12 Things You Didn’t Know About Danielle Kang

Danielle Kang has been a mainstay on the LPGA Tour since 2012, most notably winning the 2017 Women’s PGA Championship, her first Major victory.

Propelling herself to the top of the Women’s World Golf Rankings, there’s more to find out about Kang.

12 Things You Didn’t Know About Danielle Kang

1. Danielle Kang was born 20 October, 1992, in San Francisco, California.

2. The American qualified for the US Women’s Open as a 14-year-old in 2007.

As a junior she played with the Southern California PGA Junior Tour extensively.

3. Kang’s parents are both South Korean, while her brother, Alex, is also keen golfer, and played for San Diego State.

4. She attended Pepperdine University in Malibu for two years, leaving to turn professional in 2011.

While at university, she won the US Women’s Amateur twice, in 2010 and 2011, with decision to turn professional ruling her academically ineligible to compete in the 2011 NCAA post-season.

5. Kang made the cut in three of the then four Majors she competed in as an amateur in 2011, with her performance in the LPGA Championship making her the only non-professional in the field.

She also finished as the low amateur at the Women’s British Open that year, ending up T49 overall.

6. In 2011 Kang entered the LPGA Qualifying School, where she earned conditional status for the LPGA Tour for 2012 after finished joint 39th at the end of the season.

7. Of the 19 events Kang played on the LPGA Tour in 2012, the American made the cut in 13 of them.

She earned full status on the LPGA Tour in 2013 following this season, as she finished 52nd on the official end of season money list.

8. Kang’s first LPGA Tour win also coincided with her first Major victory, when she triumphed at the 2017 Women’s PGA Championship.

Her margin of victory was only one stroke over Canada’s Brooke Henderson, finishing 13 under par.

9. After winning her first LPGA Tour event, Kang competed for America in the 2017 Solheim Cup which they won that year.

She once again made the team for the 2019 tournament, though the US lost to Europe by a point on that occasion.

10. Including her Major win, the American has five wins on the LPGA Tour, including two at the Buick LPGA Shanghai tournament.

Also included among those wins is the first event back after a six-month hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic, where Kang won the LPGA Drive On Championship in August.

She followed that up with her fifth, and most recent, victory a week later at the Marathon Classic.

11. After achieving the lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour in 2020, Kang won the coveted Vare Trophy, her only personal accolade to date.

12. The successful LPGA player is a relationship with fellow golfer on the men’s Tour, Maverick McNealy.

They have been together since 2019, and live together in Las Vegas.