Two-time Buick LPGA Shanghai winner Danielle Kang picked up right where she left off at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, opening with a bogey-free, 4-under 68 on Thursday in Shanghai, China. Kang got off to a quiet start, parring her first three holes, but she broke through with a birdie on the par-5 4th hole to get the party started, grabbing a pair of back-to-back birdies on 7 and 8 to turn in 33. The 30-year-old cooled off on the back nine, picking up the last birdie of her day on the par-4 12th hole, closing with six consecutive pars to sit in a tie for third at 4-under.
The 68 is Kang’s lowest first-round score since Thursday at the Portland Classic when she opened with a 5-under 67, and it’s her second-lowest first-round score at the Buick LPGA Shanghai. It’s the fourth time this season that Kang has gone bogey-free, with her last bogey-free round coming on day one of the Portland Classic in August. As the only winner of the Buick LPGA Shanghai, Kang knows better than anyone in the 81-player field how to go low at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, and she credited the course knowledge she’s gleaned from her victories in 2018 and 2019 as the reason for today’s solid play.
“It was a very solid day. There are some holes (that) I know (where) I needed to be, and I think having course knowledge and having won here has really helped me out today,” said Kang. "Probably trying to stay as patient as I can (helped me today). Know what I need to do, and I know what games you need to have to be able to contend here. Surprisingly enough, you just have to have ball striking really in play with wedges because there is a lot of tricky grass around the greens.
“My caddie, Brian, really helped me stay in the moment. He's like, ‘It's only Thursday. Stop looking at the leaderboard. We're going to end up where you need to end up.’”
This is Kang’s 17th start of the 2023 LPGA Tour season, and thus far, she has earned five top-15 results, most notably tying for third at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. Ahead of the Buick LPGA Shanghai, the Las Vegas resident is ranked second in putting average (28.64), is tied for second in putts per green in regulation (1.74) and is 11th in strokes gained around the green.
Kang hasn’t found the winner’s circle since capturing her sixth career LPGA Tour victory at the 2022 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, but so far this week, she looks poised to make a run at a third consecutive Buick LPGA Shanghai title. The People’s Republic of China is a place that, for obvious reasons, Kang always enjoys coming back to when it comes to playing professional golf. But she also loves the people, food and culture in China, relishing any opportunity she has to return to the country and interact with its residents, one of whom did something special for the major champion on Thursday.
“I do want to point out this girl today, one of the fans in China. She came up and gave me a birthday gift, this bracelet. If you look through it there is a picture of my dad in there. It was probably one of the most thoughtful gifts,” said Kang, who lost her father, K.S., to cancer in 2013. “I did another interview (this week and was asked) if there was a Chinese phrase I want to learn. It's, ‘Thank you for always trying to help.’ I don't know how to say it again, but I think that says a lot about people from Shanghai. That was very kind, and I'm very touched by that, and so I just wanted to say thank you.
“The people really do make it for me, where they're always kind of upbeat, always there to help. Even if I'm a foreigner, they're not looking at me like I'm not welcome. I can go anywhere, and I feel very welcome in Shanghai. I love coming back to Shanghai, so thank you to everybody that was involved in getting this tournament started. I really appreciate you guys going through a lot of struggles to make this tournament happen.”
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