The painting, titled Tribute to Rory McIlroy (Impression of Bethpage Black, Long Island), was begun in June after Zhang visited the iconic course to play a round and observe the future Ryder Cup venue first-hand.
The artwork places Bethpage Black’s notorious bunkers and rugged terrain at the forefront, while tiny dots of spectators animate the distance a deliberate choice, Zhang says, to highlight the grandeur of the landscape while allowing “the noise of human behaviour to fade quietly into the background.”
Although the painting was conceived months before the Ryder Cup, Zhang decided to dedicate the work to McIlroy only after seeing what the golfer and his family endured during the high-intensity weekend.
Moved by McIlroy’s composure amid controversy, Zhang described the dedication as stemming from “deep admiration not only for his extraordinary talent, but for the dignity and grace he showed in a moment that tested the very spirit of the game.”
Zhang has not yet presented the painting to McIlroy, but he hopes the golfer will ultimately accept it. The piece will also appear in Zhang’s forthcoming monograph, Master of Golf Course Landscapes, slated for publication in early 2026.
“It would be a great honour if he might accept this dedication and gift,” Zhang said calling the painting one of his proudest artistic achievements. “While I would treasure it personally, I believe it truly belongs with Rory.” he told Golf News.
Born in 1953, Hudson Shaoxia Zhang has achieved international recognition for his distinctive focus on golf-course landscapes a subject he has explored in more than a thousand works.
His paintings examine these engineered terrains as complex modern environments, blending Western and East Asian visual traditions to contemplate land use, aesthetics, and the intersection of nature and human design.
Zhang’s recent career highlights include four solo exhibitions across London and Europe in 2024 and a major 2023 show at the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts.
Earlier this year, he was named the inaugural recipient of the U.S. Golf Art Foundation Fellowship Award, honouring his contributions to both art and the culture of golf.
For Zhang, golf courses are not merely recreational venues but endless sources of visual and conceptual inspiration.
His work uses these cultivated landscapes to reflect on contemporary environmental concerns, the tensions between nature and artifice, and the unique beauty of spaces shaped by both engineering and tradition.
With Tribute to Rory McIlroy, Zhang aims to offer not just a landscape painting, but a quiet meditation on what gives golf its enduring significance, something, he suggests, that transcends competition and controversy.
