BELLEAIR, Fla. – Rose Zhang met with AimPoint founder Mark Sweeney early this week at Pelican Golf Club to try something new. The suggestion came from Zhang’s caddie, Olly Brett, who first broached the subject after the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.
“We just weren’t holing enough putts inside 15 feet,” said Brett, “and we both felt it was more read than stroke.”
Zhang carded a 2-under 68 in the second round of The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican to get to 5 under for the tournament. Alexa Pano and Jin Hee Im hold the clubhouse lead at 7 under.
Zhang currently ranks 91st on the LPGA in putts per green in regulation. Last year she ranked 10th. It’s also worth noting that Zhang’s father left the putter she used to dominate amateur golf on a train in London in the summer of 2023.
She’s been on a short-game journey ever since.
“It’s something new,” said Zhang. “My putting hasn’t been great statistically so I wanted to have a new sort of mindset when it came to the putting green, and it’s been going well so far.”
Rose Zhang of the United States looks on from the seventh green during the second round of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club on November 15, 2024, in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
When Zhang won the Cognizant Founder Cup earlier this year, it’s not surprising that she ranked first that week in both greens in regulation and putts per green in regulation.
If only she could’ve bottled it up.
Brett has been familiar with the AimPoint system for 13 years and said he didn’t want to mention it to Zhang until he’d gathered enough statistical evidence. Zhang was quick to agree.
“I would almost argue in this year was just as much of a rollercoaster as last year for me,” said Zhang, who won her first tournament as a professional on the LPGA after closing the books on a record-breaking year at Stanford.
“There is a lot of new challenges I faced, old recurring things that I’ve been trying to figure out.
“So I think it’s been going good. I feel like I grinded a lot this year. There’s a lot of good showings, and I’m really excited for my potential to get better.”