U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 9, 2020

Rose Zhang

Woodmont Country Club

Quick Quotes

ROSE ZHANG: The rough was so bad. I was like, just chunk it out and then see where it goes and then I'll go from there.

Q. The shot before that, were the trees in your way ?

ROSE ZHANG: Yes, the trees were in my way. So I tried to punch out with a hybrid because I didn't think that an iron could get through the trees, since it was so low and the branches were blocking me from the flag view.

I just chunked -- I tried to like punch a 5-hybrid and it didn't get through the rough. But I think if it got through the rough, it would have gone over and I would have been dead there. So it all worked out.

Q. Has it set in yet, you're the 120th U.S. Women's Amateur Champion?

ROSE ZHANG: That's crazy. I was going to withdraw this week, and now I'm the champion.

Q. Because of your wrist?

ROSE ZHANG: Yeah, I was going to withdraw because my coach -- my coach was actually really mad at me for coming here. And I was like, "No, it's okay, I'll just rest it," not play for 10 days before the tournament. And then, you know, here I am.

Q. What was going through your mind when Gabi was looking over that putt there at the end?

ROSE ZHANG: I just expected her to make it. I didn't really think of anything like that. You know, actually the pin, where they placed it today, there's a lot of break that I didn't even read from this morning, so that putt was -- it seemed easy, but to be honest, it actually wasn't, especially under the pressure.

I did expect her to make it and to move on to the next hole, but just a turn of events happened.

Q. Gabi said she can hardly believe you're 17. Where does that composure come from to win an event like this against the defending champion?

ROSE ZHANG: Yes, on the course I'm pretty stone-faced. I really don't have any emotion. I really don't know where it comes from. My parents always taught us to be competitive and stay composed, and from a young age I was just always into just looking ahead of me and just doing myself. I think that's where the composure comes.

All in all, I really don't know where it comes from because my dad is not at all composed.

Q. To win this, obviously it's a huge deal, but to beat the defending champion, make it a little more special? When you beat someone like that, it's obviously a memory you're going to have forever.

ROSE ZHANG: It's crazy, yeah, because I was actually watching her on TV last year, and I've seen her final round or her final match highlights and everything, and it just made me think, wow, she's such a great player, it just made me want to work on my game more, and she inspired me to keep playing the game that I love.

You know, Gabi is honestly such an amazing player, and just playing with her, I learned a lot today.

Q. You've been the No. 1 junior; now you're the Amateur champion. What does this do for your confidence going forward?

ROSE ZHANG: You know, I'm just extremely -- I think my confidence boost comes from my mental game. This week I really persevered through, and it really shows that my mentality can overcome my physicality with my wrist. I'm just super grateful.

Every single event is different, but it just makes me realize that I can play out here with the top amateurs in the world. To be able to come out on top is truly amazing, especially in this format.

Q. What kind of treatment did you have to get on your wrist, and what was the pain level you had to deal with, the discomfort?

ROSE ZHANG: Yeah, so it wasn't actually too bad where the discomfort caused me not to play, and today because it was a very long 36 holes, or 38 holes, in the middle my wrist was kind of feeling weird, so I tried to stretch it out as much as I could before going to the next tee shot or the next shot that I had. You know, I don't think that my wrist was too much of a hindrance, but it definitely was in the back of my mind.

Q. What do you say that there's probably a girl out there sitting at home watching your highlights thinking, that could be me some day? What's your advice to them?

ROSE ZHANG: My advice is no matter what comes your way, anything can happen. You can overcome anything if you think about the right things and you keep persevering through any hardship. Yeah, that's about it.

Q. Being able to share this with your dad, you guys obviously have a pretty close relationship. What was it like to be -- once you saw the putt miss and you realized that --

ROSE ZHANG: Yeah, watching my dad on the bag, it was truly amazing this week, actually, because every single shot he helps me just look at the lines, and he's really helped me stay composed throughout the round or throughout the eight days. This week especially he really gave me confidence to be able to believe in myself. When I was a little bit down, he was like, "It's fine, she's not going to hit a good shot." Even though it's not that good saying that, but it really helps me get back on my feet and just keep going.

Q. How many texts on your phone when you went inside and checked it just now?

ROSE ZHANG: 50 something, and like some of them are like multiplied by -- like one person would text like five texts, so I have no idea.