COGNIZANT FOUNDERS CUP

May 11, 2024

Rose Zhang

Upper Montclair Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Rose Zhang after her third round at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Rose, posted a 67 today. Talk a little bit about your round and how you felt you played.

ROSE ZHANG: Yeah, very satisfied with how I played. I feel like the last two days gained a little bit of confidence in my own game, and it's nice to see some putts continue to drop.

And even though I had a couple errant shots, I felt like I really got back into it pretty quickly. Overall just very satisfied.

Q. And you and Madelene sit ten shots above everyone else. How fun was it to play with her today and bounce off each other?

ROSE ZHANG: It was honestly incredible. I was just seeing a clinic put on by Madelene. We had a good time. We were having small talks and it was just an enjoyable time to both play well and have each other's company.

But I've always admired Madelene's game. She's been out here for a while and she's a veteran, so I am actually just trying to learn and seeing how she's doing it.

Q. You say trying to learn a lot. I think some people would think it's the opposite, some players feel like could learn from you a little bit. When you are trying to learn stuff, what kind of questions are you asking? Anything in particular you're really trying to pick their brains on?

ROSE ZHANG: Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit difficult to ask questions obviously to your competitors, but I think for me, I just observe what they do and how they act.

I think there is a difference between young, fresh energy versus veteran energy, and Madelene shows she's very comfortable around these areas and being on top of the leaderboard.

So it was more so just me looking at that and putting it in the back of my head. But I think no matter what, even five years forward I'm still going to be trying to learn. That's how you really try to progress.

Q. How much fun has it been for you this week to make a bunch of birdies? You've had so many birdies on the scorecard all three rounds. I know that's always a blast on the golf course, but I know for you it's been a little bit of a grind recently. How much fun is it to go out and make a bunch?

ROSE ZHANG: It's honestly so nice. Finally saw some putts drop. Even on 18 the putt that I hit was actually pretty good, so I don't really have any regrets for that putt in particular.

But I think it was just such a blast to really kind of see my shots and be able to hit whatever I could and commit to everything.

Seeing it come to fruition, you know, leaves me very satisfied. Obviously no matter what happens tomorrow, it's more so just at least I have this little spark of I've got some good rounds in competitively, and I can move forward with that.

Q. To play with somebody that's popping off in a similar way you are, how much fun is it to have each other, lift one another on the golf course when you're both playing such stellar golf?

ROSE ZHANG: It's honestly so enjoyable. We kept on going back and forth saying, good birdies. With today's conditions it's not exactly a golf course where you can birdie all the time. You really have to know your place around the greens and the fairways.

So for us to be able to bounce it back a little bit, I had a lot of fun. I hope she did, too.

Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow, one back and in a spot you've been before. What's the mindset? Obviously this golf course requires being a little bit methodical about it. What are you thinking about tomorrow with another opportunity to win on the line?

ROSE ZHANG: Honestly, mindset is very simple: I think I'm going to come out here and play my best, do my best. Whatever I have, I'll just use it and we'll see how far it gets me.

But I think the most important thing for me is just to really try to relax, enjoy the moment, enjoy the shots that I'm hitting. Even if I'm not hitting it great, just learning how to commit to everything is the most important.

That's all I have going forward. If the ball works, it works. If it doesn't, we still have lots of room to improve on. By all means, I'm not done; I've only just started.

Q. You shouted out your Stanford teammates the other day. Have any of them reached out to you like, let's go, keep it running?

ROSE ZHANG: Oh, yeah, all my teammates have reached out, and it's just so nice to really see their support. I know they're so busy and got their grind going into NATTIES in San Diego this year.

I'm cheering them on and they're cheering me on. I hope we both come out with some great results.