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Danielle Kang wins car with hole-in-one at LPGA event

October 23, 2014

(LPGA Twitter photo)

By Lee Kyutae

Three days after her 22nd birthday, Danielle Kang gave herself a nice present. Kang won a Buick LaCrosse at the Blue Bay LPGA in China Thursday with a hole-in-one on the 155-yard 17th.

It was her second ace in competition this season, third overall this year and seventh in her life.

“I was pretty pumped,” Kang said. “My caddie had to tell me to calm down.”

Kang, a two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, shot 4-under 68 at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course in Hainan Island, dubbed ‘China’s Hawaii.’ She is only two shots behind the leader Jessica Korda who fired 6-under 66.

Kang was born in San Francisco and grew up in Southern California.

Going into the first round, most eyes were on Michelle Wie and Lydia Ko as they went head-to-head in the same group.

Wie came out on top by two shots, which put her just one stroke off the lead.

In her second start since withdrawing from the Evian Masters in September due to a stress reaction in her right hand, Wie shot 5-under 66. Wie and Chinese star Shanshan Feng, American Brittany Lang, South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace, England’s Jodi Ewart-Shadoff and Germany’s Caroline Masson are all tied for second.

Wie, 25, came back ready to fire, as evidenced by her fifth place finish last week in South Korea.

Wie is chasing Stacy Lewis for several year-end honors, including the Race to the CME Globe and the $1 million jackpot that goes with it.

Ko, 17, is also in position to equal Lewis for most LPGA victories this season. She trails Korda by only three strokes after a bogey-free 3-under 69 round.