birdie of the day. Her name will be added to the impressive list of names on the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy.

   Zhang is just the eighth player to win both the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Amateur, but the first to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur first.

   “To be able to win in such a grueling week, it’s truly amazing,” Zhang told the USGA website. “In USGA events, you really need your ‘A’ game in terms of your patience, your grit and your golf game.”

   Zhang’s stiffest test of the week came in Friday’s semifinals when 17-year-old Paula Miranda of Mexico sent the match to extra holes with a birdie at the 17^th hole. But Zhang dropped a five-foot par putt on the 20^th hole to reach the final.

   Miranda had grabbed a 2-up lead with birdies at the eighth and 10^th holes while Zhang had opened the match with 10 straight pars. But Zhang won three straight holes at 12, 13 and 14 to take a 1-up lead before Miranda squared the match by draining an eight-footer  for birdie at the 17^th hole.

   I probably should have included 16-year-old Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J. in my rundown of how the local girls fared in the two rounds of qualifying for match play. Li used to occasionally show up on the leaderboard when the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour played events in South Jersey.

   Well, not only did Li, a junior at Ridge High School, earn a spot in the match-play bracket, she made it all the way to the semifinals before Davis pulled out a hard-fought, 1-up victory over Li to earn her spot in the final.

   Li’s match with Davis was even going into the 18^th hole and Li was inside of Davis with just 10 feet for birdie. But Davis dropped her 20-footer birdie and Davis couldn’t coax her birdie try home.

   Earlier in the day Friday, Li reached the semifinals with a 4 and 3 victory over Bailey Shoemaker, a talented 16-year-old from West Edmeston, N.Y. in a quarterfinal match. Shoemaker, who plans to join the powerful Southern California program in the summer of 2023, is a three-time New York State Junior Girls’ Championship winner.

   Davis claimed a 3 and 2 victory over Karen Tsuru, a 16-year-old from Carlsbad, Calif. in another quarterfinal match. Davis’ journey to the final almost ended early, but in her opening-round match against Chloe Johnson of Evansville, Ind., Davis’ wedge shot from 75 yards away found the bottom of the hole for an eagle on the 19^th hole that enabled her to advance.

   Zhang cruised to a 5 and 4 victory over Yana Wilson, a 14-year-old phenom from Henderson, Nev., in another quarterfinal match. Miranda earned her spot in the semifinals with a 5 and 4 victory over Kaitlyn Schroeder, a 16-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla.

   I thought the player with the best chance to knock off Zhang would have been Alexa Pano, a 16-year-old from Lake Worth, Fla. who fell to Yealimi Noh, an LPGA Tour player these days, in the U.S. Girls’ Junior final three years ago at Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.

   But Miranda knocked off Pano with a 1-up decision in the round of 16 Thursday morning.

   When I last posted on the U.S. Girls’ Junior, recent Pennsbury graduate Jade Gu, playing out of Yardley Country Club, had earned a spot in the match-play bracket in her first appearance in this championship.

   And Gu backed up her solid showing in qualifying with a 1-up victory in the opening round of match play over Maria Jose Morin Negrete of Colombia. Morin Negrete had finished in a tie for sixth place in qualifying with a solid 2-over 142 total, but Gu, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during her career at Pennsbury, built a 3-up lead through 11 holes and held off a late rally by Morin Negrete.

   Gu’s bid ended in the second round of match play Thursday morning as she suffered a 2 and 1 setback at the hands of Caroline Canales of Calabasas, Calif. But Gu did not go out without a fight as she found herself 4-down after the 13^th hole, but won the 14^th and 16^th holes before Canales closed her out on the 17^th hole. It was a really strong showing by Gu, who lost in a playoff to Michelle Cox in the Pennsylvania Junior girls’ Championship last month at Lebanon Country Club.

   Li, the Jersey girl from Basking Ridge, had to go 19 holes to oust Canales in the round of 16 Thursday afternoon.

   Kiera Bartholomew of Wake Forest, N.C. began her junior career at Indian Valley Country Club in Telford. Bartholomew finished in a tie for fourth place in qualifying for match play with a solid 1-over 141 total. Bartholomew, however, was knocked out in the opening round of match play, suffering a 4 and 2 setback at the hands of Yoko Tai of Singapore.

   Pretty sure Zhang plans to stay at Stanford a couple of years, which means those of is in the Philadelphia area might get a chance to see her play for the United States when the Curtis Cup Match against Great Britain & Ireland is staged at the historic East Course at Merin Golf Club next spring.

   Of course, in this strange pandemic world, the postponed 2020 Curtis Cup has yet to be played. Zhang’s lofty Women’s WAGR ranking will make her an automatic selection to the U.S. team, assuming Zhang has room on her dance card for a trip to the Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales. The Curtis Cup tees off Aug. 26.

   The winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which tees off Aug. 2 at Westchester Country Club in suburban New York City, will also be an automatic pick for the U.S. team should the winner be an American. Of course, if Zhang successfully defends her U.S. Women’s Amateur title, that would give the USGA’s selection committee another wild-card pick for the team.