Danielle Kang poses near the title trophy regarding the eighteenth green after winning the competition of Champions LPGA golf contest, Sunday, , in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Korda decided not to render her very first birdie of this round before the 15th hole
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Danielle Kang conveniently acknowledges she, along with her golfing technique, remain a continuing work in progress. She invested the majority of the offseason locating ways to end up being a€?comfortable are uncomfortable.a€? It seems become employed.
On a hard tournament test at pond Nona tennis and Country nightclub, Kang went off five birdies in a seven-hole stretch in the exact middle of this lady game, uploaded the lower get Sunday at 4-under 68 and sprinted off to a three-shot victory in the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations competition of Champions.
a€?My mental online game was really close,a€? said Kang, who was winless in 2021 after creating claimed in each one of their earlier four LPGA periods. a€?I had a really great attitude all day long these days and past. I understand I leftover some putts available, but I never ever let it will me personally, and that I kept having to promote my self birdie possibilities whenever possible.a€?
Kang had been the solitary pro to break 70 on both weekend era (69-68), and also the sole user to take in the 60s all rounds. The 29-year-old United states is now offering six LPGA games.
In her own just earlier stop by at pond Nona, Kang missed the slice from the Gainbridge LPGA a year ago. However when inquired about it in this event, Kang stated she had no remembrance.
On a blustery, cool Fl time that made birdies scarce and scoring challenging, Kang stream in more than this lady share, creating six birdies. She grabbed command over the competition in the beginning the back nine with three successive birdies beginning at par-3 13th.
an identify associated with the circular was actually a hard earned bogey from the 393-yard sixteenth, where Kang taken this lady means nearly into a penalty neighborhood and had playing from the gap on a difficult http://www.datingreviewer.net/local-hookup/rochester bunker try. She then two-putted from about 90 foot, converting a bogey putt from 10 feet.
Gaby Lopez, among three members to keep the lead Sunday, skilled an up-and-down time, cooling after a hot front side nine to complete next, four images behind Kang. She played the lady way inside lead with three straight birdies starting at the 5th gap, but couldn’t carry on the pace and wound up with a 72.
Playing alongside Nelly Korda and Annika Sorenstam – one a current #1, one a former, and 72-time LPGA winner – Lopez located the ability as valuable and informative.
Korda, who took a one-shot lead into Sunday, recorded 75 and slid to a wrap for next. It really wasn’t a continuation of the woman very first 54 gaps, when Korda produced 16 birdies and an eagle.
a€?Overall, you realize, I didn’t bring good,a€? Korda mentioned, a€?but i will take some positives far from this week, and ideally I’m able to type go into the next two.a€?
She intends to play the LPGA’s earliest three happenings in Fl, then simply take six weeks down, producing her very own offseason after an extended and very profitable 2021 campaign.
She got inserted the ultimate round coming off seven consecutive rounds in sixties at pond Nona, and 11 successive rounds inside the 1960s total dating to last period
She didn’t have to look much to find the LPGA record-holder for consecutive rounds inside the 60s: Sorenstam, exactly who once make 14 in a row, was a student in the girl group, vying against former MLB pitcher Derek Lowe the title for the star unit.
Lowe and Sorenstam would head to extra holes to choose a high profile winner, with Lowe shocking the entire world tennis Hall of Famer when he rolling in a 25-footer for birdie on the very first additional hole, the par-4 18th. Sorenstam have a putt just inside Lowe’s however when golf ball failed to decrease, triumph was his.