The most treacherous part of golf is the five inches between your ears. The brain is where the demons lurk. Unlike other sports, golf is not a reactive where you respond to the actions of others. You create the action and when things are going badly, there is no place to hide. You can’t be taken out of the game or make up for a poor shooting day by playing defense. On Sunday at the Buick LPGA Shanghai, Danielle Kang spent nine holes trying to hide. Then, after a heart-to heart talk with her caddie, she spent nine holes proving she is a champion.
Kang, who turned 26 on Saturday, admittedly battled demons in the final found, but she left China with her second LPGA trophy after a gutsy final-round 69 that put her at 13-under-par 275, two strokes clear Lydia Ko, Marina Alex, Annie Park, Wenbo Lu, Brittany Altomare, Ariya Jutanugarn and Sei Young Kim. At 278 were Bronte Law, Yu Liu and Carlota Ciganda, who started the final round tied for the lead with Kim, one stroke ahead of Kang.
There was nothing auspicious about Kang’s start on Sunday as she made the turn at one-over par 37. That had her steaming a bit and her caddie, Ollie Brett, told her to just let it all out, maybe by banging on her bag. That’s what she did and then she made birdies on four of the last eight holes for a 32 that secured the victory. It was a finish reminiscent of when she made four birdies in a row on the back nine to win the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, making her first LPGA win a major title.
“I've been through so much just mental struggle that it's just been emotionally draining all year,” Kang said. “I've had just some anxiety problems for months and months. Honestly, having Ollie on the bag changed a lot and having Butch Harmon [her swing coach] work with me.”
Kang joined the LPGA with great expectations. After an abbreviated college career at Pepperdine University, she won the 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, seemingly fulfilling the promise of greatness made when she qualified to the U.S. Women’s Open at the age of 14. But success did not come easy as it took her 134 starts to get her first LPGA win. Now she has two victories in her last 33 events.
“After nine holes I had a temper tantrum," Kang said. “[Ollie] told me to go off to the side and we did. Hit the bag; do whatever you need to do to let your anger out and start a new nine. That's what I did."
When she won the KPMG Women’s PGA, Kang responded to disappointing shots in the final round with a laugh and a shake of the head. But since then the pressure on her to win again has mounted. This time the native Californian let her anger out and then refocused with steely resolve, completing a week in which she missed only nine fairways and 14 greens over the 72 holes.
"I've been through so much just mental struggle that it's just been emotionally draining all year," said Kang. "I've had just some anxiety problems for months and months. I'm just finally happy and just working on my game properly. It's been a lot."
That anxiety manifested itself in very apparent ways, even early in the week as she stalked this victory. She said she froze over her tee ball several times, once needing four minutes to pull the trigger on the drive. She said having Ollie on the bag was huge to her success, as was her work with Harmon.
“Butch tells me to get out of my own way,” Kang says. “I'm just so in my own way. Frustrates me. I'm just finally happy and just working on my game properly. Yeah. It's been a lot.”
In addition to Ollie’s support on the bag and the backing of Butch from afar, Danielle had her mother in China with her to emotionally hold her hand and got a call from her brother, Alex, who played at San Diego State University, before the final round to give her a pep talk.
“Overcoming the mentality of the anxiety you feel over the shots,” she said wistfully, “it's so much that golf does to you and the things that I had to deal with over the course of time that I've been on tour. You know, I'm just so happy to be where I'm at today. I'm just happy that I won.”
In the 28 LPGA events played this year there have been 23 different winners from nine countries. And while Jutanugarn strengthened her lead to be the Rolex Player of the Year with her T-2 finish, Kang has emerged as a solid top-20 player and bolstered her position as one of the best from the United States, climbing to No. 13 in the Race to the CME Globe chase for the $1 million bonus, trailing only No. 11 Marina Alex among the Americans.
With a bang of her bag and four back-nine birdies, Kang fought off much more than the formidable foes chasing her on the golf course in Shanghai – she fought off the demons who have haunted her. She won the battle fought in the five inches between her ears and proved she owned her mind as much as she owned her game.
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