LPGA sensation Rose Zhang admits to being stressed out more by Stanford than Golf

Rose Zhang is one of a kind in many ways. Not all players decide to start their professional careers in the middle of their university studies. And those who do, usually relax on academics and focus on sports. However, that's not the case for Zhang.

Zhang is getting ready to play in the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship at Palos Verdes Golf Club in California starting this Thursday, March 21. She is alternating between Palos Verdes and Stanford because the tournament coincides with finals week.

From the event venue, Rose Zhang gave a press conference and said (via Golf Monthly):

"I'm pretty excited to come back out here. Actually school stresses me out a little bit more than golf does."

"The lack of sleep and the constant grinding in school, it definitely hasn't been easy. I would argue that it's tested me in ways that golf couldn't test me. I think a lot of the stress has come on to me, especially this week. It's finals week, everyone is dying back at Stanford as well. All my friends are just going through it."

"I believe that the next couple events that I'm going to be playing in will really kind of tell how I am feeling mentally, physically, and how I'm able to perform. But I am thinking that I've taken my time to realize where I'm stagnant in and build my team, build myself around that. So slowly I think I'm getting out of the stagnant era."

Rose Zhang even had to cut her Tuesday press conference short because she had to travel back to Stanford as soon as possible. She had a psychology final exam that afternoon and a political science class paper due as well.

Rose Zhang's professional career

Rose Zhang set every imaginable record in U.S. collegiate and amateur golf in the general sense before embarking on her professional career. Zhang made this decision in June 2023, right in the middle of her undergraduate studies at Stanford. She made it clear that she would not be dropping out of college.

In a premonition of what is expected to be her career, Zhang won her senior debut as a professional at the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open. This gave her her LPGA Tour card and access to all of the season's Majors.

Zhang played 13 other official tournaments during the LPGA Tour season. She suffered only two cuts and finished in four Top 10s (not counting her victory).

She had very outstanding performances in three of the four Majors she participated in, as she finished T8 at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, T9 at the US Women's Open and T9 at the Amundi Evian Championship. In addition, she also made her debut in the Solheim Cup.

The Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship will be the second event of the 2024 season for Zhang. She participated in the Tournament of Champions earlier, where she finished T7.