After round one of play, World No. 1 Rose Zhang shot a 66 bogey-free round setting a new 18-hole Championship record.
Day one at Champions Retreat Golf Club saw 12 women with an under par score with another three even for the day.
“I’m super honored; I’ve seen the golf course pretty often the last couple years,” said Zhang. “So I kind of know for the most part what I’m going to get out here. But I think it’s just the level of grinding and the mindset that I have that allows me to know that, even if I don’t have my best game, especially the last couple years, certain mishaps have popped up. So, with that in mind, I’m just kind of taking everything in my stride and allowing myself to, you know, if I do make mistakes, I can come back. So that really helps my mindset today.”
Watch full coverage of the first round at https://t.co/mRzvotXbgt and on @GolfChannel. #ANWAgolf https://t.co/I97mL3X9m5
— Augusta National Women’s Amateur (@anwagolf) March 29, 2023
In addition to Zhang, Andrea Lignell shot a bogey-free round also leaving her one stroke off of the lead.
Last year’s champion Anna Davis would have ended the day even if it were not for a four-stroke penalty on the hole one. Davis also double-bogeyed number four, a hole that many struggled with all day.
Collectively, the leading 15 players struggled with the same challenging holes. Numbers 1, 4 and 10 had 15 bogies or worse alone from the leaders.
Champions Retreat has three 9-hole courses. The Island course was designed by Arnold Palmer, the Creek course by Gary Player and the Bluff course by Jack Nicolaus. The Island and Bluff courses are used for the tournament.
Hole numbers one and four had the most challenges of the day. Hole one on Island typically encourages a tee shot on the right side of the fairway to avoid bunkers on the left however recent rains have made that side of the fairway visibly muddy. The narrow green on number one are notoriously difficult and the pin placement in the rear as seen today is the most difficult.
Number four on the Island course features the large iconic “broccoli tree” which separates the green from the fairway. The tree acts as a large impediment to the approach shot from the fairway to the green forcing players to carefully place their tee shot to avoid the tree. Today’s back right pin placement on the green likely added to the struggles on the hole today. Out of the leading 15 players number four was the most challenging with five bogeys and one double bogey.
The 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur has officially begun.
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— The Masters (@TheMasters) March 29, 2023
The final 30 scorers after Thursday’s round advance to the final to be played at the Augusta National on Saturday. The conditions of the course should be very different from what was seen earlier in the week at Champions Retreat.
The traditionally fast greens played extremely slow today due to recent rains. In addition, multiple fairways played longer due to the softness and moisture in the ground. The usually pristine fairways saw issues with mud on the fringes which affected several players approach shots. With no rain in the forecast Thursday’s play should move slightly faster and the greens should play slightly harder and faster.
The second round will continue Thursday at Champions Retreat. Following the completion of the second round, a cut will be made with the top 30 players and ties advancing to Saturday’s final round at Augusta National Golf Club. All participants will play a practice round at Augusta National, the home of the Masters Tournament, on Friday.
Making her mark 👏
Rose Zhang finishes with a 66, the lowest round in Augusta National Women’s Amateur history.#ANWAgolf pic.twitter.com/R3y3QabCCw
— Augusta National Women’s Amateur (@anwagolf) March 29, 2023
