Editor’s note: Amy Bass is professor of sport studies at Manhattanville College and the author of “One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together” and “Not the Triumph but the Struggle: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete,” among other titles. The views expressed here are solely hers. Read more opinion on CNN.
Golfer Rose Zhang may not have made birdie on her final hole of the Mizuho Americas Open, but she did make history, and with it, has set a new bar for multitasking — the last few weeks chock-full of her superlative feats. She is finishing up her sophomore year at Stanford University, where she is pursuing a degree in communications, and just two weeks ago won an unprecedented second consecutive NCAA Division 1 women’s golf title. On May 26, she announced that she was officially turning pro, and then on Sunday, she became the first woman to win her professional debut since Beverly Hanson at the Eastern Open in 1951.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
Student athletes, of course, are used to taking on numerous projects in brisk succession — their “to-do” list is loaded with myriad tasks involving academics, fitness, mental health and competition schedules. Those who excel under such pressures (and let’s be clear, many fail) do so with skills that include razor-sharp time and stress management, discipline, focus and flexibility. Ideally, they have support systems — personal and institutional — that reflect an understanding of just how difficult the balancing act can be and the toll it can take.
Sitting on stage at the commencement exercises of Manhattanville College on a hot Saturday morning just last month, I watched in awe — and with no small measure of pride — as the seniors on the softball team exemplified how this balancing act can work. They celebrated the important day with their classmates before jumping — with the college’s permission — to the head of the line, alphabet be damned, to grab their diplomas and walk off the stage and directly into a golf cart waiting nearby. With athletic director Julene Caulfield at the wheel, they raced to the locker room. After a quick cap-and-gown picture with their teammates, it was on to the assignment at hand: winning the Division III Skyline Conference Championship title and, with it, a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Mission accomplished.
A handful of days after declaring on her Instagram, “Wow…it’s finally happening,” Zhang came to Liberty National Golf Course with hopes of just making the cut, understanding that the transition from amateur — albeit a dominant amateur — to professional can take some time.
Despite her skill, it wasn’t easy. Zhang shot a bogey-free six-under 66 on Saturday, giving her a two-stroke lead, but Sunday’s ultimate round looked to be more of a challenge as she missed a birdie putt — she didn’t hit a birdie all day — on the 16th hole, heroically parred the 17th and then missed what should have been, could have been, a victorious putt on the 18th, sending her into sudden-death golf against Jennifer Kupcho.
It took two extra holes to fulfill what felt like destiny, and when she tapped in for par, Zhang had her historic moment, finishing 9-under for the tournament and giving her an LPGA title within a handful of days of her national collegiate title.
“Incredible few weeks for Rose Zhang, defends her NCAA title and then wins in her Pro debut,” tweeted Tiger Woods, who forged his own legacy as a Stanford Cardinal golf player. “Go card!”
Woods, without question one of the greatest to play the game and a generational player in his own right, has seen his Stanford records fall to Zhang — her 12 victories in collegiate play outpacing his 11. Indeed, her LPGA win did not make her a star — in the world of golf, she already was one, finishing her amateur career with 141 weeks at No 1.
But that star now looks to shine even brighter (or at least she will, as she told reporters, once she finishes an essay that is due — see? Multitasking). The 20-year-old rookie has committed to playing the remaining four major LPGA championships this season and has earned a special exemption to play in the 78th US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach in July. Without question, we will have a lot of well-hyped looks at her in action in the coming months.
It would be wise, sport fans, to pay attention, even if golf isn’t your thing. It can be easy to get trapped by the silos of fandom, looking one way while the action emerges from another.
While tennis fans are musing about who isn’t at the French Open (clay court legend Rafael Nadal underwent a hip surgery that has sidelined him), for example, they might miss the showdown between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz that lurks in the semifinal round. While hockey traditionalists yet again try to wrap their collective heads around the likes of Las Vegas and Florida returning to Stanley Cup Final, they might have missed Adin Hill’s thrilling stick save that made way for a come-from-behind Golden Knights victory. And while Celtics fans recover from a game-seven loss after a game-six buzzer beater for the ages, they are missing the Denver Nuggets run for their first NBA championship title in the team’s first ever finals appearance.
With Rose Zhang, the LPGA has a star who is not just the most touted athlete to hit women’s golf in a long time, but golf writ large. Indeed, Zhang might be one of those athletes, like Woods, who could transcend her sport, creating the start of something special for all of us.