An original painting of TPC Sawgrass now hangs at the American Junior Golf Association's headquarters, a gift from golf landscape artist Hudson Zhang.

Zhang, who has spent more than 35 years painting golf courses around the world, donated the work titled A Round with Friends to the AJGA, the organization said in a feature published Oct. 28. The Ponte Vedra Beach course joins a roster of championship venues Zhang has interpreted on canvas, including Bethpage Black in New York and courses across Europe.

Separately, Zhang contributed a second painting to the AJGA Foundation Auction: Tribute to Rory McIlroy II, an oil-on-linen work depicting Bethpage Black Golf Course. Bidding is scheduled to close Friday, Oct. 30, at 9 p.m. EDT, according to the Golf Wire. Auction proceeds support the Liberty National Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant Program, which reimburses tournament fees, travel, housing and equipment for junior golfers pursuing college golf scholarships.

From Bethpage to the canvas

Zhang visited Bethpage Black in June 2025 as the course prepared to host the Ryder Cup that September, the AJGA said. Back in his studio, he developed the composition through successive sketches. Bunkers anchor the foreground, rough adds tension, and spectators appear in the distance.

He describes those figures as "tiny points of human energy set against an immense natural stage."

The 2025 Ryder Cup added a personal dimension. Zhang said the personal attacks directed toward Rory McIlroy during the competition troubled him deeply. He dedicated the painting to the Northern Irish golfer.

"Through this painting, I hope to honor not only Rory, whom I have long admired, but also the enduring grace of the game itself," Zhang said, according to the AJGA.

The landscape, not the player, remains the painting's focus. "To me, the course represents a sense of eternity, while the human drama upon it is only fleeting," Zhang said.

A scholar who paints

Zhang studied and taught art history at Nanjing University of the Arts and became founding dean of Hainan University's College of Art. He has published more than 40 volumes on international fine and decorative arts and modern Chinese art history, according to the AJGA.

Art critic Richard Vine wrote that Zhang's approach "might be dubbed Literati Impressionism. For his practice clearly echoes literati values, offering a deep poetic response to intuited spiritual essences, while also embracing Western painterly traditions."

Zhang's solo exhibition "Golf Course Landscapes" toured the University of London, Museo Bellini in Florence, Sorbonne University in Paris and the University of Louvain in Belgium. His paintings are held in the permanent collections of Museo Bellini and the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts.

The AJGA Foundation Auction, which follows Zhang's Sept. 18 exhibition at the Harvard Club of New York City, includes more than 100 donated items.