KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 25, 2021

Danielle Kang

Atlanta Athletic Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Here with Danielle Kang after a second round 67, well in contention. You closed with two great birdies there. Could you walk us through the two final holes.

DANIELLE KANG: I was just staying patient out there today, and then on 17, luckily the wind switched back to down, and I had a perfect club. So I went right at it. I actually watched Sei Young Kim's putt from the tee box and saw that it broke more than she thought. So I actually looked at it more than I would have thought, and then I made it. So I said, thank you, Sei Young.

And then on 18 the wind switched again, back to down, so it was an opposite wind. I had about 215 yards to the pin. Those are the shots that I've been working on a lot, and I had a nice 5-wood, and it was a nice birdie.

Q. What was that perfect club on No. 17?

DANIELLE KANG: I hit a 7-iron. Choke-down 7-iron, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: We heard the wind is swirling out there. What are the wind conditions, and how does that play with the mental game?

DANIELLE KANG: The wind definitely swirls out here. Especially on a couple of the holes, there's just pockets, where it's down and all of a sudden it's not what you thought and the direction changes. You have to be very mindful of how or what you're playing, what kind of shot you're playing, and sometimes I double cross it because thinking it was off the left but then it was down off the right.

You just have to stay patient, and then when you give yourself that 40, 50-footer, you have to just two-putt them.

Q. You mentioned patience. I want to talk to you about the discipline it takes in a major championship to sometimes play away from a flag or to sometimes lay up when you normally wouldn't. What is your mindset in going into stuff like that?

DANIELLE KANG: Mindset. I just watched MasterClass, Athlete's Mindset of Wayne Gretzky, that's what I just watched. That's what I did last night, that Athlete's Mindset, I used that today. It's actually really helpful. It's really soothing. He's kind of like head space. So I think my mindset was really steady and just focused. Yeah, my mom keeps telling me to just relax and let things happen.

Q. Do you really need to pay for a Wayne Gretzky MasterClass? You could call him up.

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, but it's not the same. It's the same, but I kind of just want to repeat it and just rewind.

Q. What does he talk about?

DANIELLE KANG: You've got to watch it. It's pretty cool.

Q. I saw you had another famous friend out here, Marcus Allen. What's the support you guys are getting from Wayne, from Marcus, from the guys that we meet at Diamond Resorts, from our fellow PGA TOUR players during these major weeks?

DANIELLE KANG: Marcus has been extremely supportive. He came out every single day so far. Sometimes he has a bad back, and he's still walking those 36 holes. He's put in some really feisty mindset since I was 13, so when I look at him, I kind of feel a lot of confidence. When you get one birdie, I know he kind of expects more and he wants you to ride the momentum. That's what I try to get in the mode of.

If I make a mistake, he just gives me a thumbs up, saying it's okay. Knowing what Marcus normally says off the golf course and on the golf course, you have really good role models all around. I wasn't in a good mood today, and my mom put me in a really good mood this morning. So that really helped and helped me relax and play well today.

Q. I know it means a lot to you to be able to have your mom back out here.

DANIELLE KANG: Yes.

Q. What does she bring to your game?

DANIELLE KANG: Everything. She's the one that sometimes gets me back to earth and lifts me up and brings me back down, and she knows how I am and in and out, and we had some rough times, but now that she's healthier and back out, sometimes I just have to be thankful that she's out here watching, and that's all that matters.

Yeah, it's just fun. Even today, you're supposed to wake up at 5:45 or whatever, and she goes, aren't you going to get your hot chocolate? You have your weird routines. I go, yeah, you're right. She goes along with all that stuff. It's been fun and appreciating all the little things.

Q. You start out with a hot chocolate?

DANIELLE KANG: Every day.

Q. Last question and we'll let you go. You're just a few strokes off the lead heading into the weekend. We know you have this routine. Do you have plans for the weekend? Do you attack? Do you sit back and see? Is it too early to decide yet?

DANIELLE KANG: Honestly, I just want to have fun and play my game right now. I've been so caught up in winning. That's what my mom said last night. I just need to relax and be comfortable and have that innocent mindset that you just love playing golf, and that's what it is. Of course I want to win and win a major and all that.

With the Olympics and trying to qualify for it and keep my ranking up high and all that just kind of got to me a little bit personally.

At this point, I just hit some really cool shots coming down, and I'm really proud of how I executed that shot on 18. That's what I'm going to do for the next couple days.