Rose Zhang is the youngest member of this iteration of Team USA at just 21 years old, going pro just over a year ago. In fact, prior to turning professional, she was ranked number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 141 weeks, the most of any golfer in history.
Zhang won her debut on the LPGA Tour in June of 2023, triumphing at the Mizuho Americas Open in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff against Jennifer Kupcho. With the victory, she became the first player to win in her professional debut on the LPGA Tour since Beverly Hanson in 1951.
Her second career win came nearly a year later on 12 May, when she won the Cognizant Founders Cup after shooting 24-under-par. This victory broke Korda’s aforementioned five-event winning streak. Paris 2024 will be Zhang’s Olympic debut and she will be the youngest American golfer at the Games since 1904.
“I haven’t really thought about it too much, but I definitely knew that this year I was on the cusp of entering Olympic territory,” she said to reporters in May. “I think, in the first couple of events coming out (this season), I put a lot of pressure on myself to be able to play well. Partially the reason is because I didn’t want to miss out on the Olympics. I’ve been watching it since I was 5 years old.”