The least surprised of the TV viewers that Dustin Johnson again shot an under-par round (2-under-par 70) Thursday at The Masters might be Danielle Kang.
Kang, the 22-year-old LPGA Tour pro, saw it all winter long from Johnson at Sherwood Country Club outside of Los Angeles. Kang has played with good players on the men’s side before – her brother Alex made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open this year – but she’s never seen anything quite like the golf she saw from Johnson this winter in a couple of rounds together.
“There was always competition,” said Kang. “I better shoot 10 under or I’m not going to beat him. He just makes birdies after birdies after birdies. He makes golf look so easy. Dustin just makes it look easy. When he shoots over par, I have no idea what happened.”
She wasn’t in Johnson’s group the day that he broke Tiger Woods’ course record at Sherwood with a 61 this fall, but she was at the course that day and wasn’t surprised a bit when she heard after what he’d just done.
“I could see him shooting 61 there. But I could see him shooting 61 anywhere,” Kang said, “because he’s out driving my drive by a minimum of 100 yards. It’s unreal.”
She got to know Johnson through the Gretzky family, who have become a second family of sorts for her, and Johnson helped set up Kang to sign with his agent when she was in search of a new one this offseason. The relationship originally started through her brother, though, who had become friends with one of the Gretzky sons.
Over time Danielle got to know them as well, and Wayne and Janet Gretzky began to allow her to play out at Sherwood Country Club as an amateur in high school under their membership. After she won the back-to-back U.S. Women’s Amateurs, she became an honorary member, but her friendship with their family remained. The Gretzky’s Hockey School patch now hangs on the right sleeve of her Adidas golf polos, and Wayne and Janet made the trek last weekend on Saturday out to Rancho Mirage to see her play.
“It was awesome. They surprised me!” Kang said. “They didn’t tell me they were coming. I was like what are you guys doing here? They were like surprise! I was really excited, and I think other people were even more excited than I was.”
Before most rounds she’ll find a text message from either Wayne or Janet wishing her luck or offering advice or doses of confidence. One such text arrived Saturday morning before her round from Wayne, saying: “I want to see you on TV today!” Instead, they came out to see her in person. What they saw was a major improvement on the greens this year from Kang. She’s currently ninth on the Tour in putting average (29.0) after finishing 62nd on the Tour a year ago (30.19).
It is part the work Kang put in this offseason to improve the Achilles heel of her game, but some timely advice from Johnson has made a major difference in her approach.
“He gave me a couple putting tips. I kept saying I always pick the line first and god my speed never matches the line,” Kang said. “And he goes ‘How do you know your line if you don’t have your speed? He’s like ‘Pick your speed first’ and that makes sense. So I’ve tried to incorporate that a lot. He just helps by making things easier.”
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