NAPLES, Fla. – It was round this time final 12 months that Rose Zhang informed Stanford coach Anne Walker that she deliberate to show professional after her sophomore season. Zhang couldn’t have dreamed then that she’d win on the LPGA in her first skilled begin, one thing that hadn’t been achieved in 72 years.
That dreamy debut on the Mizuho People Open put the 20-year-old on a whirlwind path to this week’s CME Group Tour Championship, the place she’s certainly one of 9 first-timers within the discipline.
Zhang, 20, went again to Stanford final week after her most up-to-date occasion in Japan and loved just a few days off. She’s craving for extra downtime after a packed 12 months that noticed her win the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie, the NCAA Championship, and the Mizuho – to call just a few – in addition to make her first Solheim Cup look.
Rose Zhang holds the trophy after successful the 2023 Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership. (Picture: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports activities)
Subsequent 12 months, nonetheless, Zhang plans to play a lighter schedule firstly of the season as she goes again to highschool for the winter quarter. Zhang goals to take 5 lessons, or 22 models, in Palo Alto. She’s simply over midway achieved with what’s required for her communication diploma.
Stanford’s winter quarter begins in January and lasts by means of March. Zhang stated she would possibly play in a single or two occasions on the LPGA throughout that point.
Zhang heads into her ultimate LPGA occasion of the season No. 26 within the Rolex Rankings. She’s 18th on the cash checklist with $1,314,794 and ranks fifth in greens in regulation. She has 5 top-10s, together with a victory, in 12 LPGA begins.
Zhang described her half rookie season on the LPGA as “fulfilling.” The most important lesson realized, she stated, is that it’s OK to say no.
“Sure, you will have your obligations and obligations for media, sponsor outings,” stated Zhang, “however in the end it’s important to learn to maintain your self and your personal work, your personal craft, and that’s to be enjoying at your finest on the golf course.”
