Ace in the Hole: Vanessa Zhang, Female Rookie of the Year

From Vancouver to Cambridge, women’s golf freshman Vanessa Zhang has driven and putted her way to success on Harvard’s team this past year. Coming off a breakout season, Zhang is now teed up for a historic career for the Crimson at the Ivy League and beyond.

Zhang started golfing in Vancouver when she was eight, when she saw her classmates — and now, fellow golfers at Harvard — Michelle Liu and Lucy Yuan golfing. After attending local camps in the spring, she liked the sport and decided to stick with it.

Following a strong high school career that included wins at prestigious tournaments and being ranked 270 in World Amateur Golf Rankings, Zhang was drawn to Harvard because there is “such a great balance between academics and athletics compared to other schools.”

Now, Zhang has proved herself as one of Harvard’s most talented female golfers in years, earning accolade upon accolade in the League and nationally.

In April, Zhang was unanimously voted to the All-Ivy First Team, becoming the Crimson’s first female golfer named to the team as a rookie since 2018.

At the Ivy Championships, Zhang placed first overall shooting 11 under par, setting a conference record and earning herself a bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s regional tournament in Columbus, OH. She also led the team to a second place finish overall.

Zhang also finished fourteenth at the NCAA tournament. Finishing with a tournament score of 218, two shots over par, her placement was the second highest finish for a Harvard women’s golfer in program history.

She also finished with the best results in the tournament on par fours and picked up the sixth most birdies.

During a busy freshman year on the green, Zhang also had to manage her time better to balance her academics.

“The biggest thing for me was the practice schedule,” she said. “It was a lot more structured compared to at home.”

Zhang is a fierce competitor on the green, and says one of her strengths has always been identifying areas of improvement and targeting those in practice. She took the opportunity of competing at NCAA Regionals to observe other top teams and improve her game. When she was in high school, Zhang remembers using any free time to practice golf. Now, she praises her teammates at Harvard for helping her achieve the success she’s seen this year.

“I really could not have done it without my team,” Zhang says. “I had so many great teammates who would come in with me, even when they did not have practice, just for extra practices.”

Finding time to practice has been more difficult for Zhang in college, which she explains is partially because the indoor facilities are a 30 minute walk away while the outdoor course is an equally long drive. Still, her commitment to the sport, along with her teammates’ support, has helped her rise to the challenge.

“You really have to make the most of your time,” Zhang said. “I think that being a collegiate golfer has made me a lot more efficient.”

Zhang was coached this year by Naree Song, who has led Harvard women’s golf as head coach for the past two seasons. Now in her tenth year at Harvard, Song says that the team’s freshmen, composed of Zhang, Liu, and Yuan, have been “really strong.”

“All three brought something a little different to the team, and it’s nice because everyone has different strengths and they bring something a little unique to the team,” she said.

Song praised Zhang for being a “role model” for the team in balancing her academic and athletic commitments.

“I’m most proud of her work ethic,” Song said. “Vanessa has an incredible work ethic, and it’s nice that that work ethic paid off in a big way this spring.”

Song said she hopes that the talented team can be the first from the Ivies to make it to the NCAA National Tournament. But first, they have to win the Ivy League Championships — a feat that the Crimson have not achieved since 2019. Using NCAA Regionals as a learning experience, Song looks forward to striving for national competition with Harvard’s program in the coming years.

“That is a really fun goal and a fun thing to try for as a program,” Song said.

After a breakout freshman year, Zhang is just getting started. She reminisces on the Ivy Championships as one of her favorite moments on the team from this past year.

“It was just such a fun tournament,” Zhang said. “There’s a different kind of competitive spirit that people are bringing in, especially because you’ve been training towards it for the entire season.”

Over the next three years, she hopes to win the Ivy tournament, either as an individual or a team. Beyond the conference, she also hopes to become the first Ivy golfer to make it to NCAA Nationals.

—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.