Rose Zhang had yet another big day, and it wasn’t even on the golf course.
Zhang, the 19-year-old sophomore at Stanford from Irvine, was selected winner of the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the No. 1 woman player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings for the third consecutive season, joining Leona Maguire of Ireland and Lydia Ko of New Zealand as the only players to claim the award three times.
On the same day, Zhang was one of three players named to the United States team for the 2022 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship, which will be played Aug. 24-27 at Le Golf National in Paris.
Also on the team are Rachel Heck, a Stanford junior from Memphis, Tenn., and Rachel Kuehn of Asheville, N.C., a senior at Wake Forest.
“My amateur career continues to be incredibly rewarding and humbling,” said Zhang, who recently earned the Smyth Salver Award by finishing in a tie for 30th in the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield Golf Club in Gullane, Scotland.
“To be named the McCormack Medal recipient for the third time is a testament to the work I’ve put in and the support of those around me. This caps an incredible year and motivates me even further for the season ahead.”
Zhang, who captured the NCAA Women’s Individual Championship and scored the winning point as Stanford took the team title, has been No. 1 in the world for 101 consecutive weeks, behind only Maguire at 135 and Ko at 130.
And Zhang shows no sign of slowing down.
After becoming the first Stanford player, man or woman, to win her first three college tournaments—the Molly Intercollegiate, the Windy City Collegiate and the Stanford Intercollegiate—and going on to capture the NCAA title, Zhang was named the Annika Award winner as college player of the year; the Women’s College Golf Association Player of the Year; the WCGA Freshman of the Year; Pacific 12 Conference Player of the Year; Pac-12 Rookie of the Year; First Team All-Pac 12; Golfweek All-American and WCGA All-American.
Zhang, who claimed the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 2020 Rolex Girls Junior Championship and the 2021 U.S. Girls Junior Championship, also helped the United States defeat Great Britain and Ireland in the in the 42nd Curtis Cup at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., by winning two of her four matches—including a 7-and-5 victory over Louise Duncan in singles.
Heck captured the 2021 NCAA Individual Championship and was WCGA Player of the Year, Annika Award Winner, Pac-12 Player of the Year, Pac-12 Rookie of the Year, WGC Freshman of the Year and a Golfweek and WCGA All-American that season.
In addition, Heck won the 2022 Gunrock Invitational, 2022 San Diego Invitational, 2021 NCAA Women’s West Regional, 2021 Pac-12 Women’s Championship, 2021 Fresno State Classic and 2021 Gunrock Invitational.
Kuehn, a two-time WCGA All-American, was selected 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year after leading the Demon Deacons to the ACC title, winning the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge, the UCF Challenge and the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.
Earlier in her career, Kuehn captured the Tar Heel Invite and the Palmetto Intercollegiate in addition to being stroke-play medalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2021, in addition to winning the 2020 Women’s North-South Amateur, the 2020 Women’s Trans National and the 2019 Annika Intercollegiate.
