Rose Zhang had a glittering amateur career at Stanford before turning pro after her 20th birthday and winning in her first ever start on the LPGA Tour.
Get to know the rising star better with these facts about her life and incredible career so far...
Rose Zhang facts:
1. Rose Zhang was born in Arcadia, Los Angeles, California, on 24 May 2003.
2. She has one sibling, brother Bill, who was born in 1993.
3. Zhang began playing golf aged nine after a family friend brought over some clubs for her dad, Haibin. Curious, she picked up one of the clubs and took some swings in her backyard. She hit the ball flush on her third attempt. At that point, her dad arranged lessons for her.
4. Her smooth, repeatable swing is one of her biggest attributes, and she has worked with swing coach George Pinnell since the age of around 11.
5. She represented the USA at the 2019 Junior Solheim Cup.
6. Zhang was named Girls Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2019. The year after, she was handed the honor again.
7. Zhang competed in the 2019 US Women’s Open, aged 16. She finished tied for 40th.
8. Like Michelle Wie-West, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson before her, she studied at Stanford University.
9. Stanford head coach Anne Walker once described her as “the Mozart of golf, the Van Gogh of golf.”
10. She broke Wie-West’s scoring record to finish as Low Amateur at the 2020 ANA Inspiration (now The Chevron Championship).
11. She won Mark H McCormack Medals for top world amateur golfer three times in succession between 2020 and 2022.
12. Zhang represented Team USA in the 2021 and 2022 Curtis Cup.
13. She set the Pebble Beach women’s course record with nine-under in the second round of the 2022 Carmel Cup.
14. In 2022, she became the first student athlete to sign deals with Callaway Golf and Adidas.
15. She won the low amateur honors at the 2022 AIG Women's Open.
16. In May 2023, Zhang won the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship, surpassing the number of wins Tiger Woods achieved as a Stanford University golfer, with 12.
17. At the same time, she became the first player to win two NCAA individual titles.
18. Zhang set the record for consecutive weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking in April 2023, surpassing Leona Maguire’s 135 weeks. By the time she ended her amateur career, it had stretched to 141 weeks.
19. She won the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
20. Zhang cites her dad as one of her greatest influences, and he has also caddied for her extensively, including in her win at Augusta National.
21. Nine days after turning pro, she won the Mizuho Americas Open to become the first woman to win an LPGA Tour title on her professional debut since Beverly Hanson in 1951.
22. She qualified for her Solheim Cup debut in 2023 at Spain's Finca Cortesin.
23. Less than a year after turning pro, Zhang won her second professional title at the 2024 Cognizant Founders Cup. She shot four rounds in the 60s for the first time in her pro career and a set a new tournament scoring record of 24-under-par.
24. Zhang qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
25. Her best Major finish is a T8th at the 2023 KPMG Women's PGA Championship.
