Why this 18-year-old Chinese phenom had tears before and after winning her first Epson Tour event

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Yahui Zhang knew Sunday morning when she arrived at South Bend Country Club that she and the other 60 golfers in the final round of the Epson Tour’s $262,500 Four Winds Invitational were in for a long day.

When the ups and downs of the roller-coaster final round, particularly on the back nine holes, finally concluded, it was the 18-year-old Epson Tour rookie from China who went home with the winner’s check of $39,375.

Zhang earned her first Epson Tour victory when she sank a nine-foot birdie putt at the upfill 478-yard, par-5 18th hole to complete a three-over round of 75 that left her with a six-under total of 210, good for a one-stroke victory over Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano, who at times had a piece of the lead on the back nine, and Lauren Stephenson of Lexington, S.C.

“Actually I was pretty nervous coming to 18,” Zhang said after making the winning putt and then celebrating with her caddie father and mother watching in the gallery. “But I just decided I had to do what I needed to do —– I needed a birdie to win.”

After hitting her first two shots to the uphill hole short of a fronting greenside bunker, Zhang hit a long chip onto the putting surface which stopped nine feet from the pin. She then made the putt, sending Cano, who had matched par 72 two groups before, and Stephenson, who finished off a two-over 74 with a birdie at 18, to their cars to begin their 110-mile drives to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for a flight to the next weekend’s Epson Tour Guardian Championship at Prattville, Ala.

“This morning I was crying because there was so much pressure,” said Zhang, who entered the day at nine-under 135 after opening rounds of 67 and 68 and with a one-stroke lead over playing partner, 26-year-old Brooke Matthews of Rogers, Ark., looking for her initial Epson Tour victory. In her previous 10 events this season, Zhang had six Top 10 finishes, but none got her to the winner’s circle.

So you can understand the pressure and it didn’t ease up when the Zhang family arrived at South Bend Country Club three hours before her 1 p.m. tee time. When they exited their car, they felt what Mother Nature had in store for Yahui and the rest who made Saturday’s cut at two-over 146.

“My coach called me from China this morning and told me not to be nervous,” Zhang said. “But when I got here, I saw the sun and the clouds getting big, and the wind kept getting bigger and bigger.”

The Four Winds — from the north, south, east and west — have different symbolism to the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, whose area casinos have been the principal sponsor of this LPGA Epson Tour event for 13 years. What Zhang, her family and the rest of the field would feel all day were winds from a different direction —the north-northwest, gusting sometimes over 20 miles per hour.

Those winds made for trying conditions at the par-72, 6,414-yard South Bend Country Club, which sits eight miles west of the Notre Dame campus on South Chain Lake. Not only was every drive, every approach and every putt on the rolling and hilly 106-year-old George O’Neil design affected, but every golfer’s nervous system rode the winds’ roller coaster as well.

Zhang first rode it over a four-hole stretch beginning with the par-3 fourth hole where she made bogey. She followed with a birdie at the par-5 fifth and then bogeyed the sixth before making birdie at the par-5 seventh. But then she opened the door for Cano and others when she double-bogeyed the par-4, 316-yard ninth hole with its treacherous sloping green where one golfer this week actually five-putted after reaching it in regulation.

Now at seven-under, Zhang was suddenly tied with the 28-year-old Cano, a Spaniard who has two previous Epson Tour victories in a six-year professional career and this year had two Top 10 finishes, including a solo third at the Twin Bridges Championship July 19.

Zhang and Cano would trade the lead a couple of times on the back nine — Zhang bogeyed holes 13 through 15 to fall to five-under while Cano bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 to fall to five-under heading to the par-5 18th. But she could only match par on the hole and then waited along with the 27-year-old Stephenson, who got to eight-under after a birdie at one but shot a three-over 40 on the front nine to fall back to four-under before her closing birdie at 18 had her, too, hoping for the playoff that never came. Their bank accounts still increased by $21,887 for the T2 finish.

“This gets me closer to playing the LPGA Tour next year,” said Zhang, who became the 15th winner on the Epson Tour this season (there have been no repeat winners) and now leads with $110,042 in earnings and the Race for the Card with 1,360.316 points. Stephenson is second in both categories with $100,356 in earnings and 1,336.083 points.

Tied for fourth Sunday at four-under 212 were the 26-year-old Matthews, who ballooned to a four-over 76, and 22-year-old Annabelle Pancake, a Zionsville, Ind., golfer who recently completed her playing career at Clemson. Pancake shot the day’s best round — a three-under 69, one of four sub-par rounds on the windy day — to leap into contention. She and Matthews both received checks for $12,956.

Two golfers with Notre Dame ties — 23-year-old Lauren Beaudreau and 34-year-old Epson Tour veteran Becca Huffer — also received nice checks thanks in part to their Friday opening rounds of four-under 68.

Beaudreau, who won her first professional event, the Illinois Women’s Open back in July, finished tied for sixth in her first Epson Tour event, shooting a final-round, one-over 73 which left her tied at three-under 213 with tour veteran Savannah Vilaubi (75). They both earned $8,771.

“I played really solid all three days,” Beaudreau said. “Today we had the toughest conditions, but I played really well on these fast greens with it being really windy. I’ve been playing well the last couple of weeks.”

Huffer, who was runner-up a year ago here and earned her LPGA playing privileges at Q-School last fall, finished tied for 18th at one-over 217 after closing with a three-over 75 following a disappointing Saturday 74. She nevertheless earned a check for $3,481.

“I’m working on a couple of things, and it was not my best golf the last couple of days,” Huffer said. “It was kind of messy for me, some tough conditions and I didn’t hit it in the right spots.”