SEOUL – While most of her peers on the LPGA Tour are teeing off at the Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey for this week’s Cognizant Founders Cup, Danielle Kang has chosen to travel to Seoul for the Korea leg of the Aramco Team Series instead.
Feeling uninspired after playing seven events in the 2024 season, the American flew over 11,000km to South Korea hoping that a break from the women’s tour will help her rediscover her fire.
The six-time LPGA Tour winner said: “I haven’t been wanting to compete or play, it’s been a very unpleasant environment for me to be working in for a while.
“(I’ve been) working really hard to be able to compete in that, I’m doing the best I can, everything I can to go work but selfishly, I came out here because I really do like the Aramco Series. I like the team vibe and I’m hoping this will be a turning point in my career where I’m not just playing on the LPGA but I’m becoming that competitive golfer that I want to become again.”
The world No. 71 was speaking at a press conference ahead of the US$1 million (S$1.36 million) event, which will take place at the New Korea Country Club from May 10 to 12.
The tournament, which is sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour, will feature a two-day 36-hole strokeplay team event and a three-day 54-hole strokeplay individual event.
The field includes England’s world No. 8 Charley Hull, six-time LPGA Tour winner Kim Hyo-joo and Singaporean professional Shannon Tan.
Kang has not been in the best form this season, missing three cuts in seven events, with a tied-20th finish at the Honda LPGA Thailand in February her best performance.
But the 31-year-old’s struggles go beyond her recent results, with the 2017 Women’s PGA Championship winner highlighting that the environment she has been playing in has been “suffocating”, though she did not provide more details.
Ahead of the tournament, Kang has already noticed a difference in the atmosphere in Seoul.
She said: “It’s been a very long time that I’ve been playing on that tour, but where I work has been very suffocating lately.
“(Coming) out to a different tour was one of the main reasons for me to come out (and play in South Korea this week)...
“Everybody’s just lighter and happier. I feel very light to compete here, that’s the difference I’ve felt this week.”
World No. 12 Kim is also glad to be back on home ground. While this is the first time in 38 years that a professional golf tournament will be held at the New Korea Country Club, it is a course that the 28-year-old is familiar with.
The 2014 Evian Championship winner said: “This tournament is being held in Korea – my fans miss me and I miss my fans. I’ve actually been on this golf course many times whenever I take a break or come with my friends to play, this is 90 per cent the golf course I choose.
“It’s a great course. The green is fast, and because this is an old course, the green is also steep. I really like this course and I’m pretty used to it as well, so I didn’t have a reason not to be here.”
