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JERSEY CITY, NJ — As Rose Chang waited to address the media Tuesday morning at her first “Hello World” press conference as a pro, the already cramped tent at the range end of the courses here at Liberty National Golf Club is starting to feel evenly more crowded. There were only a few reporters present, but LPGA and Liberty National officials snuck in to hear Zhang speak. Also, we’ve also had a variety of golf luminaries: Ty Votaw, former LPGA Commissioner; Joe Louis Barrow Jr., former President of First Tee; Anne Walker, Zhang’s golf coach at Stanford University, and her young daughter in tow. In the back row is another familiar face: agent Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports, the powerhouse agency that represents the likes of Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose and now… Rose Zhang.
With space filling up, Chang stood at the doorway in a uniform adorned with enough sponsors to cover a stock car: Callaway, Delta, Topgolf, Adidas, and East West Bank. The 20-year-old didn’t have a watch deal yet, but that too seemed imminent since she had a green bag in her purse that contained a luxury watch. Moments before going on stage, Zhang pulled out the watch, placed it on her right wrist, and pulled her sleeve.
A professional move, one of the first of many to come.
By now, you likely know what led Zhang to such a tumultuous moment: A streak of dominance such as amateur game has rarely been seen. If you somehow missed Zhang’s assault on the amateur and university ranks over the past three years, let us catch up: 33 months he spent as the world’s top amateur; the 2020 U.S. Amateur Champion; 2021 United States Little Girls’ Champion; 2023 Augusta National Amateur Champion; 12 wins in 22 games at Stanford; The first woman in NCAA history to win a singles tournament. I am national championships in consecutive seasons. We could go on, but we’re already starting to gloat.
Comparisons to Tiger and Woods are generally snide, but it’s not an exaggeration to say that not since Woods has he entered a high-profile amateur in the professional game. Zhang is that good, even if she is hesitant to say it. Zhang will try to tell you that the other junior and college players were better than her; She just so happened to be really good at running her game. On Tuesday, I asked another one-time amateur sensation—Michelle Wei West—how it feels. Wei West sneered at Zhang’s modesty.
“There is no better player than her,” Wee West said.
“She can handle herself when the pressure is on her,” Wei West continued. “I’ve seen her in this year’s ANWA and back-to-back NCAA [titles]. “The NIL scene is a different story than before,” said Wie West. “I mean, she really does live a life very similar to a professional golfer. “
That may be, but even this week, when Zhang competed against the pros—as she has at eight major tournaments, her best result, a T11, coming at the 2020 Chevron—he followed her name on the tee. . On Thursday, when she cruises into the first round of the Mizuho Americas Open, she’ll be competing for the first time as professional.
When Zhang entered Stanford University, she had no vision of her path to the professional game, let alone that her journey would begin at a debut LPGA event hosted by fellow Cardinal, Wie West. Chang says she wasn’t sure whether to stay at Stanford for a year, two, or four. “But one thing’s for sure: I wanted to finish my studies,” she said Tuesday of her communications major. “The second factor is I wanted to see how well I played golf in college. I think if you can’t beat one stage, you won’t be able to move on to the next and say it’s time for the next one.”
By the end of her sophomore year, which culminated in a win at the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, AZ, last week, Zhang had not only conquered her competition, but had culminated in the greatest college golf career of all time. As for her credits, she’ll keep chasing that as well, squeezing through the credits as time allows, just as Wie West did. “Stanford isn’t exactly an easy place for academics,” she said. “I’d like to take classes in the fall; I think winter is our off-season for golf, so I’ll be able to take more lessons there; and then the spring quarter is kind of a run-of-the-mill, so I’ll take a vacation and run that route until I graduate.”
On Tuesday, I asked Chang to identify her most difficult class. “CS-106A,” she said, referring to a computer science course. “Currently and still trying to grind in that class. It was a bit unfortunate for me. I’m not a computer science major. I won’t code again after this class.”
In the LPGA, where she will be playing this season on sponsor exemptions in hopes of securing her 2024 tour card, Zhang will have different kinds of puzzles to solve — namely the more intense competition week by week; prepare more rigorous courses (not the computer science type); and the grinding of a heavy travel schedule. “I feel now that the mentality is also very simple,” she said. “Try to be as modified as possible to get around life, find out what it means to be a professional, and what I want to do here.”
This week means playing a new event not only for Zhang but for the entire tour as well. The Mizuho Tournament – hosted by Wie West – is unique in its location with views of Lower Manhattan and its look. On the first LPGA Tour, 24 girls from the American Junior Golf Association will play alongside the pros, all throughout the final round. On Tuesdays, the juniors can be seen hitting balls in the field alongside the major league winners.
“Actually it’s kind of unbelievable,” Zhang said. “I don’t know if it had anything to do with just AJGA, but I went out here on a Sunday afternoon and saw several of my friends I grew up with from junior golf. I saw Lucy [Li]Mega [Ganne], my teammate, Alexa Pano, all these people that I grew up with. I saw them right away, and it was a really comforting moment, I think, because everyone on Tour is kind of the kind of person I’ve played junior golf with. … I have people who have familiar faces to me, and I will be able to grow alongside them and also catch up with them.”
Just like the old times, right? Well, yeah, kind of. But when you’re a Zhang native player, the professional game also comes with a list of other duties, perks, and opportunities.
After her press conference, Zhang asked about that watch she had slipped off. She laughed, almost embarrassed by what she had noticed. “I never really thought to myself, ’cause I’m going to be 18, and you have to wear a watch or some other kind of gadget before press conferences and interviews,” she said. “But that’s also what I’ve seen since I was a little kid, and now that I’m in that shoe, it’s definitely something I’m going to enjoy.”