We’ve all had that one classmate who effortlessly balances sports and studies, but Rose Zhang took it to the next level last year. Along with being a full-time golfer, she also managed her full-time studies as a communication student at Stanford University. Since then, the LPGA golfer has set an example of balancing two professions hand in hand. But how did she manage it all? 

This year, the Mizuho Americas Open winner took a two-month break at the beginning of the year. She started her 2024 season with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament but then, for 2 months, was absent from the golf scene. She returned to the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship in March, having completed her final exams. Zhang entered Stanford in 2021 and instantly gained a support system from her team. But transitioning from tournament mode to student life is not as easy as it may seem.

Zhang went through constant grinding and sleepless nights for school, and “it definitely hasn’t been easy,” she said to the LPGA Tour. “It has tested me in ways that golf couldn’t test me. But I’m very glad for the experience.” she continued. Unlike golf legends like Tiger Woods, who left Stanford after just two years, Zhang’s motivation stems from becoming an “independent person.”

“I’ve seen a lot of players, they’ve essentially burned out later on in their careers or they got injured, and I felt like I needed something that could make me better and not have me just identify myself as a golf player. Just being a college golfer and being around people my age, being inspired by how incredible they are in their own right – that’s really what pushed me to become better on my own,” Zhang told CNN Sport concerning her decision to continue studying even after turning pro.

Successfully ending one chapter of her life brought her a sense of peace. “Once I came back, I just felt all the – I don’t know, I was stressed about it, but at the same time, I wasn’t stressed because I honestly couldn’t care at that point about what my grades were,” Zhang spoke. Passing the class and completing all her work meant sophomore year was essentially done for Zhang in 2023.

With campus lessons in mind, Zhang also drew upon anecdotes from Stanford Women’s Golf Coach Anne Walker. During her final year, Walker advised her to “be kinder to herself and acknowledge the significant transition from last year to this year.”

Rose Zhang is a multitasker, but maintaining the top ranking on the World Amateur Golf Ranking list is quite a task, and so was being one of the best rookies last year. Was there any secret mantra that you could take away? Yes, resilience, and determination! 

It was Rose Zhang’s zeal that helped her grow

Zhang is one of those who always have their dads behind their backs. When she was 9, her dad drove her to empty plots near their house in California. From then on, her obsession with golf began. She would just “grab a mat, put it down, and start hitting golf balls.”

She would swing and hit shot after shot, watching the balls vanish in the yard’s dirt as the sunset. To see a ball take flight “just becomes addictive,” Zhang told Stanford. Her addiction became her mantra to make a record-breaking career. Zhang became the world’s No. 1 amateur golfer in 2020 for 141 weeks, breaking Leona Maguire’s record for most time ranked No. 1 in the world.

“She had won everything there was to win. She’d done it in lightning fashion,” expressed Stanford head coach Anne Walker. Zhang has won back-to-back NCAA individual titles in 2022 and 2023, a feat last achieved by USC’s Annie Max in 1993. She also broke Tiger Woods’ (‘98) Stanford record for tournament titles as a sophomore. And the list doesn’t stop here!

Zhang was named WGCA National Player of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. Additionally, the Pac-12 Player of the Year award was given to her three times (2021-2023), and two Pac-12 Championships (2022, 2023) were won by her.

To cap it off, Zhang also became the first woman in over 70 years to win on the LPGA tour in her professional debut. She is truly a force of inspiration, and one could not agree more when Stanford says, “Rose Zhang is too good for college golf—but not for college itself.”