Rose Zhang can add top 100 player to her rapidly growing list of accomplishments one event into her professional career.
Zhang, who turned pro on May 26, vaulted 420 spots to No. 62 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings following her playoff victory at the Mizuho Americas Open on Sunday. The win also came with full membership on the LPGA Tour after the former Stanford star received a sponsor’s invite into her first event.
Zhang is now eligible for the 2024 Solheim Cup and will certainly be on the radar for United States captain Stacy Lewis. The top seven players on the U.S. points list will earn automatic spots on the 12-player team, as will the top two players in the world rankings who are not already qualified.
Lewis will select the final three players. One event into her professional career, the 20-year-old Zhang is already the 15th-ranked U.S. player in the world.
The only change in the top 10 of the Rolex Rankings this week was South Korea’s Hyo-Joo Kim moving up two spots to No. 8, while Canada’s Brooke Henderson slid down two spots to No. 10.
Following her record-setting amateur career, Zhang defeated Jennifer Kupcho on the second playoff hole on Sunday to become the first player since 1951 to win in her LPGA debut.
“You guys will see me more on the LPGA Tour, as I am taking membership from now on, and I’ll be playing in 2023,” Zhang said, although she did not confirm when her next start will be.
“I just can only say that 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,” she said in her winning press conference. “So we’ll be seeing what I do in the future. As of now, I’m just soaking it all in.”
On Zhang’s immediate radar are final exams at Stanford along with moving next week.
“I have no idea what I’m going to do with that, I’ve got an essay due, past due for CS,” she said of exams. “We’ll figure that out. I’m also moving on the 13th, so I have a busy week ahead of me, and that’s not golf related.”
–Field Level Media