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CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S OPENAugust 22, 2014Danielle KangLONDON, ONTARIO DANIELLE KANG: All I wanted to do was finish at 10‑under today. I started off with a goal of 4‑under minimum, and I was coming in and I was striking the ball well on the back nine and I was trying to figure out the shots, and I skulled a wedge shot on 16, and I had a really tough chip coming back, and I told myself, you know what? It will all even out. Good at putting right now, and I have so much confidence with my putter which makes my game really together. Q. Feel pretty confident going into the weekend then? DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I'm still going to stick to my game plan. The greens are so receptive that I can just hit it at the pin. My swings just got to hold up, and no more skulling over the green. But I really like this golf course. If you make a mistake, it's a mistake. So if you miss the green or miss the fairway, it's really tough rough out here. It's actually really long, so it's kind of a shock. Q. Any idea what you think the score is going to need to be to win this? DANIELLE KANG: I'm not sure. 15‑under is in the lead after two days, so you never know. There are a lot of birdies out there, so we'll have to wait and see. There are a lot of people contending, and there are a lot of birdies out there, and everyone's shooting low. So you've just got to keep making birdies. Q. What will be your strategy as you head into tomorrow? DANIELLE KANG: I'm going to be aggressive, attack the pins. I love looking at the scoreboard to see what I have to do. So I'll keep looking at it. I'm going to be really aggressive to be honest with you. Some holes here you're going to have to take a par and leave, but other than those the greens are really, really receptive so you can throw darts on it. Q. How did you putt today? DANIELLE KANG: I putted really good today. Really, really good. I have so much confidence with my putter. I had a lot of six‑footers that I need to save, and I feel great about my wedge game. When I make a mistake, I don't feel panicked. I feel, oh, it's okay, I'll just figure it out, which I did on the last hole. I told my caddie on the last hole I think I figured it out. Last skull I think I figured it out, and I did, and stuck it in and made a birdie. Q. Many players don't like watching the scoreboard. Why do you like to? DANIELLE KANG: I love it because I know there are birdies out there, and I'm refreshing score this morning to see who is shooting what. I just like to see that. I just like to know that I need to do more. Instead of saying I'm going to play my game. Of course you should play your own game, but I like to see what the competition is doing. If they're 15‑under, I've got to get to 10. I can't be finishing at 9. I keep looking over to see who is shooting 6 or 7‑under, and Lizette's at 6‑under, and 8‑under, and I'm like all right. There are birdies out there. There are pin placements you can attack and let's keep going. Let's get birdies. Q. Did that give you confidence that you saw So Yeon was at 15 when you teed off or did that freak you out? DANIELLE KANG: No, I just said I think So Yeon really likes this golf course. I'm guessing she really does. Seeing that she has 15‑under coming in, and a lot of players shot 7‑under, 8‑under, 6‑under, and 5‑under, that tells me there are birdies out there. I was talking to Lydia before the round, I took her ball marker because I forgot to bring one, and I asked her how is the course looking? And she's telling me, there are birdies out there. You've got to go by the scoreboard, scoreboard tells you everything you need to know. That's why I like to look it. Q. Is this Lydia's? DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, this one's Lydia's. I stole it. I'm going to keep it. Q. Maybe steal some of her mojo here? DANIELLE KANG: Well, she was going to give me her ball marker, but she said she wasn't putting well, so she gave me the one she was putting well with which is this one. Q. That's not a bad person to steal from. DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I was like where is she? I have to go get a ball marker. Q. How did you two become so close? DANIELLE KANG: I don't know. I think we just clicked. She's like a little sister. I've always supported her. I'm watching her too, just refreshing scores and always rooting each other on. You've just got to feed off other players and it's a good energy. Q. When did that start? DANIELLE KANG: I've known her for a while, few years ago, many years ago. Q. When did you first meet? DANIELLE KANG: I don't know. She's still so young, I'm not sure. I want to say like 12, but I'm not quite sure. Q. When is the last time you were in contention out here? DANIELLE KANG: It's been a while. I've had a couple rough years coming up. But I told myself Toledo to just get myself together and that's enough of this. I just wanted to get my game back. I think last time I was in contention ‑‑ I was in contention in Singapore, and I blew it. I blew it. I didn't finish well there. I was like Top 10, and I shot like 7‑over. But just my mom keeps telling me stay calm and don't get too excited because I'm very emotional. So I hit that shot, I was like oh, gosh. She was just like just relax and play your game and you'll be fine. Really excited to be in contention right now. Q. You had some huge amateur wins on stages pretty similar. Do you lean back towards looking at that? It's not like you'll be fresh out there know not knowing what this is like. DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I recall shots that I hit and putts that I've putted even back in 2010 and 11. I still remember. It's very fresh. I had actually that putt on 16, I had about a 25‑footer for par on a par‑5 and I could reach it. I look around and it's weird to say, but I feel my dad around me. I remembered all of a sudden me betting a TV against him. So I said, oh, my gosh, I think this is actually going to go in. And I made it. I kind of replay things and when I do something bad I kind of look around and see I kind of look for him and know he's there so it makes me feel better. I do recall shots many times. Q. Has it gotten easier playing without him? DANIELLE KANG: No, it's never easier. Now I just imagine him there. He's been there so much now so if I make a birdie, I see him giving me thumbs up. If I make a mistake, I see him going like it's okay. He always used to just go it's okay, just calm down, just calm down. Or if I hit a good shot he always gives me thumbs up, and I look around and I know it's weird. He hasn't been here, but when I look around and I see certain trees that he would be under. It's really weird. I know where he would be standing. It's an odd thing to do. But there is one hole, I think number‑‑ what hole is it? The uphill par‑4, I know he'd be standing under that tree. I just look and imagine him being like it's okay, let's go because I had an 8‑footer for par again. I see it and feed off of that, and I go all right. I'm going to make the putt, and I made it. Q. Will your mom be here this weekend? DANIELLE KANG: You never know. I don't know. She might make an a appearance. I'm not sure. I leave her with a lot of pets so, yeah, I hope so. She's very spontaneous. She's supposed to come out in Portland, and she missed all my amateur wins, so she might get on a flight. I'm not sure. Q. You might not want her to if she missed all the amateur wins? DANIELLE KANG: No, I'd love for my mom to come out. I'm like, Mom, when are you going to grace me with your presence? Anytime soon? So you never know. Q. Where's your mom live? DANIELLE KANG: In California, thousand Oaks. Q. That's a nice long flight for her. DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, we'll see after tomorrow. She's funny. My brother said, hey, mom, did you record the TV yesterday? I think Danielle was on. She said, no, was she on TV? I didn't record it. She's usually never on. I was like, oh, thanks, Mom. She said, oh, I see it. Because she's a doctor, so her patients send her videos of it. So she said, okay, I'm recording it today, but I think you're not on. You know, TV times. I'd love to just come out‑‑ I want her to come out and watch live. Q. Now you're going to be potentially in the final group, at least the last group tomorrow, so you'll be on TV? DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, honestly, I wanted to be on TV so my mom could see it. Not for any other reason, I just wanted her to. Sometimes she can't be here and I wanted her to be able to see it sitting at home with all my luggage, my pets. Q. After seeing the last two days, are you pretty committed to keeping that putter long‑term? Are you going to quit giving it away? DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, he's going to stay. I think my putter rep will be really happy that he doesn't have to make me another putter. Q. How many did you go through? DANIELLE KANG: A lot. I went through a lot. He built me whatever I wanted, how I wanted, he built it, and I just didn't like any of them. I switched back to this one, and he goes, thank you. Back to the old one that you're comfortable with. So he's going to stay. There is no reason not to. Q. Do you think part of that is the confidence of maybe remembering some of those past successes? DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I looked down and I see that ugly little white thing, and I just know that that putter has made putts. I know how it's going to go in. Q. In some huge situations. DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I just feel really good with that putter. Some days it doesn't go in, but I feel really good with it. I feel like it's me, not the putter. Q. You can't blame it on the putter? DANIELLE KANG: No, not anymore. Q. Why do so many teenage girls manage to grow up fast in the sport as opposed to boys? Do you have any theories on why? Lydia has won this twice now and she's 17 years old. Any theories on why? DANIELLE KANG: Just in this sport or in general? Q. Yeah, why so many teenage girls are so much better at golf than maybe boys of the same age? Girls grow up quicker? DANIELLE KANG: I don't know if I would put it in those words. I would say that they're‑‑ I think the guys our age are still very, very talented, it's just there's more competition, I guess that are in their 30s to 40s for men. I mean, they're still shooting 10‑under par. But I think this game is growing, so there are much younger players that are coming up faster. I don't know, maybe girls are just more mature than guys earlier. I don't know. I think the rookie age in men's Tour is 31, is that what it is? Rookie average age, and LPGA, I don't know what LPGA is. I'm thinking is it 12? Because I'm way past 12. But I think everyone‑‑ it depends. I don't think it's an age at this point, I think it's the maturity of how you handle the game of golf. Sometimes you see Lydia and you wouldn't think that she's 17. I would see her as golf maturity‑wise, she's been around for many years and you can see some 25‑year‑olds playing, and you could say, okay, she needs to mature in the game a little bit more. My game's still very immature, and I think it's the maturity of the game more than the age. That's my opinion. I don't know. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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