BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 26, 2021

Danielle Kang

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Danielle Kang after a 7&6 win over Albane Valenzuela. Looked pretty easy for you out there today. What are your big takeaways from the win?

DANIELLE KANG: I felt right at home. This is my home golf course. I know to hit it, where to miss it. I think that's a big advantage that I have, knowing the reads, how the greens break.

I just had so much fun out there. I had a lot of people cheering me on today. Butch is coming to watch. We had a lot of fun. It's been a while since we played match play.

Q. I know there is concessions and stuff, but I think you played to the equivalent of like 4-under par. You talk about knowing the right places to hit. That really seemed to be an advantage for you today. Do you think that will help you? How far do you think that will help you go this week?

DANIELLE KANG: To be honest, one match at a time. Right now I really want to win, win the tournament, the matches that I have upcoming for me.

I been preparing not just for this golf course, but just been practicing a lot on certain types of shots and parts of my game. So having said that, even if you miss it in the right spot, this golf course is a really tough golf course, so you have to have the shots and be able to execute them, and that's what I did today.

Q. You did have a nice following out there with you today. Had to be good to see some people coming back outside the ropes.

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I had my friends out here, and I know that we can have guests -- I know there are no fans -- but my mom is out here. She hasn't seen me play golf for a while. It was really exciting. Just wanted them to have fun and been working hard.

So I wanted to show Butch what I been working on.

Q. I saw you walk you go down the hill, Butch had his hand on your shoulder. You talk to him all the time.

DANIELLE KANG: I don't talk to him all the time.

Q. All the time.

DANIELLE KANG: I bother him all the time.

Q. What were his words for you?

DANIELLE KANG: He said, I'm really proud of you girl. You're playing great. Your chipping was really great today. Just talking about my game. Stay focused and stay in the zone and just take it day by day and you know what to do.

So I'm really confident on what we worked on and whether it's just this week or next week and following forth, but I just want to get my game better, and really excited on things that I've been getting better at.

Q. She got off to a really rough start and was in a hole from the beginning. What does that do to your mindset, or do you just focus on one hole at a time?

DANIELLE KANG: To be honest, it's a little bit of both, right? I still need to make birdies. I still want to make birdies. I have to hit good shots.

So I'm mainly focused on playing the game that I need to play, and I let her play her game. But at the same time, I know exactly what I need to do and how many shots I have left, et cetera. That's the fun of match play. You focus on what you want to focus on.

So in the beginning, I mean, I had a really good birdie putt on the first hole. I had a good up and down on the second hole. Just giving myself opportunities for birdies. That was my goal of the day.

And, yeah, it's fun because even on the first hole I had all the Shadow Creek guys come up, and Monte was there, you know, John is there, like everyone is just there. Like, Hey, guys. It was really fun having my friends read my name on the first tee.

Q. Do you think the other girls are going to look at your score and not know obviously how the match played out, but just look at the score and think, uh-oh, she really does know this course and she really does have an advantage, or are you hoping they think that?

DANIELLE KANG: You got to ask them that. (Laughter.)