Rose Zhang wraps up Stanford degree with 10-page paper on brewing beer

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Rose Zhang has a 10-page paper on beer brewing due Thursday. It’s the final piece of her Stanford degree, and as of Tuesday afternoon, she hadn’t yet started. Zhang, for the record, doesn’t drink.

“It's actually an archeology class,” said Zhang, who went on to talk about microgranules and random molds.

Zhang’s degree will be in communications, but she has taken an interest lately in international relations, trying to create peace models for the Middle East.

This week’s Fortinet Founders Cup in Menlo Park takes place down the street from Stanford’s Palo Alto campus. Though she has won twice on tour in three seasons, Zhang has never had both feet fully planted on the LPGA.

“I would say I did have to put in a lot of time and energy into thinking about why I wanted to do these things,” said Zhang, “about why I wanted to play tour golf, go to college, everything in between.”

For 22-year-old Zhang, these years at Stanford have filled her cup in two main ways: community and faith.

The friends she met freshman year are still close. She thrived in a team environment, winning 12 times in two years of college golf. The Bible studies, the time spent at Grace Presbyterian on California Avenue, and the home church she recently discovered, founded by popular pastor Francis Chan, shaped her in profound ways.

She wonders if she might call Palo Alto home again someday.

There is great anticipation about this next chapter. It’s nerve-racking, she said, to think about tying golf back into her identity.

Zhang has grown even closer to former teammate Rachel Heck in recent years. Heck opted not to turn professional, deciding instead to pursue other passions.

“I've been talking to her a lot about, yeah, it’s not always fun out here, and it's a job,” said Zhang, “and I want to be able to commit to this job for at least a little bit, you know.”

Zhang said the person who came to Stanford in the fall of 2021 was simple and a little bit scared. That she showed up to college at all was controversial, given the breadth of her amateur success. The decision to turn pro after two years but remain committed to finishing her degree – on campus – put her in rare air.

“I feel like there is obviously a lot of noise about whether it was a good decision or not,” said Zhang.

“Personally, I think when I turned pro at the end of sophomore year, I've always envisioned wanting to finish, regardless of how difficult it would be, regardless of how much my body would break down or feasibility-wise how that would work.

“Never really gave it a second thought.”

It was as hard as one might imagine it to be, but a determined Zhang played on two Solheim Cup teams as she juggled a full class load and more sponsor obligations than most of her peers. As a student-athlete at Stanford, the two-time NCAA champion had things taken care of for her. As a pro athlete at Stanford, Zhang was the CEO of her own business.

“I don’t know how she does it,” said Lindy Duncan, a 35-year-old Duke grad who’s been on tour for more than a decade.

In mid-June, Zhang will walk with her classmates, skipping a couple of summer LPGA events in Michigan to soak in the achievement.

As she hits the road full time, without the outlet that school provided, Zhang will bring a friend along for the ride. Elaine Chi, a Dartmouth grad who has known Zhang more than half her life, will keep her organized as a manager and, perhaps more importantly, help get her out of the hotel room.

“I’m a big advocate for DoorDash,” said Zhang, “and sometimes DoorDash, you stay in one spot, and I end up being a homebody every single day.”

Though a veteran on tour, Zhang knows she’ll need to find ways to get out of her shell.

Rose Zhang has a 10-page paper due on Thursday and as of Tuesday afternoon, hadn't started. It's her final task before graduation.

The subject: beer brewing. pic.twitter.com/93COMNmbJB— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) March 18, 2026

Lydia Ko, 28, started a psychology degree about a decade ago but never finished. When she retires in the coming years, she’s talked about finishing it, perhaps at Stanford.  

Ko, a 23-time winner on the LPGA, admires what Zhang has accomplished.

“I get cold sores just by playing golf,” cracked Ko, adding, “I obviously can’t speak for her, but I’d be at the point of being like, wow, this is a lot. Maybe I should take a gap year or something. But she powered through. I was telling her ‘Hey, this is pretty much your rookie year.’ ”

Zhang took that perspective to heart, viewing 2026 as a kind of clean slate. Time to dive in and see what she can do.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA's Rose Zhang wraps up Stanford degree with paper on brewing beer