MIZUHO AMERICAS OPEN

May 5, 2026

Megan Khang

Andrea Lee

Albane Valenzuela

Mountain Ridge Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, pleased to be joined by three of the newest members of WTGL, Megan Khang, Andrea Lee, and Albane Valenzuela. Start with Megan, go to the right. Just talk about your excitement for joining this league.

MEGAN KHANG: I mean, this is huge. Obviously growing up in the Boston area we have a lot of or I guess we had a lot of team sports, and growing up with golf being very much an individual sport, couldn't really I guess see myself playing on the team sport, but now having an opportunity to like be on a team -- who knows who is also going to be a part of it -- but having the men's, I would like to think that maybe we can dabble in the women's game as well.

I am very excited to be on a team. Like every two years we get to play in a Solheim Cup, and both have experience playing on one, and I think we can all say this is a very fun week, yeah, getting to play in a team environment versus every week. So again, for the women's game, just going and kind of following with the men, what they're doing.

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, just to follow up, I think it's really exciting. I think it's a great opportunity for women's golf. A different environment, different setting, different crowds, audiences that may not watch golf usually. You're kind of like a stadium setting where you can see basketball, ^ something. So I think it's a really, really cool opportunity for us to follow what the men are doing on TGL and it will be really, really exciting. Like Megan said, it's not usual for us to play in a team setting. We do it in Solheim Cup, but I think it will be a really unique and fun aspect for us to be able to play for a team and represent our home group.

ALBANE VALENZUELA: That's great to come up last.

I'll get originality points. But obviously super excited to be a part of this. I think this is a great platform and opportunity for us LPGA players, so super excited to be a part of the first kind of squad to come up on TGL, women's TGL. It's a great opportunity. It will be fun to play team golf. I think we don't get enough opportunities.

The only time we really get in the regular season is Dow, and this will now be fun to be in a trio. I'm just really looking forward to it. I think it's a great opportunity and will be fun.

Q. Have you guys gotten to visit the SoFi Center?

MEGAN KHANG: I have. I don't know about you two. It's a sweet setup. I was lucky enough -- FM was gracious enough to have myself and my family come down. We got to go in an owner's box and it was wicked cool. Got to chat with a lot of guys.

It's not often it comes out. (Laughter.) Thankfully.

No, but it's awesome because it's really engaging. The crowd get involved. You hear the count down. You hear the music, it's a just a different side to golf that you get to experience.

Being a fan, a golfer myself, I want to get out there and hit off real grass into a screen. I think that adds a really unique aspect to it. When you think of simulator golf you think of mats and everything like that.

But when you have the green rotating right there in person and you have divots flying and bunker shots right there, I mean, obviously it's a little different seeing Kisner have thinned a shot a little. It stands out a little bit like that.

But I think that's the fun part of it. Like you're normally not like bantering back and forth with your playing partners. For the most you're part pretty serious out there unless you're watching my group and me talking all the time. For the most part I think it's really engaging and gets the crowd going.

The hammer, I know they added a different aspect to the hammers. So I think if you do get a chance to go it's a lot of fun, because obviously we get to be truly a part of WTGL and going as a fan it's a really fun experience.

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, we will be able to showcase all our different personalities as well. I feel like not a lot of people know the actual player. Like you just see us on the golf course and that's it. You know, you don't know what we're really like behind the scenes. I feel like this will bring out a lot of different personalities on Tour and people will finally be able to see that, and, you know, see a little crap talk and banter.

MEGAN KHANG: I'm ready for some Andrea Lee smack talk. Normally we're on the same team, so I don't really hear it, but I'm ready.

ANDREA LEE: I think Megan will be the queen of that.

MEGAN KHANG: ^ START there might be someone close to the beat button for me.

Q. Bringing it back to this week, teeing up here at the Mizuho Americas Open, just what have you guys made of the course? All three played here when it was Founders in '21. What do you remember about that experience and how is it maybe different compared to 2026 now?

MEGAN KHANG: I'll let you go first since --

Q. Yeah, Albane can start.

ALBANE VALENZUELA: I think it's brutal. I didn't remember it being this tough, and I've played both nines now and I think it plays like a major golf course. I think the greens are very slopey and very quick. I was putting and then sometimes you have to putt 10, 15, 20 feet right of the cup because it just slides and sometimes rolls of the green.

So it's challenging tee-to-green. It's long. With the wind and different conditions we'll get throughout the week, it could be a really big, major test.

ANDREA LEE: I remember it being a really tough test of golf for sure. Like Albane said, kind of feels like a bit after major championship. The greens are running at least a 12, 13. Just a really big golf course. Really big piece of property.

I think it's just going to test all aspects of our game this week. I remember I think I three, four years ago I had to make like a five foot par putt on the last hole to make the cut. That was a good memory. Hopefully play a little bit better this week.

MEGAN KHANG: I remember it being wet. I feel like I remember it raining a couple days. For the most part, to touch on what the girls said, this golf course is fantastic. I mean, I'm a little biased to New England golf and New Jersey. Being in the Northeast reminds me of home. This golf course sets up really well. I think there are tough conditions.

Obviously fairways are a premium out here, as with any golf course. But to me the rough seems super sticky, pretty thick, and greens are pretty tough. I putted off the green today and I was like, oh, because one of the caddies looked at my caddie and was like, oh, I'll go get the golf bag, and I didn't know what he was saying.

Then I looked up and my ball was off the green like 30 yards. But I think this golf course, it definitely has major feelings it to out here just because it plays long, tough, the wind will play a huge factor.

There are going to be sections of the greens where like you can't really attack and you're really going to have to section out where you want to hit it, because pars are never going to hurt you. That's a major mentality that we have. At the same time, when you're out there, pars will never hurt you in general in golf.

Q. You guys brought up trash talk; I didn't. Megan, I do want to start with you about banter. I've had the privilege to talk about it with Michelle and Charley Hull. Are we working on it? What's the process for it? How do you get yourself ready to talk smack to people?

MEGAN KHANG: I have -- I feel like my dad has been preparing me for this moment from the day I could talk.

No, because like when I'm home like I play with my dad a lot and my dad is my golf coach and we play and we're pretty competitive. My dad loves trash talking. But my dad is a big advocate of hey, don't dish it if you can't take it. Also like don't dish it if you can't back it up.

So it'll be a lot of fun because all these girls can back up what they're all saying. It's kind of just in the moment are you going to be able to deal with it and the pressure. It's a lot more fun.

It's not like a dig towards anyone, but it's just lighthearted and it's very much -- it's not to hurt feelings. It's just to make light of situations.

I think it's really going to show some personalities, because we'll keep that on the professional side, because my dad and I definitely go for digs on each other. But it's all love. I think it's all in good fun. We're all friends out here, and I know the girls that have been announced, we all get along with each other.

It'll just be I guess a peek into our friendships and dynamics out here.

Q. Albane, is there a player on the LPGA you think doesn't get enough credit for being pretty good with the mouth sometimes?

ALBANE VALENZUELA: Oh. Tough question.

ANDREA LEE: Have to put someone on the spot right now.

MEGAN KHANG: Me.

ALBANE VALENZUELA: I don't know, I feel like some of our college stories might come out on there.

ANDREA LEE: Hopefully not.

ALBANE VALENZUELA: Whatever Megan said. It's like we all get along. All the girls are super nice on Tour. As we said earlier, no one gets to really showcase their personalities out there. It looks serious and dull a lot of time, so this will be really fun.

A lot of my ESL might come out, so we'll just wing it. Whatever comes out comes out.

ANDREA LEE: I think it will be natural. The banter will come out as we actually compete in person. I think everyone knows how to smack talk a little bit. They just don't show it.

Q. Andrea, was there one thing that really made you decide that this is something that you really wanted to with WTGL?

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, I think it's just a really great opportunity for women's golf. Just with the growth in the game, this will reach different audiences, different fans. I think TGL has done really well. I can't really say for myself that I've watched many matches, but I've definitely followed like Billy Horschel who is a pretty good friend of mine and he's really thrived in that environment and it's really great to see how his personality has shown through these matches and he's kind of become like the king of TGL really.

Yeah, just watching that. He's always doing the gator chomp. Yeah, it's just really cool to see that side of him come out. When we're just watching him like on the golf course, it's -- he's pretty serious and all that. But he's actually really fun and cool, and just seeing that side of him is really fun.

So I'm hoping that we'll be able to kind of do the same, and like I said, showcase all the different personalities that we have on the LPGA Tour.

Q. (No microphone.)

ANDREA LEE: (Laughter.) We'll see.

Q. This is for all of you. I was hoping you could each give my your earliest memory or impression of Michelle Wie West.

MEGAN KHANG: My first U.S. Women's Open. I played a practice round with Michelle and it was super cool because I was 14. Was at Black Wolf Run. I haven't grown at all, so I was literally looking to her.

It was really cool because we obviously get to see these girls, watching them on TV and stuff like that, but obviously being able to be on Tour and play alongside them -- and now she's a mother, a host, and obviously coming back to play this week and in Riviera at the U.S. Women's Open again.

So it's really cool to see the full circle effect of how her career jump started a lot, and kind of being able to watch that in person as well as I guess witness a lot of her career up close has been really cool.

It's great what she's doing for the game, incorporating the junior golfers here. I know as a golfer we're not just here for us, but the next generations. We're here to kind of be a role models, even if we don't even think we are.

So to see her take that role into being the ambassador for this tournament and obviously herself, being able to play mom, do it all, it's pretty incredible.

So I think we've all grown, and it's great path she's taking to be the best example she can be for not only us, but the next generations.

ANDREA LEE: That's hard to follow. Actually very similar to Megan's story. I played a practice round with Michelle Wie West when I was 15 years old at my first U.S. Women's Open.

MEGAN KHANG: No way.

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, Pinehurst. She won that week, which was insane. So many people were following us even in the practice round so I was very nervous, but it was a very eye opening experience.

She's been a role model pretty much my entire junior career. I really looked up to her just as a Korean-American golfer. And she went to Stanford.

So I have a lot of great memories just watching Michelle play. She's a very inspirational person, and like Megan said, now she's doing incredible things off the golf course.

She's a mother of two and really taken charge of this tournament here at Mizuho. Yeah, just has been a great role model personally for me and I think for a lot of the us out here.

So it's really great to see how she's grown as just a person and even off the golf course.

ALBANE VALENZUELA: You think it's tough and I'm like the third? It's like, this is great. I actually -- I don't know what my earliest memory would be, but the other day I stumble upon a photo of me and Michelle when I was probably seven years old at Evian. I used to go religiously every single year from seven onwards. My parents would take me there. I was living maybe 30 minutes from the golf course in Geneva, Switzerland, and I have this picture of mini me with tall Michelle.

I just remember looking up to all these players, and that really inspired me to go back on Tour few years later. I think what she's doing right now is very inspirational, just balancing everything, being a mom, entrepreneur, on Tour, and I think it's something we can all look up to.

Definitely as someone that wants to do things outside of golf later in my career, something I really aspire to and something I'm very inspired by.

Q. Megan, you touched on it. We'll start with Albane, obviously unique format this week with the juniors playing alongside you guys. How special is that for them? You know, the mentorship program, just how awesome is it to see them get to play alongside you?

ALBANE VALENZUELA: Yeah, it's a great opportunity for this them. I got the opportunity to play I remember back in the day ANA Inspiration as an amateur, and all those opportunities I got play alongside professionals as a junior and as an am really helped me grow as a player.

So I think for them it's just going to be a blast, and hopefully we can help them a little bit during the next few days. I know they'll be pretty stressed because I was in their shoes back in the day. I was so nervous.

But I think it's a great opportunity.

And they're the best juniors, too, so they know how to play. The other day I play with this junior Aphrodite. Holy moly she can play golf. She was really, really good. She can hit the ball super far; so straight. It's really impressive to see how good the juniors are, and makes me want to work harder because the next generation is coming up. Quick.

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, we have an LPGA mentorship program this week. Great idea by Michelle also. Each of the juniors gets paired with a pro to grab lunch, breakfast, or join us to play like the nine-hole practice round. So after this press conference I'm going to play with my junior, Hailee. We're going to play the front nine.

Yeah, like Albane said, it's just a great opportunity for them to kind of see how we go about our practice. They can pick our brains, ask whatever questions they want to, if this is something they aspire to do someday.

It'll be a lot of fun. It's definitely nerve-wracking because I've also been in their shoes before, but hopefully it'll be a great experience for them.

MEGAN KHANG: Just like the girls said, it's a great way to incorporate the LPGA and the next generation in a sense. I've been fortunate enough to do this the past couple years and I still message my first junior I think Rianne Malixi and she won the U.S. Girls a couple years later. I texted her, congrats.

My junior is not even here this week right now. She's killing it right now with her partner at the four-ball, so I texted her last night about my schedule. I was like, hey, so nervous to text this junior golfer.

I'm like, I'm Megan. Nice to meet you. Excited to have you this week. Told her, yeah, I'm playing tomorrow a practice round. Obviously you're doing really well, so good luck and maybe see you this week.

And then ended up being her dad. So, yeah, it's happened to me a couple times. The numbers they've given me I've texted and called one of the other parents and they were in the Philippines. I'm like, sorry, this is the number they gave me.

It's really cool because obviously you get to meet these juniors when they're 15, 16 or even younger and you form these relationships, and obviously you get to see how they succeed throughout their careers, how well they're doing. I've had the privilege to play with Asterisk Talley a couple weeks ago at JM Eagle, and I got to chatting with her. I would tease -- banter with her a little bit. I told her I was getting paid extra that week for babysitting, and she didn't quite -- she thought it was a little funny, but I was like, whatever.

But then we played three days in a row and she felt comfortable enough to banter with me. I would've loved to have this if I was a junior back in the day, so being able to be on the flipside and being the mentor, I'm going to put that in quotes, the pro, it's really cool. Obviously they can learn from us but, again, we can learn from them. I joke, back in the day where I was like, need to go back to playing like junior golf Megan where it was pretty free and it was just fun.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much for your time, guys.

ANDREA LEE: Thank you.

ALBANE VALENZUELA: Thank you.

MEGAN KHANG: Thank you.