Thursday was a momentous day for Rose Zhang at the Fortinet Founders Cup. The 22-year-old finished her final paper at Stanford University and will graduate in June.
“To see the end of the finish line coming very close,” she said earlier this week, “means the world.”
And it wasn’t a bad day at the office after polishing off her 15-page paper to graduate. Zhang shot 1-under 71 and sits eight off the lead after the first round on Thursday. “I felt like it took a little bit of time for me to get adjusted and acclimated to playing golf again. But overall, I’m actually very satisfied, even though score may not show as much,” Zhang said.
Zhang, like Nelly Korda, hasn’t played on the LPGA Tour since the end of January at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. She skipped the last three tournaments in Asia to focus on her final semester of college. “I tried to go out of my way and find as many classes that did not require a final. Beer brewing happened to be one of them,” Zhang added.
Certainly not a bad way to get college credit, but this wasn’t exactly a mixology course, it was actually an archeology class. “What I was looking into is after I did my own beer brewing, so with the mashing, the grinding of materials ... apparently alcohol has been long dated back into pre-historic times and early civilizations, so we were diving into that,” Zhang said.
But it hasn’t been all brews for the communications major, who says she’s also taken classes in international relations and political science. Not to mention, the compounded pressure of her coursework on top of competing at the game’s highest level. “You’re situated with 60 hours a week of class and work, on top of sponsor days and traveling and still trying to practice for tournaments, I think the balance is very difficult,” she said.
Zhang joined the LPGA in 2023 and has received mixed reviews over the years about continuing to pursue her degree while playing, though she said she never gave it a second thought. “When I turned pro end of sophomore year, I’ve always envisioned wanting to finish, regardless of how difficult it would be, regardless of how much my body would break down or feasibility-wise how that would work,” Zhang said.
Now, the soon-to-be college grad will be able to be two feet into her golf career for the first time.
“These last two, three weeks was when I had to come with the fact and sit with the fact that I will be Rose the golfer,” she said. “If it’s something that I’m still extremely passionate about, I’m 100% going to dive all in.”
While the California native won the Fortinet Founders Cup two years ago (in New Jersey), she said she’s viewing this season as the true beginning of her professional career. “This whole year really in my opinion will be my first official rookie year,” she said. “This is where I’m going to take this game on and see how best I can do in the sport.”
Zhang tees off on Friday at 10:47 a.m. ET, watch live on Golf Channel from 6-9 p.m. ET.
