Rose Zhang is making her Chevron Championship debut this week, as the youngster is approaching her one-year anniversary on the LPGA Tour.
She started 2024 with a full course load at Stanford and played in multiple LPGA Tour events. Zhang’s quarterfinal loss at the T-Mobile LPGA Match Play event two weeks ago marked her best finish of the year, a T5.
Now she is looking for her first major title. But if she were to win it, Zhang will be faced with a difficult decision.
Traditionally, the winner of this event jumps into the lake next to the 18th green.
Ahead of the Chevron Championship, Zhang could not decide if she would keep with tradition.
“I was talking to my caddie about it. I have played ANA and the ANA Junior Inspiration before. The pool looks a little nicer than out here,” Zhang said. “I saw the board. At that point, if you’re a major championship, why not? Just jump in. Yeah, I don’t think I would do it voluntarily,” Zhang said jokingly.
Last year, Lilia Vu kept the tradition alive by jumping into the lake after she won her first major.
Zhang made history last year, winning her LPGA debut at the Mizuho Americas Open and took the world by storm. She is used to making history, as Zhang closed her amateur career off by winning back-to-back NCAA Individual titles.
With her maiden victory, the former Stanford Cardinal earned her way in four of the five majors in 2023. She recorded three top 10s, finishing T9 at the U.S. Women’s Open and the Amundi Evian Championship with a T8 at the KPMG Women’s PGA.
If Zhang were to come out on top Sunday, it seems like it would be a spur-of-the-moment decision to see if she will keep the tradition.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
