Rose Zhang finishes strong for 2nd place at Under Armour/Alison Lee Championship

Rose Zhang, 13, shot an opening round 75 (+3) to put her into a tie for 6th place, behind Zoe Antoinette Campos, 68 (-4) at the AJGA Under Armour/Alison Lee Championship at Valencia CC, Valencia, CA.  Rose started her round with 5 par’s before making consecutive bogies on 6 and 7 followed by a par on 8 and another bogey on 9 for a +3, 39.  Not happy with her opening 9, the #1, 13 year old in the nation, shot an even par 36 on the back 9 with two birdies and two bogies. 
Rose, knew she had to improve her performance over the first round, because she felt Zoe would be tough to beat at Valencia Country club, her home course.  In her second round, Rose’s opening 9 consisted of a bogey on 2 and a birdie on 9 for an even par 36.  She had 5 consecutive par’s on the back 9 before making a bogey on 15 and then a birdie on 16 to finish with even par for the day.  Rose improved her position to 4th but was still 7 shot’s behind Campos after the 2nd round. IMG_1815
Rose Zhang, 13, shot an opening round 75 (+3) to put her into a tie for 6th place at the AJGA Under Armour/Alison Lee Championship at Valencia CC, Valencia, CA.
Rose is a determined young player who does not give up when faced with a difficult task.  Behind 7 shot’s with 18 holes to play, the 13 year old from Irvine, Ca., wanted to make a run at Campos in the final round.  Determined, Rose opened the day with a disappointing bogey on the difficult 2nd hole before making a birdie 3 on number 4.  She made another mistake on number 5 for another bogey.  Rose settled down and made 3 birdies in a row on 7, 8 and 9 for a -2, 34 on her opening nine.  She remained steady with par’s on 10 thru 16 before missing a 4 footer on the 17th hole for a 3 putt bogey.  Rose made a par on the finishing hole to post the day’s lowest score of 71 on the difficult Valencia CC golf course.  Her 3 day total of 218 was 2 shot’s short of being able to win her third AJGA event of 2016.  Although disappointed, Rose was happy that she made up 5 shot’s in the final round to finish in 2nd place.
Zoe made a birdie on 2 but made a triple bogey on 3 and a bogey on 6 to come back to the field.  She made a birdie on 9 for a 38.  Her back 9 consisted of 2 birdies and 3 bogies to hold on to her lead and win the AJGA event by 2 shot’s over the charging, Rose Zhang.
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Crystal Wang, coming off her outstanding AJGA victory at the Enagic Junior Championship will also be playing in the Junior PGA Championship this week.
Rose, was happy with her overall performance, but told her Coach, George Pinnell, that “I felt I could have played better earlier in the event and should have not had to make up so much ground on the last day.  I really wanted to win my third AJGA tournament of 2016.  I have one more AJGA event this summer, the Callaway Golf Junior Championship at Vista Valley Country Club in Vista, California.  On Monday, we will have to play 36 holes followed by the closing 18 holes on Tuesday.  I want to make a run at my final AJGA
event of the summer.”  Pinnell, responded with, “I am sure you will make it an interesting event, Rose.”
Kat Muzi, finished in a tie for 15th place with round’s of 78-78-74 (230).  Kat was not happy with her putting after the second round so she worked with her Coach George Pinnell, to start the ball on the line where she has the putter “aimed.”  Kat’s, closing round 74 gave her a little momentum going into this week’s Junior PGA Championship at Wannamoissett Country Club, Rumford, RI. 
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Kat Muzi, finished in a tie for 15th place with round’s of 78-78-74 (230).
Crystal Wang, coming off her outstanding AJGA victory at the Enagic Junior Championship will also be playing in the Junior PGA Championship this week. As a footnote, Pinnell has known co-sponsor LPGA Tour Star, Alison Lee and her family since Alison was 7 or 8 year’s old playing junior golf on the SCPGA Junior Tour and AJGA before playing college golf at UCLA.

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