World number one amateur Rose Zhang won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur title in a play-off after losing a five-shot lead in the final round.
The 19-year-old American was 13 under after the first two rounds at the Champions Retreat course, near Augusta.
Saturday’s final round was held at the home of the Masters and Zhang posted a four-over-par 76 to end on nine under, level with Jenny Bae, who shot a 70.
Zhang won with a par at the second extra hole in the sudden death finale.
“I’m just really proud of myself in terms of how I was able to overcome so much media, so much expectation. Going into the event everyone was talking about how I should win,” said Zhang who has been the top-ranked amateur for 133 consecutive weeks.
Both players parred the first play-off hole, the 18th, and then found the middle of the fairway with their tee shots on the 10th. But Bae, who started the final round six shots adrift of Zhang, pulled her second shot into the bushes and could only squirt her third into a greenside bunker.
Her fourth shot finished six feet from the hole, leaving Zhang, the 2020 US Women’s Amateur champion, with two putts from 25 feet to win the title. She rolled the first to six inches and tapped in for victory.
Sweden’s Andrea Lignell, who started the final round in second place, on eight under, posted a 74 to finish third on six under.
The invitational event, which was first played in 2019, saw the top 30 players and ties qualify for the final round at Augusta National, but all 70 women in the field played a practice round at the famed course on Friday.
The Masters, the first men’s major of the year, starts on Thursday, 6 April.
