The Stanford campus moves under our feet and you can feel it. A combination of person and place that’s damn-near intrinsic.
In what amounted to a period of deferred destiny, Rose arrived here two years ago and proceeded to win everything. All of it. Two years in college golf rewriting the NCAA record book. Teenage years spent becoming one of the greatest amateur players — male or female — ever; yes, ever. Rose, as she’ll be referred to here, because prodigies operate mononymously, became the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s amateur in September 2020 — nearly 33 months ago. Hasn’t budged since. She won the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur at 17, enrolled at Stanford, won 12 of 20 college tournaments, claimed the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and capped things off nicely by becoming the first female golfer to win consecutive NCAA individual titles.
“The people that I’m friends with?” she says. “I’m constantly like, you guys are incredible. I can’t even show my face here.”
There’s no known data for how many prodigies operate with an inferiority complex, but there’s at least one. Which makes this all the more tricky. Because, folks, it’s time.
With some words that will carry, Rose announced last week that she is, at last, turning professional. Her unmatched amateur career is over. She’s heading to Liberty National Golf Club this week for a news conference and her pro debut at the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open. She’ll play a course where millions of tons of clay and fill were once laid to offer better views of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Seems appropriate. She’ll arrive prepackaged, complete with millions of dollars in sponsorship contracts with Callaway, Adidas, Delta, East West Bank, Rolex, USwing, Beats by Dre and others. She’ll be billed as a generational talent with global appeal. Oh, and that swing. Everyone will swoon. Then, this summer, she’ll play in the remaining four majors and, if all goes to plan, use a series of tournament exemptions to secure her LPGA Tour card.
This has all felt so inevitable for so long. The same way the NBA is waiting for Victor Wembanyama, and the NFL is waiting for Caleb Williams, golf has been waiting for Rose Zhang.
But here, she stops. No, Rose says. She is not like them. She’s just like everyone else. “I don’t think players on tour know who I am,” she tells me. “I’m just going to be a newbie out there.”
Maybe that’s what she needs to tell herself. Rose has had to figure out a lot in her life — how to embrace her talent, how to be coached, how to handle the contours of a father-daughter relationship, how to be the star of a superteam at Stanford, how to turn pro, how to find some control, how to be … normal.
That, truth be told, is why she’s pushed this off for so long. But now, “There’s not a lot of ambition left for, like, where my career is right now. Because I basically won the events that there are to win.” (...)
CS106A: Programming Methodologies.The teacher’s aide leading the lecture is barely older than the students. He’s wearing a Patagonia hat and answering correct responses with: “Yes, sick,” “That’s chill,” and, when one student is unsure of a solution, responds, “Super valid question.”
Rose is behind a MacBook Pro, following along. The TA reads out a formula while scribbling on a whiteboard, “… equals, input, parenthesis, input, parenthesis, enter third number, colon, space, parenthesis …”
Fifty incalculably boring minutes of computer coding.
Class wraps up around 5 p.m. and we’re off. Stanford is a place that often feels staged, like some AI-generated postcard of Gen Z college life, packed with polymaths and geniuses, with virtuoso artists and future billionaire computer programmers. An odd mix of chaos and academic pedigree. We see visiting high school students and Rose says they look so young. A rogue student a cappella group assembles from nowhere and starts performing in front of the bookstore. We watch for a moment. Rose is thrilled by the randomness of it all.
But Rose laments. She was warned not to take that coding class. Especially not in-season. “It’s too much.” She’s regretting it, just as she regretted taking 21 units last quarter. “The dumbest thing I’ve ever done.” When we spoke in March, she had a five-page paper due on the causes of the Cold War (“Which is ridiculous,” she said. “How can you write that in five pages?”) and a 4,000-word paper due on integrating discipline into children’s books. On top of all this, Rose is regularly taking Mandarin. She’s fluent, but cannot read or write. This is common. There are over 5,000 characters to memorize.
“I find Chinese to be very interesting,” she says. “It’s a very beautiful language. Especially when you learn to write. It’s very pretty — the characters. But it is very hard, requires a lot of brain work. You have to be proactive in your learning or you’ll forget everything. It’s like math, except I hate math.”
The catch is, none of this is necessary. Future Millionaire Golfer Rose Zhang does not need to take computer programming or learn about the Cold War.
“Literally,” she stresses, smiling, “And I’m here suffering, learning to code.”
So, why? There’s no moral hand-wringing over golfers or tennis players or soccer players ditching high school to pursue professional sports. Rose could’ve made the jump years ago. Her parents wouldn’t have stopped her and her talent was without question. She played in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open as a 16-year-old and made the cut. That week, on a patio at the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.), Haibin suggested it might be time for his daughter to make the leap then. “She’ll know when she’s ready,” George responded.
by Brendan Quinn, The Athletic/NYT | Read more:
Image: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Justin Tafoya / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
[ed. From last week. Is she ready? - we all know the answer now ($412,500 of them). See also: Rose Zhang makes history, wins LPGA debut, matching feat last accomplished 72 years ago (Golf Digest):]
"Where Rose Zhang walks, history follows. Her celebrated golf journey continued Sunday at the LPGA's Mizuho Americas Open while surviving a slog at Liberty National, shooting a closing 74 that was good enough to get into a playoff and beat Jennifer Kupcho on the second extra hole.
Zhang, 20, became only the second player to win her professional debut on the LPGA, joining Beverly Hanson, winner at the 1951 Eastern Open in the second year of the tour's existence. (...)
The full Rose Zhang experience of humility can be encapsulated by the fact her only goal to start the week was to play on the weekend."
[ed. From last week. Is she ready? - we all know the answer now ($412,500 of them). See also: Rose Zhang makes history, wins LPGA debut, matching feat last accomplished 72 years ago (Golf Digest):]
"Where Rose Zhang walks, history follows. Her celebrated golf journey continued Sunday at the LPGA's Mizuho Americas Open while surviving a slog at Liberty National, shooting a closing 74 that was good enough to get into a playoff and beat Jennifer Kupcho on the second extra hole.
Zhang, 20, became only the second player to win her professional debut on the LPGA, joining Beverly Hanson, winner at the 1951 Eastern Open in the second year of the tour's existence. (...)
The full Rose Zhang experience of humility can be encapsulated by the fact her only goal to start the week was to play on the weekend."
