TOLEDO, Ohio — In the winter months, after Danielle Kang won the Buick LPGA Shanghai, had 11 top 10s, including two in major championships, and pocketed $1,500,000 in winnings, she picked up the phone and dialed perhaps the greatest female golfer of all time, Annika Sorenstam.
Her message: Be aggressive and keep your foot on the gas.
The student listened to the teacher Sunday at Inverness Club.
Entering the final round of the LPGA Drive on Championship in a three-way tie, Kang took aim at tucked pins and never looked back, shooting a Sunday-best 2-under 70 in bizarre weather conditions — wind, rain, and brilliant sunshine — to beat Celine Boutier by one shot in a wire-to-wire victory.
“The game plan was to play aggressive and play my game,” Kang said. “ I wanted to make sure that I gave myself birdie opportunities.”
The victory is the fourth of Kang’s career, marking the fourth consecutive year she has won on the LPGA Tour. It came in a match-play type format against France’s Boutier, giving television viewers and the Inverness members on the patio near the 18th green a preview of the 2021 Solheim Cup.
“I didn’t actually think about that,” Kang said. “I was focused on them as stroke-play players and I wanted to know exactly where they were at. I didn’t look at it as a match play because I still need to play the course.”
Kang, Boutier (71), and Jodi Ewart Shadoff (75) of England, each members of the 2019 Solheim Cup, began the round tied at 5 under and paired in the final group. After birdies on No. 2 and No. 4, Kang surged to the outright lead, where she stayed, except for the 15th hole when Kang and Boutier were tied at 7 under.
Boutier bogeyed No. 15 and missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th that would have forced a playoff.
“Hopefully, I just learn from this and take it for experience for the next time I get the chance to play for the win,” she said.
The top five were the only players to finish the tournament under par — Kang at 7 under, Boutier at 6 under, Australian Minjee Lee (70) finished third at 4 under, Japan’s Yui Kawamoto (72) was fourth at 3 under, and Ewart Shadoff was fifth at 2 under.
Kang, the fourth-ranked player in the world, did not three-putt all week. But it was her wedge game that world-class instructor Butch Harmon wasn’t happy with. The duo spent countless hours working together at Harmon’s Henderson, Nev., golf school during the COVID-19 quarantine period.
Days started at 5 a.m. and went into the afternoon in the blazing Nevada sun. Kang and Harmon would see each other every day of the week at times, take a break, and then continue their lengthy practice sessions.
“I really appreciate everything that he does for me on and off the golf course, as a person, as a coach, mentor, and everything that he is,” Kang said. “I’m really thankful that he’s in my life. I’m grateful. His time is so valuable, but he spends a lot of time with me working on a lot of different things. You never stop learning from him, and I think that’s what’s the greatest thing about Butch Harmon. He’s so knowledgeable on things that you don’t even think that you know.”
The LPGA Tour now moves 7 miles away to Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, for the Marathon Classic presented by Dana.
Kyle Rowland is a reporter for Block News Alliance. The Block News Alliance consists of the Post-Gazette, The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, and television station WDRB in Louisville, Ky.
First Published: August 3, 2020, 2:11 a.m.