Rose Zhang explains surprising putting woes as U.S. Women’s Open likely slips away

Rose Zhang struggled at times with her putter on Saturday. She sits eight off the leader at the U.S. Women’s Open heading into the final day of play.

Zhang came out hot, sinking a couple of birdies in her first six holes and had climbed within a few shots of the lead. Then, her putting became a problem.

She missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-3 7th after hitting a fantastic tee shot. That is where it all started to go wrong. After her round, she talked about her putting woes and how it wasn’t until the No. 16 did she realize her clubface was too open.

“I felt it. I missed a couple of putts. Starting on seven, I didn’t feel as comfortable with how I was placing my club,” Zhang said in an LPGA interview. “The putter face — it looked alright to me. Sometimes when you play into something, the perception of your eyes gets a little bit off.”

“I tend to open or close sometimes. That causes probably like half an inch margin of error and causes you to miss a couple of putts or lip out,” Zhang said. “I saw myself missing a couple of more putts to the right rather the left... It’s just something you go back to in terms of fundamentals.”

“Even if I do have a good stroke, I tend to miss right,” Zhang said.

She went out in 34, with a birdie on No. 2 and No. 6. However, that putt on No. 7 was a costly one. It crushed her early momentum that she would never regain.

She made a bogey on the No. 10 and No. 13 holes to come in at 38 for an even par 72.

Zhang has to hit greens on Sunday and fix these putting issues if she wants to claw her way back up the leaderboard. She tees off with defending U.S. Women’s Open champ Minjee Lee at 12:36 p.m. PT.