Welcome back, Danielle Kang.
We’ve missed you — missed seeing you in the winner’s circle, missed seeing you among the top five players in the world.
It’s been 17 long months since you won on the LPGA Tour but you took care of that with a masterful back nine performance on a chilly Sunday afternoon at Lake Nona.
It cold all day in Central Florida with temperatures in the low 40s but that didn’t stop Gabby Lopez from making an early run that got her to the top of the scoreboard. Lopez ran off three straight birdies starting at the fifth and she walked off the eighth green with a solid lead at 15-under par. Overnight leader and world No. 1 Nelly Korda was as cold as the weather — no birdies over her first nine hole and a single bogey put her three behind Lopez at the turn.
If Korda wasn’t stepping up, the question was — who would? It was Kang. She made the turn at 13-under but went to work on the final nine with a run of four birdies over five holes starting at the 11th and by the time she walked off the 15th green, she was 17-under and in complete control of the tournament. Lopez began her retreat with three bogeys coming home, the first came at the 13th and when she bumbled things on the par five 15th and took bogey, she walked off that green four behind Kang.
Kang got out of position on the 16th, made bogey, and it was a good bogey, she went on to seal the deal with a par-par finish.
Lopez finished with a bogey at 18 and that allowed Canada’s golfing sweetheart — Brooke Henderson — to jump into the runner-up spot with a closing 70 and a 13-under par total.
Give Kang credit, she didn’t let the chilly conditions bother her. She was so good with that closing 68 that she was the only player of the top 10 finishers to break 70.
It was also a major test of patience. The rounds were long and arduous given the presence of celebrities in the field. Players had to wait on some tee boxes and it made for a study in slow play.
The only intriguing facet of that competition was the duel between Hall Of Famer Annika Sorenstam and retired major league pitcher Derek Lowe. The two finished tied with 138 points (Modified Stableford) and Lowe beat Annika on the first hole of a playoff with a par on the difficult 18th, where his distance off the tee (50 by Sorenstam) gave him what seemed an unfair advantage.
For the record, Lowe pocketed a cool 100-grand.
But this one will be remembered for the return of Danielle Kang, who has worked long and hard back in her hometown of Las Vegas with semi-retired teaching guru Butch Harmon.
“My mental game was really good,” Kang said after ending her long winless streak. “I had a really good attitude all day today and yesterday. I know I left some putts out there, but I never let it get to me and I kept having to give myself birdie chances as much as possible.”
When all was said and done, it was Kang who best handled the difficult conditions on Saturday and the cool weather on Sunday “I shot 4-under in the cold today and 3-under yesterday. Probably the best I’ve ever played in the cold and I’m proud of myself for that.”
As good as she was, Kang’s looking for better results: “My game’s not quite where I want it to be — but that’s okay.”
She should also be proud of beating a talented field that included the world’s No. 1, who couldn’t get it going over the final 18. “It’s my first tournament this year and I finished in the top five, so at least I can take that away,” Korda said. “I chipped it well and hit some pretty good shots here and there, so I’m going to take that way from it. I was in the final group again on Sunday, so I’m going to try to learn from a that again.”
In the meantime, back in Vegas, perhaps watching on television, Butch Harmon was smiling.
Tournament Of Champions Scoreboard:
