Allow me to start this chronicle with the golfer who didn’t win. Picture this. You are Madelene Sagstrom, an exceptional Swedish golfer, key in the European teams of the Solheim Cup, you arrive at the Cognizant Founders Cup, sign four rounds of 65, 66, 66 and 69 strokes, finish with a total of -22, lead the next classified by thirteen strokes… and you don’t win the tournament. Although it may seem like science fiction, it happened.
Rose Zhang (-24) prevailed in the duel of aliens that took place in New Jersey this week. A mano a mano of epoch. On one hand is the tournament they both played and on the other, the rest. Impressive. Zhang won with a two-stroke lead over Sagstrom and fifteen over the next classified, the Australian Gabriela Ruffels (-9). It’s mind-blowing.
The mano a mano was fabulous. The two-stroke lead can even be misleading. In fact, Sagstrom had the tournament in her hand with five holes to go, almost, almost, she was celebrating the victory, as she enjoyed a three-stroke lead. However, everything changed in the last hour. Zhang finished with four birdies in five holes, while Sagstrom signed a partial of one over par in that same sequence. They were five strokes of difference that blew the tournament up.
Zhang thus achieves, at just 20 years old, her second victory on the LPGA Tour. Less than a year after opening her record. American golf is in luck. It was her, the American prodigy girl, who has picked up the baton of the five consecutive victories of Nelly Korda. There was no better heiress. And she does it a few days before playing the Mizuho Americas Open, precisely the tournament where she achieved her first victory.
Carlota Ciganda (-4) did not have the best end of the tournament. She handed in a card of 73 strokes, with three birdies and four bogeys, and finished three strokes from the top 10, in 25th place. She had a very accident-prone start to the round, with three bogeys in the first eight holes, managed to react with three birdies in the next seven, but ended with another bogey on hole 18.
On the other hand, Nelly Korda (-7), with a bad weekend (two rounds of 73 strokes), could not keep up with Zhang and Sagstrom and finally stopped the counter of consecutive victories at five. Even so, she managed to finish in the top 10.
