Stanford diploma is near for Rose Zhang as she takes a full dive into her pro career
· Yahoo Sports
Rose Zhang has a 10-page paper standing between her and a Stanford degree in communications. The subject matter is nothing you would imagine: beer brewing.
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The 22-year-old Zhang laughed when discussing the last item on her to-do list in her college career during a Tuesday press conference at Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club in Menlo Park, Calif., where the LPGA plays its second domestic event of the season in the Fortinet Founders Cup.
Zhang turned professional nearly three years ago after her sophomore season at Stanford, where she twice won the individual NCAA championship, but she still was determined to earn her degree.
Zhang has many obligations during this finals week while also playing in the tournament pro-am on Wednesday and then the first round Thursday—the same day the paper on beer brewing is due. She had yet to start it at the time of her press conference.
“It's actually an archeology class,” Zhang explained. “After I did my own beer brewing, so with the mashing, the grinding of materials, discovered that apparently alcohol has been long dated back into prehistoric times and early civilizations,” Zhang said. “We were diving into that. And then we were diving into actual lmicro granules with microscopes, so been looking at yeast, random molds. It's out of sight out of mind right now. I'll dive back into it."
Beer brewing is one of many interesting classes Zhang has taken at Stanford. She had a sleep and dreams class that provided applicable tips for a career that requires traveling to Asia and around the country. Political courses have been thought-provoking as well. She had a class where she was trying to help create peace models for Arabs and Israelis and Palestinians.
The balance between school and work has been a lot.
“I would say I did have to put in a lot of time and energy into thinking about why I wanted to do these things, about why I wanted to play tour golf, go to college, everything in between,” Zhang said. “It was a big personal journey for me. I think when things get really tough, and 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. I had to learn what was the limit for me and what works best with having a really difficult schedule like that. Most importantly, it was important to keep the faith of this is a journey and this is how I'm supposed to grow and learn. That's kind of how I was able to come to this end.”
Zhang received praise and criticism for working on her degree and taking months-long breaks away from the LPGA Tour. She did that the last two years, and she’s happy with her decision.
“This was probably one of the most important achievements for my personal development as a person,” Zhang said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of noise about whether it was a good decision or not. I think 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. Never really gave it a second thought. To see the end of the finish line coming very close—I'll be walking in June, so officially close— it means the world.”
Zhang, who spent a record 141 weeks at the top of World Amateur Golf Rankings for women, won her professional debut at the Mizuho Americas Open in 2023 and captured a second title in the Cognizant Founders Cup in 2024. Since then, she’s weathered injuries and tried to stay sharp while taking stretches of time off to earn her degree. Last season, the Southern Californian struggled, making the cut in only half of her 14 events, while posting one top-10 finish in the HGV Tournament of Champions that was played 15 months ago. In Zhang’s only start this season, she played well in the TOC, tying for ninth.
In some ways, she feels like she’s just getting her pro career started.
“These last two, three weeks was when I had to sit with the fact that I will be Rose the golfer [now],” Zhang said. “I think for a long time I was always one foot into academia and one foot into the professional world and actually playing, but I've never really thought of myself as two feet into the pro career.
“I'm not sure how it will turn out. I'm excited to see where it goes. If it's something that I'm still extremely passionate about, I'm 100 percent going to dive all in. This whole year really in my opinion will be my first official rookie year of ‘OK, this is where I'm going to take this game on and see how best I can do in the sport.’ We're going to figure things out along the way.”