Nasa Hataoka’s stellar day highlights Saturday at 2023 U.S. Women’s Open

Rose Zhang knows she’ll need to be aggressive on Sunday to have a chance at her first major title. But that might not mean what people think.

“I have said that over the weekend I wanted to be somewhat aggressive,” said Zhang, “but the definition of aggressive here at Pebble is completely different from other golf courses.

“Because the greens are so tiny and because there’s less room to get the ball on the green, with the winds picking up, with the tomorrow probably being a little firmer I’m assuming, you can’t really be aggressive-aggressive.”

Zhang owns the women’s course record at Pebble Beach, a 63, which she shot last fall during the a collegiate event called the Carmel Cup. The LPGA rookie sits in a share of ninth after three rounds, eight shots back. The record for largest comeback in U.S. Women’s Open history is five strokes, which has occurred on eight different occasions.

So what does aggressive look like on Sunday at Pebble?

“Definition of aggressive would probably be hit greens,” said Zhang. “That’s it. Center of the greens and then you putt around.”