"The most absurd thing" Why Danielle Kang DELIBERATELY missed greens
LPGA Tour superstar Danielle Kang has revealed why she missed a few greens on purpose during a tournament.
LPGA Tour superstar Danielle Kang has revealed she deliberately missed "a couple of greens on purpose" because she was "chipping weird" and wanted to practise under pressure.
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Kang made the comments in her press conference before playing the first major of the year at The Chevron Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.
The 29-year-old, who has won six times on the LPGA Tour including one major, has also revealed she wants to be "kinder" to herself.
She admits she is "kind of a perfectionist" and with her coach Butch Harmon she wants to learn to "fail better".
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When asked if she was achieving her goal of failing better, she said: "I believe I am. I've been chipping kind of weird so I missed couple greens on purpose last week, and I was talking about it with my coach and they thought it was the most absurd thing they had ever heard.
"My friend David Lipsky was like, 'You did what?' I said, You've never done that? No, nobody does that.
"But I have to figure it out eventually, so I have to keep chipping in a tournament scenario when I have to make an up and down. And you can't really recreate what you feel in a competition unless you're in competition.
"I've tried... like people can use gambling or putting money or whatever it may be, but for me, in that moment there is nothing I want more than to make par from a specific place.
"I can't recreate that unless it's at an event. I'm just trying to mishit and fail and see if I can recover the best that I can. It's an internal feeling that I'm working on. So technique is just part of it. It's not most of it."
How did Harmon respond when she told him that?
He said, 'Did you make up and down?' I said, No. I missed two. I made the third one. I only did it three times. I did try it on the third one and he supports what I do. He is always going to say like, D, I trust the work that you put in.
"However you're going to have to get it done, just get it done. You have a job to do. He'll always say that, I have a job to do."
Kang also revealed the stark reality between the disparity in pay between men and women on the LPGA Tour in her press conference.
She made the cut last week and earned $6,000 but broke even.
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Kang said: "Let's kind of look at it from a broader perspective. I'm one player. How about the average tour players? I made 6,000 [dollars] last week, made the cut; I didn't break even last week. That's me budgeting. I have to drive, rent a car, get a hotel room.
"Luckily enough for me I'm sponsored by BMW that provides for me the car. That saves like $500, $1000, et cetera. You have to -- we have to think about all these things.
"So for us, when companies step up and give us an opportunity to make a living, make the tour better and broader and for players to compete and to be an actual job, it's nice to see that."
She added: "I really support whatever it needs to be to make the tour better moving forward for the girls to work to money, make a living, and not worry about making a cut and not breaking even."
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