Why not? If the LPGA has learned to celebrate its deep and diverse talent pool, one that has produced zero repeat winners among this season\u2019s 23 tournament champions, it also knows there is nothing like a breakout star (Caitlin Clark, cough, cough) to catapult a league (WNBA, cough, cough) to the forefront of a crowded sports landscape.<\/p>\n
In 2023, Zhang arrived as if on cue, her debut anticipated as anyone since her mentor and friend Michelle Wie turned pro in 2005. And when Zhang announced that presence with such authority, winning her initial LPGA appearance at the Mizuho Americas Open, a feat women\u2019s golf hadn\u2019t seen in 72 years, or ending Nelly Korda\u2019s record-setting seven-tournament win streak a year later at Cognizant Founders Cup, her ascending star showed no hint of falling.<\/p>\n
But sports, like life, often has other plans. The 22-year-old Zhang who arrived in Massachusetts for the FM Championship at TPC Boston is very different from the one who burst onto the scene two years ago. As the calendar turns the corner toward fall, Zhang looks back at a year filled with adversity she never saw coming, at an interrupted, injury-marred season of golf unlike anything she\u2019s ever dealt with before.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say it hasn\u2019t been very easy, but it\u2019s something that I would do all over again, even though it\u2019s quite painful,\u201d Zhang said Saturday morning, a conversation that came after she\u2019d finished off a rain-delayed second round with a field-best 64, before a stellar third round 67 put her in a tie for second place. With four back-nine birdies following a birdie to close out the front nine, Zhang (15 under) is three behind leader Miranda Wang, a close friend who will be her playing partner in Sunday\u2019s final pairing. <\/p>\n
Because sports, like life, regularly allows us to take those \u201cother plans\u201d and turn them into something bigger, and better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a day where I will remember what I did for a long while,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cSometimes you just have to take a step back and take in the positives. Obviously we\u2019re going to go out there tomorrow and try to make more positives, but regardless, I\u2019ll look back on today and just have a little bit more momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think honestly it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve been in contention, so I\u2019m very, very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
See, Zhang played almost no golf from January to March this year as she chose to go back to Stanford, living near campus and taking a full course load toward her degree in communications, one she hopes to finish next winter. While nursing a minor hand injury that dated to the end of the 2024 season, she then sustained an injury upon returning to play the last weekend of March in Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing out of winter quarter I took 22 [class] units, it kind of took a toll on my body,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I had neck spasms on both sides of my shoulders, so as a result I was two months immobile, barely moving. Obviously that doesn\u2019t help your golf game because you can\u2019t even walk properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
No wonder she values the smaller steps above all else. The moments like the 35-foot putt she made as darkness swallowed the last of the four holes she was able to play Friday, the tournament-low second round she finished off Saturday morning, or the Round 3 final birdie on 18 that led to a huge smile and hug with her caddie. These are the important steps on the road back to consistency.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a mixed bag since her injury, with the world\u2019s 56th-ranked golfer (she ended 2024 No. 14) missing the cut in five tournaments (including last week in Canada) but finishing as high as T-16 (Portland), and T-10 (Orlando) in others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the patience and the dedication that it takes to come back from all that, and then also I expected myself to play really right out the bat of post injury, obviously that\u2019s very unrealistic and kind of messes with the mental a little bit,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of the struggle that I endured. I think now it\u2019s as simple as sticking to the process and making sure you\u2019re getting little bits of positivity in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is a reminder of how quickly life on tour moves, and how much the ups and downs define the journey. It seems particularly true in women\u2019s golf, where new young stars pop up with regularity. While Zhang resets, Lottie Woad has crashed the party, Nelly Korda makes every cut and Jeeno Thitikul took over the No. 1 ranking. Women\u2019s golf is an ever-turning carousel, and Zhang is trying to stay on the ride, living proof that for all the heady joy of early success, there isn\u2019t much room to move but down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say this year is the first time I really hit a hard struggle in my entire golf career,\u201d she said. \u201cI think the [past] success helps in that you know that it\u2019s in you, but it also might hinder your look to the present and the future, just because you expect way too much out of yourself in your circumstance. So I think I\u2019m navigating that, and it\u2019s helped me grow as a person and even as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @Globe_Tara<\/a>.<\/p>\n