Rose Zhang's Dad Used To Be Her Caddie—And Had This Hilarious Reaction When She Made The Olympics
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Rose Zhang will represent Team USA in women's golf alongside Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu.
Her parents had a hilariously "chill" reaction to her making the Olympic team.
Rose has had a meteoric rise in women's golf since turning pro in 2023.
California native Rose Zhang is one of three women—alongside Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu—to represent the United States in the Olympic individual golf tournament, which begins on August 7. But that didn't surprise her parents, Haibin Zhang and Li Cai.
"Their reactions were a bit dull compared to some others' reactions," Rose exclusively told Women's Health ahead of the Games. "When the results were finalized, they were like, 'Oh, cool. Good job.' Not necessarily anything too crazy. It was very, very chill."
Rose's dad Haibin knows exactly how good his daughter is at golf, a sport the 21-year-old been playing since she was nine years old. Haibin travels with her to all of her golf tournaments, even once caddying for her at the 2023 Augusta National Women's Amateur, where she defeated Jenny Bae in a two-hole playoff.
"It's super nice to have someone who is just a really all-around supporter to be with me on the road," she says. "He'll be with me at the Olympics."
Meanwhile, her mom and brother, who's 10 years younger than Rose, will be cheering her on from their home in California. Rose calls mom Li the "rock" of the family. "I can always come to her or come home and she's just always saying, 'I'm proud of you,'" Rose says. "Very unconditional love."
Despite their age gap, Rose remains "super close" with her brother, sharing that they FaceTime all the time while she's on the road.
But they aren't the only support system that Rose has in her corner. Since her meteoric rise in the golfing world—the Stanford student turned pro in 2023, beating Jennifer Kupcho to become the first woman to win her debut since 1951—Rose has become close with women's golf star Michelle Wie West.
"She's actually part of the reason why I considered going to college while playing professional golf," Rose says. "There's also someone who's just been through thick and thin. Of all people, she knows a lot about pressure. She's become a really good friend."
During the Olympics, Rose's biggest competition might come from her own country.
Nelly Korda is the reigning champion and had a record-tying five-tournament winning streak this year (which was stopped by Rose); meanwhile, New Zealand's former world number one Lydia Ko would love to complete her set of Olympic medals after taking silver in Rio and bronze at Tokyo 2020, according to Olympics.com.
But Rose and her teammates are going to be there to support one another, no matter what. They're planning on attending the Closing Ceremonies and grabbing a few nice dinners together.
"It'll be nice to be able to bond with them a lot more," Rose says. "We're definitely creating a group chat!"
In preparation for the Games, Rose has tried to avoid overtraining. She's been playing typical tournaments in the run-up to the Olympics, like the CPKC Women’s Open, and has been hitting the gym for strength and flexibility work with her fitness trainer, Josh Loyo. To keep calm, she does stretches, meditations, and reads Bible devotionals.
"Putting too much pressure on things could lead you to think about results more than the process," she says. "That's why I'm just doing things simply."
Mostly, she's just excited to play golf on the world's stage, this only being the third tournament since it was added back to the Olympic program in 2016.
"I grew up watching the Olympics since I was five with my parents, and the biggest thing is, you don't watch golf," she says. "I never really thought about it because it was so far out there."
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