CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 19, 2021

Danielle Kang

Tiburon Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Nice little 6-under 66 for Danielle Kang today. Golf course played a little bit more windy. What did you find to play so well today?

DANIELLE KANG: So during the press conference I talked about how I'm hitting my driver really, really short.

So I been on the phone 15 with JJ from Titleist. He's one of the guys in the club department. He just sent me a driver head that is a loft lower that we think would help it run.

So today I hit it probably 20, 30 yards further than I have been for the last two months, so I -- it was easier. I wasn't hitting hybrids into greens.

Q. You also hit 13 of 14 fairways. I feel like the driving, as you said in the press conference, has been the difference maker for you.

DANIELLE KANG: Yes.

Q. How much more comfortable did you feel, like, Oh, Hey, I've got some yardage back and I actually can hit the ball pretty far again?

DANIELLE KANG: Yes. We all thought it couldn't have me, but the technology is so good nowadays, right? We thought we would try different settings. As long as I'm hitting my irons the distance that it's going, it couldn't have been me, so JJ thought about it and so he sent me a lower loft driver, eight degree instead of a nine or ten degree.

He sent it to Ritz Carlton. I put it on this morning and I was trying to see if I hit it left or right and put it went in play, and it was going further, which made golf a little better.

Less stress.

Q. For sure. You carded seven birdies today. What were some of the highlights for you out there today?

DANIELLE KANG: To be honest, my short game was really good today. Even though I hit it far I still chunked a couple shots from the fairway. It's just a lot of grain out there. Not a Florida golfer; I don't really know these grasses as well as I should.

And hit couple fat, couple came out weird, but my short game was really helping for me to be able to be aggressive to pins.

Q. We had some different conditions yesterday playing in kind of the rain, kind of damp. Was the golf course still damp at all? Did it hold any of the moisture or did the wind dry out?

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, I'm still getting mud balls almost every single hole, so hopefully they don't stop playing lift, clean, and place, because it's a lot of mud, especially in grain and controlling and windy and stuff like that.

So, yeah, the golf course is holding up, but it is still pretty soft.

Q. You had a pretty solid week at Pelican. Seemed like you figured some things out. What did you bring with you into CME to start catching fire?

DANIELLE KANG: I like how you guys posted about what I said. I mean it when I said I'm just trying to fail better. That is genuinely how I'm approaching the golf game, how I've approached the game lately, how I've approached my practice.

I didn't play very well yesterday, but I didn't feel that I played bad. So today, too. I know what the leaders are at. I know what I need to do. At the end of the day I just need to focus on each and every single shot and do the best that I can.

Q. You birdied the last two holes to finish. What were those couple holes like for and you Ollie out there?

DANIELLE KANG: Well, one, I finally reached a par-5 in two. I haven't done that in a long time, so I was excited.

And then the last one, I had him ten the pin because I felt like I was going to make it and I wanted him to feel excited. He gets really excited when he tends the pin and goes in.

You know, when you just know sometimes. I made it; it was really fun.

Q. As the conditions kind of get a little tougher with the wind picking up this afternoon, probably going to be in pretty good position heading into the weekend. What's the mindset heading into Saturday and Sunday?

DANIELLE KANG: Mindset is that the scores are still going to be up there. I had a little late start.

But I still have to just play the best that I can play and focus on each and every single shot. I made a lot of mistakes out there but I kind of went and just found the next putt.

I mean, I smashed a putt by probably eight feet one of the holes, but I wasn't upset. I tried to hit a really good eight-footer and I made it.

Things like that I have to be as forgetful and just as engaged as possible.

Q. Last question. You've said stale a lot the past couple weeks. Are you feeling any less stale? You're playing like you're less stale.

DANIELLE KANG: Yes and no. People ask overall year how the year has gone, right? So there are definitely moments in a day where I feel really excited or down or up or down.

But it's -- I think it's just the progress for me. I look at it as a positive and I'm just excited. People know that I don't really take an off-season, so I'm excited for that. I'm excited what I can do in the off-season.

Feeling better is what the whole idea is for me.