Another chance for Rachel Heck and Rose Zhang

SAN FRANCISCO Stopping Rachel Hecks ’incredibly powerful game can only be stopped by one thing: a positive COVID-19 test. At least it looked like a scary 24-hour period during which a Stanford freshman called his mother in the middle of the night in Memphis with the news.

He went to the quarantine apartment for a short spell, but ended up cleaning up before he had to spend the night. (Thered to have been a whole batch of false positives.)

Heck came to the Olympic Club in the middle of the final trials. His belongings are packed in boxes and sit in an empty dormitory ready to be sent back to Tennessee. He has a paper in a political science class that he told himself he wrote on Monday, but only started it on Tuesday and Friday.

It’s a plan, get it completed today, he said. Is it happening? No. But that is the plan.

Heck won his last six college tournaments, including the NCAA Championship, as well as a 36-hole qualifier for 76^th American women’s open. His college tube includes a one-day tournament here at the Olympic, where he shot 66 raw on a cold day. However, this is not the same course he saw on May 5th.

When we hit it roughly a month ago, it was great, he said, you would just hit it green from there. It’s a slightly different story this week.

On Sunday, Heck hit it to the left of the rough road and took his 5-iron. He promoted it just 40 yards roughly. He advanced to the next shot with his right hand rough and had by then scored.

I think it was good for me, he said.

Congratulations to our cardinal (and our other future cardinal) who is playing this week @Helsinki at @TheOlympicClub!

7:00 (9) Aline Krauter
8:06 (9) @ rachelheck2020
2:02 (1) Rose Zhang#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/wKcgsAF1on

– Stanford Women’s Golf (@StanfordWGolf) June 2, 2021

This week, there are 30 enthusiasts on the field and three are using logos from nearby Stanford. Heck is accompanied by women’s British amateur champion Aline Krauter and incoming freshman Rose Zhang, the world’s leading amateur. Heck is No. 2.

Only one amateur has ever won an American women’s open player, Catherine Lacoste in 1968. Morgan Pressel, who works for NBC this week, came in terribly close in 2005 and said the Olympic rough reminds her of what she saw in Cherry Hills when she lost to heartbreaker Birdie Kim.

Could the amateur win again?

Yes, I don’t understand why not, Pressel wrote.

Seven enthusiasts have finished second or partial second over the years, most recently Hye-JinChoi in 2017.

I think everyone has a dream to win the major, to win the US Open, said Rose Zhang, who finished 11th^th in the 2020 ANA inspiration.

Zhang becomes a Stanford freshman in the fall. Cardinal coach Anne Walker plans to be outside watching her players at the Olympics on Thursday. Consistent Zhang stays out of trouble and is especially deadly to the Greens within 15 feet. But even they are probably not his strongest assets.

He controls his mind well, Walker said, an incredible discipline.

Rose Zhang hits the 3rd track in the practice round at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open Olympic Club in San Francisco, California on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. (Darren Carroll / USGA)

Both Heck and Zhang are in his father’s bag this week. Check that the whole family is involved in town, including boyfriend Sam Killebrew, who has just finished his second year at West Point. Killebrews ’commitment to serve inspired Heck to join the Air Force ROTC program at Stanford.

On the way to the course on Wednesday morning, Heck listened to a hype list made by his team on his way to the national ones. Walker encouraged Heck to take some time out of the game between last week’s NCAA Championship and the USWO, pointing out how central it proved between regional and national.

It’s hard not to be excited and excited to be in the U.S. Women’s Open Series, Heck noted.

From left to right: sisters Abby and Anna, mother Stacy, boyfriend Sam Killebrew, Rachel, father Robert (photo Leia Schwartz / LPGA)

After this week, Heck will stay in the Bay Area to play the LPGA Mediheal Championship at nearby Merced Lake. He also has sponsorship for the Marathon Classic in early July.

Heck first entered the U.S. Womens Open in 2017 at the age of 15. He equalized 33^rd that year. The humble heck isn’t a big noise about his recent success or throwing bold predictions. His main focus: enjoying walking.

It’s so special, he said. I watched this grow every year and I just wanted to be one of the players there. It is really unlikely to get this opportunity as an amateur.