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BUICK LPGA SHANGHAI

October 19, 2019

Danielle Kang

Shanghai, China

Q. Here with Danielle Kang, defending Buick LPGA Shanghai champion, who goes to the final round just one stroke off the lead. That eagle you made on 17 was awesome. Talk us through what happened there. What was going through your mind?
DANIELLE KANG: To be pretty honest with you, I hit a dragonfly on my practice swing on the tee box so I was kind of panicking about that.

Over the shot, I don't know, I just was -- honestly I know people might think that shouldn't throw you off, but Olly was joking around the entire time that the dragonfly is okay.

The yardage just came out to be a perfect 5-wood and he said I could cover the entire bunker, so went middle of the green and he said rip at it and I did.

Q. That was great way to cap a round, because you started off with back-to-back bogeys and reeled off a bunch of birdies. How do you bounce back from not the start you want to such an incredible round?
DANIELLE KANG: To be honest, I didn't feel that great starting round. I got there and I was a bit not quite in the moment or in the zone, so it was a little bit of a shaky start.

But Olly and I have worked together long enough and we both know I don't really get affected by a bogey on the 1st hole or the 2nd hole. We can turn it around and say maybe I accumulated the mistakes, made them early, type of deal.

So our goal was to par the next hole and I hooked it in the bunker. It was a tough par, but I made par, so I was proud of that.

Q. You and Olly do seem to have a great relationship. I think back to a year ago when he helped you work through your swing problems and get to your victory here. What does it mean to you to have someone you trust so must on the bag?
DANIELLE KANG: He works with me -- it's not really a swing problem. It's just more so my own mental and my own self. Having somebody that's a great teammate like Olly really helps out with golf in general because it's not just necessarily caddying with having the right numbers or the right club, but the mentality.

People know Olly really well. You know him. Everyone talks about how positive he is. So that's one of the things that I learned from him every day, is to look at the positivity. Even today it was a pretty bad first two-hole start, and on the third hole positive thing was I made a par and I was super happy about it.

So things like it. We find the positives in a swarm of negative, and I think that is what he does best. We do have a lot of the fun out there. That's the most important, so...

Q. Heading into tomorrow not only is it the final round, it's your birthday.
DANIELLE KANG: Yes. Again.

Q. Yes. You celebrated here it last yeast. Plans for your birthday? Think you can make it two in a row?
DANIELLE KANG: To be honest, I celebrate my birthday in so many different countries. Only birthday plans I ave tomorrow is the fact that my mom and I getting to see The Bund. She's seen it; I haven't yet and I was here last year.

I'm looking forward to that. Olly told me I had to go to some restaurant, I don't know what which one yet. I'm excited to see the skyline and the view and having a little time to be able to tour Shanghai after the round.

So that's all I've got planned.

Q. From a timid start to a spring in your step. What did you say after the two early bogeys get you back on track?
DANIELLE KANG: We didn't really say much. Just basically said that mistakes happen. I know it was a tad of a slow start, but I knew that I was hitting it well, putting well, so I just have to restart and just first of all make a par.

That was a tough par an 3 anyway.

Q. You made a par and so many good birdies. Four birdies on the trot were fantastic.
DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I hit the ball really well today. A lot of tough pins out there so we had to be very smart about where we hit the second shots, approach shots.

Definitely gave myself some birdie chances coming in as well. Eagle topped it off. Just got to keep trusting your lines and putt.

Q. And a sensational eagle on 17. What were you talking about with your caddie, Olly? You guys were smiling out there.
DANIELLE KANG: On 17 or in general?

Q. Just in general. Having a chat with Olly, seem to be sending you lots of good vibes.
DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, he's one positive guy. You've spoken to him. Yeah, we just talk about random things and we joke around a lot. We are really good at coming back into focus when we need to, and that's what we work on a lot, so...

Q. I don't know if you look at the leaderboard, but you didn't have to look very far because your main opposition as such going into the final round is Jess and Brooke. How aware were you of the situation and that he had the joint lead on 17?
DANIELLE KANG: To be honest, I was very aware of how Jess was playing. She was playing some amazing golf today. To be honest, I really kept to myself and really needed to focus on my game. I was I think five shots back at one point.

I wasn't really trying to chase Jessica or Brooke down, but more so than anything I needed to really focus on what I needed to do and give myself birdie chances coming in.

I knew there were some reachable par-4s and par-5s coming up, so needed to capitalize on that.

Q. Tomorrow is your birthday, final round of a tournament you're defending. How much are you looking forward to it and what's the game plan?
DANIELLE KANG: Game plan is to stay aggressive with the way I map out the golf course. Yes, it is my birthday. I'm very excited. Honestly, tomorrow my mom and I are going The Bund and I'm excited about that because I haven't been still. I don't know, really don't have a game plan except that. For my birthday plans, that's about it.

For golf, just got to keep trusting my golf shots and my read. Going to be in the same group tomorrow so should be fun.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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