BUICK LPGA SHANGHAI

October 12, 2023

Danielle Kang

Qizhong Garden Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Welcome to the media center. Pleased to be joined by defending champion Danielle Kang. Very clean scorecard. Bogey-free round. Welcome. Please walk us through your day briefly.

DANIELLE KANG: Hi. It was a very solid day. I love coming back to Shanghai as you guys can tell, so thank you everybody that was involved in getting this tournament started.

I really appreciate you guys going through a lot of struggles to make this tournament happen. Yeah, there are some places that I -- there are some holes where I know I needed to be, and I think having course knowledge, and having won here has really helped me out today. And, yeah, it was a good day out there.

Q. Can you just walk us through your birdies that you had? What do you think really kept that round afloat for you?

DANIELLE KANG: Probably trying to stay as patient as I can. Know what I need to do and I know what games you need to have to be able to contend here.

Surprisingly enough, you just have to have ball striking really in play with wedges because there is a lot of tricky grass around the greens.

My caddie, Brian, really helped me stay in the moment. He's like, it's only Thursday. Stop looking at the leaderboard. We're going to end up where you need to end up.

Besides all that, actually I do want to point out this girl today, one of the fans in China, her name is Shannon, (phonetic). She came up and gave me a birthday gift, this bracelet. If you look through it there is a picture of my dad in there. It was probably one of the most thoughtful gifts.

I said yesterday -- I think I did another interview if there was a Chinese phrase I want to learn. It's thank you for always trying to help. I don't know how to say it again, but I think that says a lot about people from Shanghai. That was very kind and I'm very touched by that, and so I just wanted to say thank you.

Q. You talk about knowing the right places and where to hit. What were some of those places today?

DANIELLE KANG: I know that No. 12 -- 13 is going to be really, really long hole -- actually, sorry, No. 12.

No. 14 I know better than to leave myself where I was.

Same thing with the par-5, No. 13.

But it's just sometimes you catch a good break around the greens and sometimes you don't.

No. 18, too, I know I can't be short, so we just to have cover that minimum to give ourselves a putt or try and be behind it. Those things are I think really good for course knowledge because there are some bogeys just right around the corner.

Yeah, I think that really, really helps.

Q. Two titles out here at this golf course, two titles in 2018 and '19. Other than the things and golf course, what about off course, what does help you to play solid out there at this golf course?

DANIELLE KANG: Being in Shanghai you mean?

Q. Yes.

DANIELLE KANG: I mean, I love Chinese food. I really love Chinese food. I don't know what that's called, the one that's a pancake outside. The one that I said -- I mean, I walk outside, I go get that for breakfast.

I mean, I know people say don't say it, but I do have WeChatPay, so I just scan everything. It's just easier. A lot of people can't -- you know, you have to open up a bank and ID and all that but I have WeChatPay, so I tell people I'm Chinese.

The food, I think the environment. I love that it's a beautiful city, and honestly, the people really do make it for me, where they're always kind of upbeat, always there to help. Even if I'm a foreigner they're not looking at me like I'm not welcome.

I can go anywhere and I feel very welcomed in Shanghai. I know I talk a lot, but I use Shanghai as my Feng Shui in life. Every time I come here a lot of things in my life get shaken up. It's just kind of I feel like it reorganizes.

With the time difference and what's going on back home, here, I feel happy every time I'm in Shanghai. So I don't like Shanghai because I won, I like Shanghai because there is so much to do and you meet great people. I can chat through my phone with the drivers. I'm pretty sure they're annoyed at me because I keep playing music and then they start singing with me so it's just really fun.