Rose Zhang returns to LPGA after rehabbing from neck injury alongside UFC fighters

USA Today

07-05-2025

Rose Zhang returns to LPGA after rehabbing from neck injury alongside UFC fighters
Rose Zhang returns to the LPGA after a month-long break at this week's Mizuho Americas Open, site of her extraordinary win two years ago in her professional debut.
Zhang, 21, missed the first major of the season due to recurring neck spasms and has been back home in Las Vegas rehabbing at the UFC Performance Institute. Doing chin-ups next to a bunch of trained fighters proved to be intimidating, the two-time LPGA winner said with a smile.
When asked to expand on any interactions she might have had with UFC fighters or tips that may have been exchanged, Zhang relayed a rather gruesome tale.
"I was doing PT on the table and my PT that was working, Heather, looked at a photo from someone that came in and wanted her to see an athlete's injury," said Zhang. "She just simply looked at it and said, amputation.
"I was like, how bad is it to have your whatever be amputated? She was like, oh, do you want to see it, so casually, no change in demeanor."
When pressed about the body part in question, Zhang said it was a middle toe.
"I was just like, this is the type of place where they've seen everything," she said. "In my head I'm like, whatever I have is really nothing compared to what they're doing out there."
While Zhang said she's now pain-free, she admitted that the recovery process hasn't been the smoothest. She started hitting balls only three days ago.
"Obviously it goes unsaid, but the neck is very important for anything that you do," she said. "I just remember being in the car and any sort of movement obviously caused a lot of pain.
"To be able to do like very simple tasks and sleep really well, I think it's definitely a blessing. So I'm taking all the positives out of it. Now going back into the golf game, the fact that I see the ball fly, the fact that I can rotate and not feel too much pain, that's honestly all that I can ask for."
An upbeat Zhang said she feels good about her mindset and considers the forced break – even though painful – a blessing in disguise.