Rose Zhang burst onto the LPGA Tour scene earlier this year when she won her debut event, the Mizuho Americas Open, in a playoff against Jennifer Kupcho.
Zhang’s win thrust her into the spotlight after her dominant career at Stanford, where she won a Pac-12 championship, an NCAA championship and the August National Women’s Amateur.
The rising golf star added another accolade to her resume Wednesday when she was named an ambassador for Uswing, an eyewear technology company, to help her on the course.
The 20-year-old explained to Fox Business in a recent interview she wasn’t always a fan of wearing sunglasses and didn’t think they were fashionable enough. However, her father finally convinced her to put the shades on, especially while on the course.
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"My dad always wanted me to wear sunglasses. He would always threaten me to basically just wear sunglasses. Otherwise, I would be blind by the time I was 25 years old," she said jokingly. "I reluctantly did wear it. I wore it for a tournament or two."
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Zhang said after she wore the glasses, she started to feel better after rounds. She said there’s a lot of eye straining during the long stretches, but the glasses help put a stop to that.
"They were not only really lightweight. I found myself actually feeling better after the rounds," she told Fox Business. "I didn’t have a lot of headaches anymore. So, when I went into college, it just became my sort of style."
Zhang said wearing sunglasses helped her to read greens and grass better because she felt the sun reflected off of the greenery.
PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson and PGA Tour golfer C.T. Pan are also ambassadors for the brand. Mickelson was wearing the shades when he won a major in 2021.
"It’s been incredible. I feel very honored to be able to represent a brand that accomplished players like themselves have associated with," Zhang said, adding she found those two players "very inspirational."
Zhang will launch her own brand of Uswing signature sunglasses, including a Rose Gold edition that will go for $699. She will also be featured prominently in various marketing campaigns.
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The Pacific Academy Foundation will receive 30% of the proceeds from sales of the Rose Gold glasses.
