Former Westlake High star Danielle Kang to play in LPGA's event at Wilshire Country Club
Bob ButtittaLOS ANGELES — From the moment her plane touched down in Southern California this week, Danielle Kang knew she was home.
For the first time as a professional golfer, the former Westlake resident will play a tournament close to home. Kang is in the field for the LPGA’s inaugural HUGEL-JTBC Open at historic Wilshire Country Club, which starts starts Thursday.
“I feel really awesome being here, I love being home,” Kang said during Tuesday's afternoon session with the media. “I love seeing my friends every day and from the moment I landed in Los Angeles, there was a different vibe.
“I really appreciate whoever put this together to bring the tour to Los Angeles. To me this is really special.”
Kang, who moved to Las Vegas a few years ago, will play the Pro-Am on Wednesday with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and his wife Janet.
Kang has long considered the Gretzkys like a second set of parents and has played plenty of rounds with them at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.
“I am really excited that the Gretzkys are coming out to play with me,” Kang said. “I see them here and there but I have not had a chance to play golf with them for a while. It’s just another reason I am excited to be back home.”
Kang will also get a chance to visit the Glendale-based memorial park where he father K.S. Kang is buried.
K.S. Kang died more than four years ago, but Danielle regularly visits his tombstone despite living in Las Vegas. She will hop on a 5:30 a.m. flight to Burbank Airport, rent a car and make the short drive over to the memorial park. She will sit near his tombstone and talk to her father before returning to Las Vegas by dinner.
Kang also has a journal dedicated to things she wants to tell her father.
“It’s kind of cool because my dad is like 10 minutes from here,” Kang said of the L.A. tournament.
What Kang doesn’t miss her home state is the traffic. While she would love to stay with friends, the traffic makes it too tough to get to the tournament each day. She has spent a lot of time with friends the past few days but is staying at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which Kang didn’t know is allegedly haunted.
“I guess I am the only person in the world who did not know it was haunted,” Kang said. “I believe in ghosts and don’t want them chilling in my room. I had some friends asked me if I saw a little girl in a blue dress hanging around and I’m like, ‘Why are you telling me these things?’ ”
“I’m a person that picks up on vibes. … When I walked out of the elevator at the hotel and it was like, ‘Wow, what is going on here?’ I walked into my room and I just knew I could not stay there. I had so much anxiety. I called front desk and told them I could not stay in the room. So they moved me up two floors, and I was fine.”
While Kang is well known among golf fans in Ventura County, it wasn’t until last season the former Westlake High standout showed the rest of the country her talent when she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for her first LPGA major championship and first LPGA title.
The 25-year-old was stellar down the stretch on the final day, making four straight birdies on the back nine to pull away from Brooke Henderson.
Two months later, she stole the show with a strong showing in her first Solheim Cup appearance. The Solheim Cup is the professional women's version of the Ryder Cup, pitting a team from the United States against a team from Europe. Kang and her teammates won the 2017 tournament, 16 1/2-11 1/2.
“When you’re on a big stage and you’re under the pressure that comes with that, people get scared of failing,” Kang told The Golf Channel’s Randall Mell. “I want that challenge. I love being in that position. I’m not afraid to fail.”
After capturing her first LPGA major, Kang received much more attention and requests for her time. Wanting to make time for the people who support her and the rest of the players on the LPGA Tour, Kang found it hard to say no to almost any request.
Kang often found it difficult to stick to her normal practice routines, which was one reason she struggled to maintain a high level of play on a consistent basis.
“I got soft,” Kang said. “People ask for favors, I do it really easy for them. But I was talking with my caddie and decided where my career is at now, I can’t be there for everyone all the time. I can’t make everyone happy. That is what had to change.
“I decided I need to be aware of what I need to do and be conscious of what I want and what I need. In a way, I need to get a little selfish. At the end of the day, I have my routine and I need do all of it. If I don’t, my game goes down and I don’t want that to happen.”
Toward the end of last season, Kang told her instructor David Ledbetter she needed be to pushed harder to maximize her talents. They started making small changes to her swing and targeted certain events where she would try out her new approach.
The result was missed cuts last month at the Kia Classic in San Diego and the ANA event in Palm Springs. At last week’s tournament in Hawaii, Kang said her new swing felt great and she hit the ball much farther, even though she didn’t make the cut.
“I feel good about where my game is,” Kang said. “It’s coming together, and the bottom line is I trust David. Even if result is bad now, it’s going to be a good result down the road.”
Ledbetter believes this could be Kang’s best season.
“Her goal is to be No. 1 (in the world) and she is feisty,” Ledbetter told The Golf Channel. “She has guts and she is a real competitor. She loves being in the heat of the battle.
“She is getting better and better technically. As long as she is physically strong enough, she’ll have a big year. She’s on the move.”
Kang would love to have a breakthrough in front of friends and family this week.
“I played the course for the first time (Monday) and I loved it,” Kang said. “It’s a difficult course. It’s a ball-striker, shot-chipping golf course. It looks straightforward but it’s actually very tricky. I love it.”