Rose Zhang learning to manage fast track to stardom
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[June 22, 2023]
Those days of working silently on her golf game for hours
without distraction is a thing of the past for sensation Rose Zhang.
The 20-year-old won in her LPGA debut earlier this month and the
hoopla is soaring as she prepares to play in the KPMG Women's PGA
Championship, the first major of her professional career.
"It's been a whirlwind for sure with everything happening, but I've
been enjoying every moment," Zhang said during a press conference on
Wednesday, one day before play begins in Springfield, N.J.
Zhang said the media attention has been more than she anticipated
since winning the Mizuho Americas Open in Jersey City.
"It's been quite a lot, to be fair," Zhang said. "I definitely did
not expect a lot of frenzy to occur over my last win. I expected
people to know. I expected people to be just super happy about it,
but I never thought that media would also be like all over it, as
well."
After winning her first LPGA event, Zhang returned to Stanford to
prepare for finals. She just completed her sophomore year.
"I studied at night with my friends, and we were all in the struggle
bus together," Zhang said.
Zhang said campus life remained the same and nobody made a big deal
of her sudden fame.
It reminded her of how her recent past included hanging out all day
on the golf course working on her game.
"I feel like as an amateur, you take it for granted where you can
just be out on the range, no one is talking to you," Zhang said.
"You can hit balls for like four hours. You can chip, putt, do
whatever you need to.
"But I can't really do that anymore. That will definitely take a bit
of adjusting just because when your game isn't as solid and when
you've been playing a lot of events, going on the golf course, your
game adjusts to the different weather conditions, how you're playing
golf courses, and yeah, I think that will be the biggest transition
for me."
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Zhang will be paired with fellow American Lexi
Thompson and Australia's Minjee Lee for the first two rounds.
She has been studying Baltusrol Golf Club's Lower Course to prepare
for 72 holes of expected grueling golf.
"I would say this golf course is very difficult," Zhang said. "It's
definitely a major championship type of golf course. I expected
nothing less from it. The rough is high. Greens are firm and very
quick. There's a lot of undulation, so you're going to have to be
able to play the ball where you need to when you're hitting into
approach shots.
"Even if you hit a really good shot and you're on the wrong side of
the hole, it's going to trickle down into a rough patch or it will
trickle down to the lowest part of the green. So you're going to
have to be able to get your lag putts in, understand how to use
slopes to your advantage."
As for it being her first major since turning pro, Zhang is trying
to keep expectations in order.
"I wouldn't place it on another platform or pedestal for me to just
admire and look up to," Zhang said. "It's another event. I'm still
playing the same sport. I'm just in New Jersey again and trying to
play well."
Zhang played in eight majors as an amateur, with her best finish
being a tie for 11th at the 2020 ANA Inspiration.
--Field Level Media
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