THE LPGA DRIVE ON CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY VOLVIK

March 6, 2021

Danielle Kang

Golden Ocala

Quick Quotes

Q. What a great third round here at Golden Ocala. How do you feel after the third round bogey-free?

DANIELLE KANG: I find it kind of funny because I've just been in a mood, but I decided to kind of take my game into consideration instead of worrying about other things I can't do.

So I think I got caught up in some things I can't control, and I just focused on my game and what I'm good at. Made three birdies on par-5s and it was really nice today.

Q. Did you ever feel the momentum kicking in today or was it just a solid round overall?

DANIELLE KANG: To be honest, it took a lot of patience today because you can't hit a lot of shots close out here. The pins were very tucked. It's not very scorable today, so made a lot of really good up and downs to save par.

Q. And how about the tribute holes? Do you find them --

DANIELLE KANG: I love them.

Q. -- identical?

DANIELLE KANG: I mean, they're pretty cool, to be honest. I keep telling my caddie, Oh, my gosh, we're in Scotland. Oh, my gosh we're in Augusta. So I really like it. I think it's really cool.

I don't even know if they -- on No. 7 -- No. 8 looks like Pinehurst No. 2 par-3. I don't know if they did that on purpose, but there are some holes that I see out here and I feel like it's like little bits and pieces from the golf courses.

Q. What was the weather like for you throughout the day today? How much did you play in rain?

DANIELLE KANG: Probably the front nine we played in rain and then it drizzled. I warmed up shorter today because I didn't want to get wet all day, because I don't want to be soaked all the rest of the day.

It was raining okay and then start down pouring for a few holes and stopped and got hot.

Q. I know, sounds like a lot of seasons in one day.

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I have four layers on so I was hoping that the clouds would take over. The weather was -- actually I think it worked with us today more so than people assumed.

Q. Yeah, how different did the course play compared to the first two rounds?

DANIELLE KANG: I think they played different for different reasons. We had different tees today and different pin placements. Definitely the tribute holes, even on No. 11, they tuck the pin, it doesn't matter if it's raining or not, we got to play it how it's designed. So it's kind of cool.

But driver definitely didn't go as far into the wind and stuff, so No. 12 was pulled up. I just tried to cut as much corner as possible of nothing to lose, so if it goes in the water it goes to the water. I ended up having 211 yards left, so...

Q. What can you hit on your second shot?

DANIELLE KANG: I hit driver 3-wood. It was a lot of wind into today. I hit driver 3-wood to about 12 feet. It was pretty cool.

Q. Wow. Looked like you've been really grinding on the range working on something specific, but I can't tell what it is.

DANIELLE KANG: I'm working on a lot of ball control with the woods. That's something that Butch and I been focusing on. However, I think I got too carried away with it, so I kind of restructured back to working on my shorter irons and the wedges. That's more my game than trying and hit my 3-wood as pure as possible or the 5-wood.

I can make birdies with wedges and I don't want I'm trying to hit my 3-wood as hard as I can. I'm trying to figure that out. And driver, he wants me to swing a little bit more aggressive instead of just (indiscernible) down the fairway, so I'm working on that kind of thing.

Q. Are you swinging more aggressively?

DANIELLE KANG: Here and there. Not all the time. But last hole definitely. I didn't think I was able to reach it today on the 18th hole because tees were further back, but there is a swing that we worked on and I could hear him yelling at me to launch it. It was kind of downwind so I launched it really far and I had 220 something in, so I reached it, which was really cool.

Like I said, nothing to lose, so go for it.

Q. My final question is: I just saw you climbing the leaderboard today, and Drive On, when I think of Drive On I think of DK. How is it to be back in another Drive On event and that Volvik was able to put this on together too?

DANIELLE KANG: I think we should have a Drive On event every year at this point. I really like it. I like the message they give out. The sponsor and corporate sponsors are coming together to instill the message and support the LPGA in hosting an event.

Even last year with the pandemic and all we definitely didn't have a lot things for certain, but only thing we were certain about was having a Drive On tournament. So just like the campaign, just got to keep driving on and keep playing the best we can.

Q. How is your painting going on? Have you been able to do that at all?

DANIELLE KANG: No. Actually, I didn't bring anything. Just reading this random book called Eragon.

Q. About dragons?

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I normally read other stuff, but I heard that it's really, really interesting and interesting word world so I'm reading Eragon right now. There are a lot of dragons and a lot of fighting going on in there.

Q. It's an escape, huh?

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I love to read. But it's just -- I didn't know, some easy reads, and so this is an Eragon week. A lot of dragons.