“Be an influence to younger generations”: Rose Zhang soaks it all in after winning the Mizuho Americas Open

Rose Zhang, after winning the Mizuho Americas Open, spoke with the media to share her feelings about the win. She registered her first LPGA victory that came after defeating Jennifer Kupcho on the second hole of the sudden-death playoff.

After turning pro on May 26, she finally got a chance to compete in her first tournament as a pro. The American golfer had a stellar start at the tournament. She was eventually tied with Kupcho and managed to defeat her to become the first woman to register a win in a debut as a pro since 1951.

The LPGA Twitter handle shared a video of Rose Zhang explaining her feelings on winning the Mizuho Americas Open. According to her, she feels that she had to become an influence on the newer generation.

"It's just so cool. I'm just blessed. I feel like I've been given this platform to try to do the best that I can, be an influence to younger generations, and that's all I kind of think about. I don't think about the stats of, hey, in 10 starts I'm going to have my first LPGA Tour win, or it's my first time. I should be winning," Zhang said.

Rose Zhang continued explaining that she was just processing her first win as a professional golfer. As of now, she does not focus on stats.

"So, yeah, these are not things that I think about, but I can only say this is just amazing. And I'm really just in a place where I want to improve myself, and I want to keep on doing better and better. So we'll be seeing what I do in the future, but as of now, I'm just soaking it all in," Zhang concluded.

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Who is Rose Zhang, who won the Mizuho Americas Open in her debut as a pro?

Born on May 24, 2003, in Arcadia, California, Rose Zhang is a newly turned American professional golfer currently signed to the LPGA Tour. The first achievement she had as a professional golfer was to become the first woman to win in her pro debut since 1951.

Although she was born in Arcadia, she currently resides in Irvine, California. Her love for golf started at the age of nine. Her amateur golf career started back in 2016. Her first amateur victory was winning the AJGA - CJGT Junior at Yorba Linda.

Rose Zhang became one of the youngest female golfers ever to compete at the 2019 Augusta National Women's Amateur. She also earned the 2019 Girls Rolex Junior Player of the Year recognition. With team US, she won the 2019 Pan American Games and ended her individual campaign ranked eighth.

Rose Zhang with best amateur trophy a the 2021 AIG Women's Open (via Getty Images)

In 2020, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur. This was followed by a win her 2021 U.S. Girls' Junior win. Then, in 2022, she won the NCAA Championship by a margin of three strokes.

Rose Zhang has already featured in four of the five women's major tournaments. She is yet to get a chance in the Women's PGA Championship.

With age on her side, Zhang is certain to have a good and long career as a professional golfer.