Alexa Pano & Rose Zhang | 2024 Dow Championship

Media Center at the Dow championship by rosang and Alexa Pano that will be playing together this week um just talk a little bit to open things up about how excited you guys both are for the week and the opportunity to play with each other if Rose would you like to start of course um I'm super excited we grew up playing AAS together and um we've participated in like junior solheim junior Ridder cup um together so it's just super fun to kind of go into this week like knowing a really good friend um ever since we were itty bitty and um just going out having fun um this event is so unique on the lpj schedule so being able to really just have a partner enjoy the time um is very special yeah I think the theme for this week is just to have as much fun as possible I mean we've been looking forward to this for a while now and like rose kind of said growing up together was so special and now being being able to live out our dreams on tour together is really cool and getting to experience an event as partners is going to be amazing and has there been any conversation about the strategy for four sums versus four ball I mean based on if you guys both have when you played together growing up you know each other's games a little bit and what kind of compliments each other how are you hoping to kind of mesh that all together this week um yeah I think we're going to play this afternoon and kind of see if there's any strategy on this course but um I don't know I feel like we know each other's games pretty decently well and we're quite comfortable with each other which I think will be to our benefit um but I know she's a great player so I think we'll we'll do all right uh same goes for her but um I'd say I'd say yeah we grew up just playing so much golf together um I think she knows my game just as um well as a lot of um other players when growing up and um same for her U I've seen her hit some crazy shots so um I know she has all the shots in the bag when the time comes and just a couple more for me and then I'll open it up on the zoom first and then here in the media center has there been any discussion about a team name or walkup song or any options that you all are looking at right now as you as the deadline approaches you can present it um there's been so much discussion about it probably more discussion than Str stry but um our team name this week is rolea kind of just combining our names um and we're still working on a walkup song but um yeah it was probably the hardest decision to make so far yeah we gave it to the polls on Instagram for for them to kind of be creative with it amazing I love the fan participation all right we'll open it up here on the zoom with Greg if you'd like to unmute now and ask your question hi uh Rose I'm out here in your new home of Las Vegas just wanted to um congratulate you on making the Olympic team and wanted to ask you a little bit about that um just your general feelings on the excitement level and how you feel about headed to Paris yeah I'm super excited um it's it's honestly something that I never really expected to happen um this quick I just think that I was so warped up on just being able to play week in week out on the tour um against the best in the world and to be able to compete against the best while representing your own country is honestly such a great honor in itself it's what every single athlete dreams of um so it's very humbling that I was able to um be able to get that spot on the US team and um be able to teed it up at the Olympics um I've watched the Olympics ever since I was five so being able to see all the other sports all the other athletes um just compete and kind of get that medal or even just wear their flag with pride um it's something that I've always watched and felt inspired by was it something that was even on your radar or was it after the win in New Jersey that it kind of clicked that this was a possibility yeah it was definitely after Jersey where it did click a little bit more um I almost didn't really want to think about it too much just because there were a lot of golf there was a lot of golf left to be played um early in the season and um honestly if I was to only focus on making the Olympics um it would have been a little bit more difficult to play shot by shot green by Green um when I'm out there competing um so I was able to really kind of give myself more of that opportunity to think about it after Jersey yeah and what is it about the experience you're most looking forward to are you are you going to hang out in the Olympic Village or are you just going to treat it like a another tournament week no I'm going to savor it for sure um I plan on hanging around the olyp Olympic Village I played the Pan-American games um back in 20 18 2019 I believe um in Lima and just being with so many different athletes seeing everyone doing their own thing coming in with um the medals that they won is um it was a really special experience and I'm sure the Olympics will definitely top that but it's um it's something that I want to kind of savor and uh just enjoy and then just one last last one about it um I mean you've had a lot of huge amateur experience big stages and then solheim cup was a huge stage do you think those kind of events will help you because this is going to be the biggest worldwide stage you're going to be on I think it'll definitely help um just having the experience of repping the red white and blue going out there and competing not just for yourself but for your country um there's a lot of Pride to that and um you know I I think being on those stages I was able to really experience um the blessing of just competing um for the US and especially at an Olympic stage um it's going to be kind of surreal being able to do that too um on it's obviously a bigger stage but um you just have to treat it as any other any other golf event um when you're playing but really savoring is important and Alexa what's it going to be like to see your good friend playing in the Olympics what's what's the experience like as a viewer yeah I mean I'm so proud of her I mean to be able to do that in the short amount of time that she's been on tour is insane um and obviously very inspiring to me getting to watch her accomplish all these amazing things and hopefully four years time I'll be able to follow in her footsteps but I'm so excited to watch her go get that gold great thank you all right and along those lines I was just going to ask to as as uh one of the younger Duos out here this week um how do you hope to use that to your advantage maybe and then the second kind of part that I was just going to ask about you guys um got out here early on tour what's it been like to you to see some of your friends that are kind of working their way up to getting to this point as well what's it been like to kind of follow along with them they follow along with you um what's that experience been like yeah I think um especially when Rose got out on tour for me it was kind of like breath of fresh air cuz everyone knew each other from long term out here but having one of my childhood friends get out here it just brought me a lot of familiarity and um I know we root constantly for all of our friends her old teammates and eager for them to get out here with us cuz it's such an amazing experience getting compete every week with the best in the world and getting to do that with someone that you consider like a sister or a best friend just makes it even better yeah um when I was back in school I saw Alexa turn pro and you know she was she was already doing so much on the tour level um and I think I was also just very inspired by that um just watching her put in the work week in week out um I know it's a whole lifestyle and um Alexa has been really just living that out so I was um inspired when I was when I came out here and it was nice to have Alexa to be able to like just bounce back ideas or um like moments even when we have downtimes um to really just I guess be able to have fun interact um and just like genuinely have a friend on tour um that was what really helps me transition too all right Jeremy do you have a question a couple for me uh youall mention both familiarity so since y'all two are childhood friends Alexa this is your second time here Rose this is your first the familiarity with being forom in fourball matches does that give you guys I don't know if an advantage but almost a a comfort level when you go out start and play and stting Thursday yeah um I mean I I think trusting each other is a big thing in forums and there's almost no one out here I trust more than Rose so that's why I picked her as my partner um but yeah it's it's a really fun event like you said it's my second time being here and I had the best time here last year and so I'm just excited to get to do it again um it's a unique format out here but I think forums is one of my favorite formats in golf and so um I'm really looking forward to teeing it up here again same I think the thing about forums and fourball just being with a partner um obviously there's a bit more pressure to try to help your partner or contribute to the team but I think um since both of us know that there's always going to be little mishaps um on the golf course um it's it's you know I'd like to think that it wouldn't waver us too much from just enjoying each other's company um when we're out there playing but also so trying to get back into it um so as long as we have that like preparation in front of us I think um it'll be good regardless in a follow to to that Stacy Lewis was in here uh earlier we asked her she's playing with Maria but as the US solheim Cup captain and this is a similar type of format in a team event is that in the back of your mind with you two you two both played in the Junior solheim Cup Rose you played in The solheim Cup last year do you take that experiences playing in the soam cup and those team events into this week and is the soam cup going to be in the back of your mind this week um I mean yeah the junior solheim cups Junior Rider cups are really the only other places I've played this kind of format before coming out on tour so a lot of that experience I used towards this week and getting familiar with having a partner and a team and stuff like that and so those experiences were super valuable to me and a big reason why I love the forums fourball format so much and um so yeah I think solheim is kind of like always on everyone's mind but you're kind of putting it in the back of your head and just trying to play the best you can week in and week out and obviously just enjoy this week she couldn't have said it any better awesome I have one more question for the each of you then um Alexa we're kind of we're coming up on the year anniversary of your first win and your birthday um what's it going to be like to kind of relive some of those memories seeing the pictures back again on your phone Snapchat memories everything like that yeah I mean it's exciting um I think 20 is a big number I'm leaving my teens which is scary but um um yeah it's exciting I mean I don't think we have an event that ends on my birthday this year but I know the British Open is pretty close so maybe we'll try and like research some of that magic that I had last year I like it and then more Olympic question for you Rose um just talk a little bit about the start of turning pro and the excitement with that and how it's led to sim kind of just the the whole year and a little bit more and that kind of Journey that you've had yeah um it honestly still feels like a blur just because everything happens so fast and so quick um that summer just finishing Nationals um then announcing I turned Pro playing mizuo getting my tour card and then playing the rest of the majors um really well that year helped set up just um my position to be able to make it to sim and it was not on my radar at all um because I mean I was fullon expecting to go to Q School um in the fall but being able to play um in front of such huge crowds in Spain and actually being teammates with the people that I watched on TV um with Stacy as my captain it's um it was such a dream and um couldn't have had a better rookie season or a more fulfilling one um I always I always said that I wanted to learn a lot from just the inside the ropes outside the ropes of tour life um and that's what I've been trying to do and honestly I think this year has been a lot more uh learning learning curves um than even last year because now that I'm settled in um slowly still navigating what tour life is about amazing well thank you both for your time team Ro Alexa appreciate it have a good week thank you all right so um