Problem with term_exists, it ignore parent = 0

Term_exists function returns the child category, although I’m only looking at the parents.

The structure of categories:
Category
– Titleist

code:
$ term = term_exists (‘Titleist’, $ taxonomy, 0);
echo print_r ($ term);

answer:
Array
(
[term_id] => 1204
[term_taxonomy_id] => 1204
)

Answer should be NULL!

Am I doing something wrong? How can I search only for the parent category?
Thank!