Rose Zhang: Juggling school and golf

Rose Zhang has spent most of the first part of the year studying at Stanford University, as she completes her last exam and assignment of the Spring quarter, she is also returning to the LPGA Tour having not competed since January.

Ahead of this week's FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, the 20-year-old spoke to assembled golf media about juggling school and golf and what it means to be back playing competitively.

What have the last few weeks away from the golf course been like for you?

It's been very fulfilling. I feel like I've been able to have a lot of closer relationships with my non-golf friends and I've been having a good time there. But as for the lack of sleep and the constant grinding in school, it definitely hasn't been easy.

I would argue that it's tested me in ways that golf couldn't test me. But I'm very glad for the experience. Today (Tuesday) is going to be the last day of study, so hopefully in the next couple weeks, I can get it going and go back into the professional golf mindset.

What's your energy level like from zero to a hundred right now?

I'll say it's definitely below 50%. But, yeah, I've been trying to recover from a really bad flu the last two days, been a little bedridden. But we're out here thriving. I think a lot of the stress has come on to me, especially this week, it's finals week, everyone is dying back at Stanford as well. All my friends are just going through it. So once this kind of quarter wraps up everyone is going to be having a good time afterwards.

A theme of your press conferences has generally been how busy you are. Is that something you enjoy?

I do think that there is a balance that's required to be busy versus efficient and well rested. I still have yet to find that balance a little bit more. I think I do appreciate a lot of obstacles that come my way where I can be tested. But I do see the trend quite a bit. I think it's something that I will have to manage a little bit better.

For you, does being back on the golf course feel like an escape from some of the stress of school?

A little bit. I do think that coming out here I think it's important for me to understand that I'm now the professional golfer in my life. Being out here, it's definitely going to, at least for me, I have high standards towards how I want to play, so I won't say it's an exact escape from what I want to accomplish and my obligations as now a tour player, but I do think it is using a different part of my brain and testing myself in different ways.

To some extent, it is nice to be a little bit away from school and not having to worry about exam full-fledgedly.

You've played Palos Verdes Golf Club in your collegiate days, what's it like to be back?

Definitely a little different. Last time I was here was last year and I was with my teammates. We were playing for a different reason. So representing the university versus me now as a professional coming here, it does feel a little bit different.

At the same time, it's nice to come back with such good memories of the golf course. And I think just going out there, having that same game plan, it's playing a little bit different from last year, so for me to come out here and see the golf course a little bit more and making sure I have that game plan intact, it'll help me with that grind in the next couple days.

What does it mean to see someone's name like Seri Pak host an LPGA event?

It's very inspiring, especially with Seri Pak and her ability to bring golf to such a different level, especially in Korea, but also worldwide among all the women and female athletes. She's definitely someone everyone looks up to, not just from her accolades, but even with this event she's inspiring younger generations like myself to be able to push ourselves and hopefully do something more later on with our golf careers. And for her to be able to host such a big event like that, it's definitely really cool to see.

Will you be heading back to do another quarter?

I mean, I'm pretty excited to come back out here to be fair. Actually school stresses me out a little bit more than golf does. I have considered taking online classes while I'm here on tour, so that's a to-be-determined plan. As of now I'm taking the spring quarter off and then we'll evaluate what I do in the fall.

The FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship gets underway on Thursday March 21, view the full field here.