Rose Zhang always wanted to walk this path, no matter how difficult it was.
Golf has always been Zhang’s defining trait, or more specifically shining in golf. She won 12 times at Stanford, including individual NCAA championships. She won the US Women’s Amateur and the Women’s National Amateur at Augusta. She turned professional and became the first player in 72 years to win on her professional debut at the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open.
But while golf is a core part of Rose Zhang’s DNA, it’s not all she is. She wanted more. Even when she turned professional after her sophomore year at Stanford, Zhang always planned to finish her degree. Juggling life as a full-time professional golfer with the course load at Stanford was difficult. So Zhang retired from full-time LPGA golf last winter to focus on school and pursue a lifelong dream that had nothing to do with birdies and bogeys.
What followed was a difficult time that demanded a lot from the 22-year-old.
Taking 22 credits in the winter while trying to stay on top of her game took a toll on her body. She suffered neck spasms on both sides, which left her unable to practice or play for two months. She missed the cut on her return and then played in four majorswith her best finish being a T35 in Evian. View of Old Rose Zhang told as she ran into the FM Championship in Boston, showing her that everything she wants — golf and the majors — is within reach if you don’t flinch when the going gets tough.
“I would say this year is the first time I’ve really hit a hard putt in my entire golf career,” Zhang said in Boston. “But I will say that I think success helps what you know is in you, but it can also hinder your vision of the present and the future just because you expect so much of yourself in your circumstances. So I think I’m getting through that and it’s helped me grow as a person and even as a player.
“It’s as simple as sticking to the process and making sure you’re getting some positivity in there. It’s new for me, but I feel like I’ve been on a really good trajectory and I’ll be able to keep building from there.”
Zhang will be showing it at this week’s Fortinet Founders Cup at Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, almost at the other end of a long, arduous journey that has tested him in every sense. With her last course of study completed, Zhang has only a 10-page paper between her and another kind of success. She will walk in June, but for all intents and purposes, Zhang is set to enter a new chapter — one that will be foreign to her because of her particular focus.
“These last two, three weeks were when I had to come to terms with the fact and sit with the fact that I’m going to be Rose the golfer,” Zhang said Tuesday at the Fortinet Founders Cup. “I think for a long time I’ve always had one foot in the academy and one foot in the professional world and actually played, but I never thought of myself as having two feet in the professional career.”
Zhang turned a stellar amateur career into rapid success on the LPGA. She won the Mizuho Americas Open and the Founders Cup. Her star was rising at a time when the LPGA needed talent with an infectious personality.
But sometimes fate calls you in another direction, one that speaks to a special part of your soul. Zhang never thought twice about putting golf on the back burner to finish what he started at Stanford. This decision tested him mentally and physically. But she never wavered, and the lessons that followed should stand her in good stead as she steps back fully into the pro golf spotlight.
“I would say I had to spend a lot of time and energy thinking about why I wanted to do these things, why I wanted to play tournament golf, go to college, everything in between,” Zhang said Tuesday. “It’s been a big personal journey for me. I think when things get really tough, and you’re committed to 60 hours a week of teaching and working on sponsor days and travel, and you’re still trying to practice for tournaments, I think the balance is very difficult. I had to learn what the limit was for me and what works best with a really tough schedule like that.
“But most importantly, it was important to keep the faith (that) this is a journey and this is how I have to grow and learn. That’s how I got to the end.”
These lessons—dedication, patience, persistence—can be universally applied, whether you’re researching early civilizations or examining a pentacle to save the norm. Over the past 16 months, Zhang has immersed herself in every part of the road she chose to travel. She played in the majors, but she was rusty. The competitor in her struggled with the temporary reality of not being as sharp as she had been for most of her conscious life. It would have been easy to change course and choose to live in the comfort of the known. But Zhang never regretted her choice. Difficult? yes. Is it worth it? Obviously, with the full payoff still unknown, she continues to digest all that her journey has taught her.
“I think this was probably one of the most important achievements for my personal development as a person,” Zhang said of completing her degree. “I feel like there’s definitely a lot of noise about whether it was a good decision or not. Personally, I think when I turned pro my second year, I always thought I wanted to finish it, no matter how hard it was going to be, no matter how much my body was going to break down or the feasibility of how it was going to work.
“I never gave it a second thought. To see the end of the finish line getting so close … it means the world.”
As for what the new reality that awaits Zhang looks like, she’s not sure. But there’s a freedom in the unknown, and Rose Zhang is ready for whatever her next chapter brings—ready to see what life looks like only as Rose Zhang, the golfer.
“I’m not sure how it will turn out,” Zhang said. “I’m excited to see where it goes. If it’s something that I’m still extremely passionate about. I’m going to dive into it 100%. This whole year really in my mind is going to be my first official rookie year like, okay, here I’m going to play this game and see how well I can do in the sport.
“We’ll figure things out along the way.”
