The Stanford sophomore shattered the 36-hole record of five-under set by Jennifer Kupcho in 2019.

Zhang, who has competed in all four editions of the Championship, started by setting a new 18-hole scoring record with a 66 on Wednesday. She proceeded to break it, finishing one stroke better in Thursday’s second round with a seven-under 65.

“I'm just super blessed to be in this kind of position,” Zhang said. “I know that it's very rare, and I believe that it's just something that to keep in mind that no matter what happens, I'm always super proud of everything that I've accomplished thus far. The job's not done yet. We still have to go out there and play a good round.”

Zhang started her first nine with three birdies in her first four holes and added a 30-foot eagle on the par-5 9th hole. She has just one bogey through 36 holes and has played the four par-5s at nine-under through 36 holes. The 19-year-old is now the only player to advance to the final round in all four years of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

“I'm just going to try my best to bring out the best that I can do when I'm going out there and playing at Augusta, and I think that every hole, every score matters,” Zhang said. “With that, I'm just going to play as hard as I can and try the best that I can.”

Australian based Malaysian Jeneath Wong failed to make the two round cut. PHOTO: Augusta National.

Andrea Lignell sits in second at eight-under. The University of Mississippi senior carded a three-under 69, capped by a birdie to retain her solo second position and advance to Saturday’s final round in her Championship debut.

“[Champions Retreat] sets up pretty well for me,” Lignell said. “A lot of the greens are kind of diagonal left to right, which kind of fits me with my draw as a lefty. It's playing a bit longer ... so yeah, kind of fits me well.”

Thirty-one players made the cut, which fell at two-over 146. All participants will play a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, while the players who made the cut will compete in the final round on Saturday.

Among those to miss the cut but still getting a chance to play the famous layout on Friday were Australian Justice Bosio who added a 72 to her opening round 75 to fall short by two shots, as well as Melbourne resident Jeneath Wong two shots further back representing her country of birth Malaysia. Defending champion Anna Davis also failed to advance to the third round.

Georgia native Jenny Bae is in third place at seven-under after a second-round 68.

For the first time in Championship history, participants from Canada, Colombia and Chinese Taipei advanced to the final round. Those players include: Canada’s Monet Chun (T-6), Colombia’s Maria Jose Marin (T-9), and Chinese Taipei’s Hsin-Yu Lu (T-4) and Ting-Hsuan Huang (T-21). The youngest player in the field, 15-year-old Gianna Clemente, will also advance to the final round in her debut and sits T-9 through 36 holes.