Rose Zhang is done.

Both her first round at the Fortinet Founders Cup, where she shot a 1-under 71, and that final paper at Stanford – 15 pages total.

"It was a long one," Zhang said with a smile.

Zhang, whose Stanford University final paper was actually on brewing beer as part of an archeology class ("Apparently alcohol has been long dated back into pre-historic times and early civilizations, so we were diving into that," she said), managed to get her homework done Wednesday night before it was time for, well, real work on Thursday.

After her round, she said it would be time to proofread and submit, and then that would be that.

She's all done.

"It is crazy," Zhang said. "I honestly feel like it's a little bit anticlimactic because I'm playing golf. I haven't been doing as much of celebrating, but internally I do feel really good about it."

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Zhang, who was an incredibly celebrated amateur and collegiate golfer, burst out of the gates post-college. She, of course, won her first tournament as a professional, capturing the Mizuho Americas Open in a playoff. In the process, she was the first player to win in their professional debut on the LPGA Tour since 1951.

Zhang, who also won this event in 2024, said the last few weeks she has had to actually "sit with the fact" that she is just going to be "Rose the golfer."

"I think for a long time I was always one foot into academia and one foot into the professional world and actually playing, but I've never really thought of myself as two feet into the pro career," Zhang admitted. "I'm not sure how it will turn out. I'm excited to see where it goes."

Zhang will be walking in her graduation ceremony in June, however, and will miss a few events in the process. But for all the noise about whether or not it was a good decision for her to manage a full course load while also, well, trying to perform on the course, this was a big and important thing in her life.

"Honestly, I think (finishing her degree) was probably one of the most important achievements for my personal development as a person," Zhang said. "Never really gave it a second thought. To see the end of the finish line coming very close, I'll be walking in June, so officially close for me – it means the world."

As far as this week's task at hand (the non-academic one), Zhang opened her week at Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club in red figures. Leader Hyo Joo Kim fired a tidy 9-under 63, so Zhang will have some ground she'll need to make up over the next few days. But she opened her season at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions with a very solid top-10 finish, her second in her last four starts on the LPGA Tour dating back to last year.

Her ball striking was solid Thursday as she missed just three greens and three fairways, but she is keen to clean things up with the putter.

Still, she was as pleased as she could be considering she's been otherwise occupied – and away from golf – of late.

"Felt like it was a game of patience today. I didn't really have any putts drop. I was burning some edges and felt like I found a little bit of momentum towards the end, so I'm taking a lot of positives," Zhang said. "But I felt like it took a little bit of time for me to get adjusted and acclimated to playing golf again. Overall, I'm actually very satisfied, even though my score may not show as much."

Zhang knows there will be questions about what's next for her. Golf, like life, requires her to take it one day at a time. Still, she said she's learned a lot about why she's wanted to play on the LPGA Tour, go to college, and everything in between.

She's handled it with aplomb to this point, but she's armed with everything she needs to take the next big steps.

"I had to learn what was the limit for me and what works best with having a really difficult schedule like that," Zhang said. "But most importantly, it was important to keep the faith of this is a journey and this is how I'm supposed to grow and learn."

Friday is a new day on the golf course and Zhang will have one fewer thing to worry about.

"I'm just going to turn it in," Zhang said of her final school assignment. "Done, done."

Rose Zhang Shoots Under Par the Morning After Submitting Her Final Paper at Stanford

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