{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
Sometimes a city just speaks to you. With its vibrant buzz, glittery skyline, and Wild-West-meets-New-East attitude, Shanghai fits the flamboyant personality and go-go style of Danielle Kang perfectly. So, it’s no wonder that the Las Vegas resident celebrated her 27th birthday by capturing the Buick LPGA Shanghai for the second consecutive year.
A bogey-free, 2-under 70 at Qizhong Garden Golf Club on Sunday was good enough for Kang to edge past third-round leader Jessica Korda, who had three birdies and three bogeys in an even-par 72. Kang won by a stroke with a 16-under-par 272 total.
“It was a really stressful day,” Kang said afterward. “I definitely played well out there. It was really tough because you’re definitely watching what Jessica is shooting and scoring, and always just try to keep in my own game. There were a lot of birdie opportunities. I made some really great up-and-downs. I've never been more nervous than the last putt for some reason, but I made it.”
Kang pulled two clear of Korda with a birdie at the 15th but Korda answered with a birdie at 17 to cut the margin back to one. Then, on 18, Kang had a 25-footer for birdie that she left 3 feet short. Her second putt was a similar length to the one she made to win the 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, her first title as a pro. Just as she did then, Kang poured the final putt into the center of the hole to clinch victory.
“There was a stretch in the middle of the round which was very, very critical,” Kang said. “On No. 8 I hit it in the bunker. It was a very tough shot out of that fairway bunker. It was a superb two-putt and that was a pretty critical moment. Same thing with No. 9. I got a little bit greedy because I'd only made one birdie all day and I kind of wanted to take the lead. So, I attacked the pin and ended up short-siding myself again. Made a great up-and-down. I actually learned that chip shot from my brother last week. So, thank you, Alex.
“On 10, I hit it in the bunker again. Had to make a great up-and-down from below the hole. No. 11, I was in the bunker again. Short-sided again. It was a little bit tough. I was getting frustrated with myself, but I trusted my short game. I worked on it really well. So I just kept on chipping away and hitting it as close as possible and staying focused. I think that was really critical to keeping myself going for that five-hole stretch.”
Her brother might have taught her the chip shot, but Butch Harmon taught Kang to win. If ever there was a player in need of tough love and some kick-in-the-pants inspiration, it was Kang, who won back-to-back U.S. Women’s Amateurs in 2010 and 2011 but then went more than five years without a LPGA victory after turning pro. At times, she seemed more interested in her Instagram following than in living up to her full potential. That ended when she moved to Las Vegas and began working with Harmon. Kang’s swing didn’t change that much, but her mental toughness, her focus and centeredness, went to another level.
She now has three career victories, two of them in Shanghai and the other a major – still not her full potential, but closer.
RESULTS | RACE TO THE CME GLOBE
Staff and Wire Reports