CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 19, 2022

Danielle Kang

Tiburon Golf Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Here with Daniel Kang after her third round at the CME Tour Championship. I want to start with arguably your shot of the day, that eagle there that you had. Can you walk us through that hole?

DANIELLE KANG: I had 193 yards, and it's a difficult hole. The pin was kind of tucked, and the wind was off the left. I didn't have any shot except that one shot that I hit.

I couldn't hit the 5. It was going to kick left. I don't have that high 4-iron, and the next thing I thought about was to hit that 5-wood and aim it really far left and hit a high slice.

My miss would have been long, and that's just -- I had some time to think about it, and I pulled it off. The minute I hit it, I thought, wow, I hit that really good, so hopefully I get some good bounce and good roll. It was a nice eagle.

THE MODERATOR: Besides that, what were some of the things that were just really working well for you today? You put yourself in a good position going into tomorrow, I feel like.

DANIELLE KANG: My putting has been working really well. Putting and chipping this week. My ball striking has been very questionable right now, and I haven't been really giving myself a lot of birdie chances and, I think I'm frustrated with that. Especially yesterday.

However, today I made some good putts that I needed to make. My playing partner, Ayaka, showed me a couple of lines. Actually she was near me. So she now has a -- every time I make a putt after she putts she says, you're welcome, because I saw the line, and that was kind of funny.

I told her on the last hole I wish she putted first to see that it didn't break as much as I thought. It is difficult. It's definitely a championship golf course out here. You never know what's going to happen.

THE MODERATOR: Speaking of that difficulty, how important then is the putting out here? I feel like the greens are the trickiest part. Is that your understanding?

DANIELLE KANG: The greens are really tricky. That's just how it's always been here. It's very slippery and grainy, and it's Bermuda, and a lot of the West Coast players are not used to it.

I've always putted quite solid on Bermuda, and I can't really say putting has really cost me much more than just I need to give myself a bit more opportunities. But I have a friend that tells me, you can fight with your putter out here, and that's what I'm trying to do.

Q. Just curious, have you had an albatross either in for fun or competition?

DANIELLE KANG: I did when I was 15. I had a driver 3-wood.

Q. Do you remember where?

DANIELLE KANG: Wood Ranch Golf Course on number 2.

Q. I love that you remember that.

DANIELLE KANG: Yes.

Q. Ending that way with that kind of a shot, that kind of a hole, I know 18 is really hard with the wind right now, what kind of momentum does that give you heading into tomorrow? You will be a few handful back trying to chase.

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah. Obviously, I was watching the leaderboard today to see if anybody was going super low, and I saw Brooke shot probably 6-, 7-under today.

The fact that I know so many scores, like, I keep up with what people -- you know, I like knowing where I stand and what kind of shots are out there. I kind of wanted to keep up.

Probably my goal today was a bit big. I wanted to get into the double digit, and that was kind of a stretch, especially with the wind today. It's very gusty and swirly, so it's harder to manage than I anticipate.

So I think I'm more tough on myself than I needed to be, but I guess it's kind of in contention. Not a lot of people are going low except now Lydia and one other person. I don't know what golf course she was playing the first few days. I don't know.

I mean, some people now are catching up to her, I understand, but she was already at 13-under after two days. What, she was six ahead of everybody? I think that shows how good of golf she's playing.

Hopefully I can get a low one out there tomorrow and try and make some cash. I don't know.

Q. To be where you were getting here now, you've talked about gratitude, you've talked about how much it means to you. Are you finally just kind of enjoying it again? Are you just so happy to be out there and be shooting the kind of numbers you're shooting, hitting those kind of golf shots where you are back? You just feel like you're better than ever maybe?

DANIELLE KANG: Not really. I'm not where I want to be right now. I understand that I will never take what I'm shooting out there with a grain of salt.

To me it's not really about the result. It's about everything. Right now I don't have freedom to play golf. That comes with a lot of things. It's not just my physical. It's whether it's psychological, whether it's mental, whether it's the routines or -- everything just seems a little bit off, and it's really actually bugging me.

But with that being said, the mechanics have really held up, and the work that I've put in shows with how I'm contending. So I'm happy about that, but regardless I think during the offseason I need to figure some stuff out, try and get some team together so that I can really give it my all for the next few years upcoming.

Yeah, that's what I kind of want to do is give it my all and see where I end up.